Yes, a LinkedIn page can create a group. On LinkedIn, both individual profiles and company pages have the ability to create and manage groups. Creating a group can be a great way for a LinkedIn page to engage with its followers, create a community around a shared interest, and grow its visibility on the platform.
Overview of LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups are a feature that allow members to come together around a shared topic, industry, or common interest. Some key things to know about LinkedIn groups:
- Groups can be created by individual LinkedIn members or by company pages
- Groups have their own profiles that include a name, description, cover image, and list of members
- Members can post content, comment, and participate in discussions within a group
- Group admins can send messages and announcements to group members
- Groups can be public and open to all LinkedIn members to join, or private and require approval to join
LinkedIn groups serve several purposes. They allow members with shared interests to network, have discussions, share content, and establish themselves as thought leaders. For companies and organizations, groups provide a way to engage followers, promote content, identify influencers, and build communities around their brand.
Benefits of Creating a LinkedIn Group for a Company Page
Here are some of the key benefits for a LinkedIn company page creating and managing its own LinkedIn group:
- Engagement: Groups allow ongoing engagement between a company and its followers, rather than just one-off posts. This can lead to deeper, more loyal relationships.
- Thought leadership: By sharing content and facilitating discussions in a group, a company can establish thought leadership in its industry.
- Community building: Groups let a company connect with followers interested in its products/services and unite them in a community.
- Identification of influencers: Company pages can use their group to identify members who actively participate and leverage them as influencers.
- Promotion: Posts and discussions within a group provide opportunities to organically promote the company’s offerings and surface content.
- Market research: Groups provide a way to gather feedback, conduct polls, and have discussions to gain customer insights.
Overall, a branded LinkedIn group allows company pages to deepen relationships, demonstrate expertise, gain insights, and extend their reach – all providing value to the business.
Requirements for a Company Page to Create a LinkedIn Group
In order for a LinkedIn company page to create a LinkedIn group, there are a few requirements:
- The company page must be administered by a real person, not just set up as an automated or bot account.
- The person administering the page must have an individual LinkedIn profile in good standing.
- To manage a group, the individual LinkedIn profile needs to demonstrate real engagement on the platform. This means having connections, content shares, profile views, etc.
- The company must verify its LinkedIn page to unlock additional capabilities like creating a group. This involves going through LinkedIn’s verification process.
Additionally, to create a group, the company page admin must make sure the page itself meets LinkedIn’s standards in terms of completeness. This includes having:
- A logo and cover image
- A complete About section detailing the company
- A list of current employees
- Followers and engagement on the company’s posts
Meeting these requirements indicates an established, legitimate presence on LinkedIn and the ability to manage an active group. Without them, LinkedIn may reject or limit group creation capabilities.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Group
Once your LinkedIn company page is ready, here is how to create a LinkedIn group:
- From your Company Page, click on “Interests” along the top navigation.
- On the Interests page, click the button to “Create a Group.”
- Enter your planned group’s name and a brief description.
- Choose settings for privacy. Select “Open” to make it public so anyone can join. Choose “Closed” to make it private and require approval to join.
- Upload a cover image to represent your group.
- Select categories that apply to your group based on its focus.
- Agree to LinkedIn’s rules and click “Create Group.”
It may take up to 24 hours for LinkedIn to review and approve your group once requested. After approval, you can begin inviting members, making posts, and managing group settings.
Best Practices for Managing a LinkedIn Group
Here are some best practices to manage your LinkedIn group effectively after getting it started:
- Post consistently – Share content, pose discussion questions, and post news relevant to your group. Post at least 3-5 times per week to maintain engagement.
- Engage with discussions – Weigh in on discussions and respond when group members post their own content or ask questions.
- Highlight influencers – Look for active participants you can feature, quote in posts, or nominate as discussion moderators to leverage their reach.
- Share group updates – Use the announcement feature to share news about the group itself, such as growth milestones or new features you’ve enabled.
- Send messages – Leverage the messaging capability to reach out to group members directly, especially when first welcoming them.
- Promote your group – Link to your group from your LinkedIn company page and other platforms to raise awareness.
- Analyze performance – Check your LinkedIn Group Analytics regularly to see participation levels, post reach, and member growth.
By investing time in cultivating your LinkedIn group with quality content and engagement, you can build a thriving community that provides value for your company and followers.
LinkedIn Group Rules and Restrictions
When managing a LinkedIn group as a company page, it’s important to be aware of LinkedIn’s rules and restrictions for groups:
- Groups cannot be used to promote or sell products and services. Excessive promotion may result in warnings or group deletion from LinkedIn.
- Offensive, abusive, or inappropriate content is prohibited. Bullying, profanity, and hate speech can get a group shut down.
- Groups are expected to have active, engaged administrators and be relevant communities providing value to members.
- Group names and purposes cannot violate LinkedIn’s User Agreement policies.
- Groups are limited to a maximum of 100,000 members.
- LinkedIn caps the number of groups a single company page can manage based on resources. Typically this is set to 10-15 groups.
Staying within these guidelines ensures your company’s LinkedIn group remains in good standing. Violating the rules could result in group deletion, bans on creating future groups, or page restrictions.
Conclusion
Creating and cultivating a LinkedIn group can be an excellent strategy for company pages to boost engagement and demonstrate thought leadership. By providing an ongoing, interactive space for LinkedIn followers with shared interests, groups allow pages to establish credibility, gain insights, extend reach, and build loyalty.
To create a successful LinkedIn group, company pages should meet LinkedIn’s requirements, invest in curating quality discussions and content, promote the group, and track performance metrics. Overall, groups are a powerful yet underutilized tool for organizations to grow and engage their audience on LinkedIn.