Someone recently asked me the following question.
“What makes a good LinkedIn group?”
Content is an obvious answer, but is it the most important element? For me, the answer is no.
The most important element of a good LinkedIn group is the moderator (aka, community manager).
Why?
It seems like 95% (maybe an exaggeration) of LinkedIn groups are full of people essentially spamming the group telling everyone about their product or service. Blah.
A good moderator will help move the discussions along and most importantly, control the obnoxious vendors that do nothing but pitch the group.
Upon creating a group you could even instate a rule that helps stop members from detracting from the helpful discussions.
Here’s an example of a test group (Still active, but I’m not actively managing it) that I created (motivation for trying this) a while back that has one very important rule. I’ve since used this same model for another professional group and it’s worked flawlessly – feel free to borrow the idea.
Without a good moderator LinkedIn groups have absolutely no value, to me. When I visit a group and the first 10 discussions are product / service pitches I tend to leave without looking back. And if you think I’m part of a small minority – think again.
PS – here’s someone that sees very little value in LinkedIn, period.
