Setting effecitve rules for social media groups
29th July 2011 · 0 Comments
Have you ever gone to a community meeting like the PTA or Rotary where someone stood up in the middle of the meeting to shill their services?
I admit… it’s rare for something like this because organizations have rules and there are certain protocols established.
Yet, many LinkedIn groups have people who use this online forum to market their expertise. If I had $20 for every time I saw someone promote their business on LinkedIn in one of the many groups I belong to, I would be able to purchase my own island and the plane to get me there.
As a group manager of several groups, I know that there are a couple of ways to eliminate this with these guidelines:
1) Set the group’s ground rules to eliminate self-promotion. LinkedIn allows you to set rules when you first form a new group. I would recommend that every person who joins the group knows that posts can and will be eliminated when someone begins to aggressively self promote their services.
2) Verify everyone that wants to join your group. If your group was created for people within an industry, the group manager should verify their credentials by looking at their LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn would prefer that you open your group to everyone, but that’s like the Bushwood Country Club allowing their caddies to take over the 
swimming pool, the golf course and the bar. I’m not acting snobby, but this rule eliminates people who want to access a group to get the names of potential clients or email addresses.
3) Monitor your group, both for membership applications and what’s being posted. An active group can benefit the founder as it can provide real team strategic information through discussions. As the manager of the group, you have to give a few minutes a couple times a week to verify new applications and the discussions. As LinkedIn can send each manager email messages, this is a pretty easy way to keep on top of this.
4) If group members want to change something about the group, put it up for a vote. When one member of one group wanted to change the name of the DINFOS Trained Killers Alumni Association, one of my managed groups, I asked the members for input. The majority overwhelmingly supported the motion that the first name would stay. Two years later, this discussion post is now over 65 posts on the topic.
LinkedIn groups are worth the time and effort to create them, not only in information gathering but creating new contacts and finding former colleagues. However, the effective ones establish a couple of guidelines and a little time to effectively manage them.
Matt Scherer, the managing editor of the SAEnetwork, once caddied at a golf course. However, he never got to carry the bags for Bill Murray or the Dalai Lama.
