How to create a private community with LinkedIn Groups

A private community is a great way to facilitate communication among your members. Hosting the community with LinkedIn Groups can be a convenient option for members who are already on LinkedIn.

IN THIS ARTICLE

Set up group access

Invite members

Setting up LinkedIn Group access

First, you'll set up and grant access to your LinkedIn Group:

Create a private LinkedIn Group and be sure to unselect Allow members to invite their connections. This ensures members can't invite non-members to join your group.
In your MemberSpace account, click Member Plans > Create Member Plans.

If you'll simply be granting community access to members on existing plans, skip steps 2-5.
Next, decide how you'd like to charge members for access to your community.
Then, give the plan a name, decide how much you'd like to charge (if applicable), and configure the remaining settings for the plan.
Click Create this plan at the bottom.

Inviting members to your LinkedIn Group

Once you've created the LinkedIn Group and have a plan for members to join, there are a few ways to share your private LinkedIn Group link with your members:

Include the LinkedIn Group link in your Welcome Email — members receive the link immediately after joining a plan
Add the LinkedIn Group link to a members-only page — members can access the link via one of their secret members-only pages
Manually add new members to your LinkedIn Group — when a member joins, manually add them to LinkedIn or send them the invite link

While each option requires a small amount of manual work, the first two are a bit more automated.

Include the LinkedIn Group link in your Welcome Email

Follow the steps below to add your community link to your members' Welcome Email:

In your MemberSpace account click Customize > Notification Emails.
If all of your plans should grant access to your LinkedIn Group, simply scroll to the bottom > click Welcome Email (default for all plans) > add the LinkedIn Group link to the email body > click Save Now.

If only certain plans should grant access to your LinkedIn Group, click Add Welcome Email per Plan at the top > select a plan from the dropdown > add the LinkedIn Group link to the email body > click Save Now. Repeat this for additional plans, as needed.

Now, when someone signs up for a plan that grants access to your private community, they'll receive a Welcome Email that contains the link to join. From there, you will approve their request on LinkedIn to officially permit them into your LinkedIn Group.

When someone cancels their MemberSpace plan, you'll need to manually remove them from your LinkedIn Group.

Add the LinkedIn Group link to a members-only page

Follow the steps below to add your community link to a members-only page:

Add the link to join your LinkedIn Group to a secret members-only page on your website. This can be any existing page (e.g. member dashboard), or it can be a new page specific to your community.
In your MemberSpace account, click Member Pages. If you added the LinkedIn Group link to a new (public) page, click Protect Member Pages.

If you added your LinkedIn Group link to an existing members-only page, simply click Edit next to that page.
Enter the page URL (if protecting a new page).
Then, select the plan(s) that should grant access to your private LinkedIn Group.
Finally, configure any remaining settings and click Add Now (if protecting a new page) or Update Now (if editing an existing page) at the bottom.

Now, when someone signs up for a plan that grants access to the private members-only page, they'll be able to visit that page and click the LinkedIn Group link to join your community. From there, you will approve their request on LinkedIn to officially permit them into your LinkedIn Group.

When someone cancels their MemberSpace plan, you'll need to manually remove them from your LinkedIn Group.

Manually add members to LinkedIn

Your final option is to manually add new members to your LinkedIn Group.

When someone signs up for a plan that grants access to your community, you will either manually invite them from within the LinkedIn Group or send them the link to join. From there, you will approve their request on LinkedIn to officially permit them into your LinkedIn Group.

When someone cancels their MemberSpace plan, you'll need to manually remove them from your LinkedIn Group.

MemberSpace also offers a single sign-on integration with Circle, a popular community platform for discussions, live streams, and chats. The single sign-on integration means your logged-in members will be automatically logged into your Circle community and not have to create a new account of any kind.

For additional resources on running a successful community with MemberSpace, check out MemberSpace University, your one-stop resource hub full of step-by-step guides, educational videos, helpful tips and tricks, and more.