If you own a LinkedIn Page, consider creating Linked Groups and vice versa. Both have their own goals and advantages. In this article, I discuss the unique values of creating Linked Groups and challenges while managing one.

There are more than 1.8 million LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups are micro-communities that allow you to host a gathering of people interested in a similar topic. Most of the businesses host one main LinkedIn page and probably a few ShowCase Pages (Suggested Reading: How to Effectively Create and Manage Linked Pages). But many groups are created based on topic segmentation like Groups for different product lines, different technologies, and user communities. The maximum number of members for any group is 1 million. There are a few restrictions like there can be 20,000 members in a Group and each Group can have up to 10 admins. (Suggested Reading: General Limits for LinkedIn Groups).

 

Value of Creating LinkedIn Groups

1. Deep Discussion on Focused Topics

If you are creating a user group for your product or service, consider creating a LinkedIn Group as well. It makes it very easy for your users to participate if they spend time on LinkedIn anyway. But make sure you create a Close Group which means members need admin permissions to join. This makes the Group more trusted, thus more active.

 

2. Increased Traffic

Sharing company news regularly to Groups will get your audience educated easily Invite.

 

3. Open platform for Building User Communities and Customer Communication

These days, companies do not invest in building websites and platforms to host user communities. Instead, choose a safe and secure social platform to build and grow their user base. Since most professionals use LinkedIn, it’s one of the best places to host communities.

Customer success is aggressively adopting social media to serve customer needs. They answer questions and update customers with the latest news. This helps in building a stronger brand affinity among customers.

 

Challenges of Managing a LinkedIn Groups

1. Groups Turning into Ghost Towns

If members of the Group start posting promotional content or shared content only, Groups quickly turn into ghost towns lacking real engagement and conversation. This doesn’t help anyone.

2. Time-Consuming to Monitor Conversations

Groups need constant monitoring on topics discussed. Based on the settings, admins may have to approve every post. So, keeping track of requests and approving them on time itself takes a lot of effort. Along with this task, admins should continuously initiate new topics to keep the engagement and interest of the members.