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YourCo.com/onlinecommunity vs LinkedIn Groups

As is often the case, a conversation with a colleague spawned today’s blog article. He asked me if I had experience setting up and supporting online communities.

Years ago one would correctly guess that his question was about an online community on one’s website. Today, one can assume no such thing as an online community could refer to LinkedIn, Twitter, or a Blog/Guest Blog. [Cisco created a short-term online community for their recent Cisco Live event. This link takes you to my thoughts on how Cisco leveraged social networks to their advantage.]

So my colleague’s question put my brain in gear: What are the pros and cons of a business-to-business company using LinkedIn Groups vs developing YourCo.com/onlinecommunity? Here’s what I jotted down.

LinkedIn Group: The Pros

• Ready-made platform
• Ready-made audience (Note: While 92% of professionals are on LinkedIn, do your research to ensure your audience is LinkedIn.)
• A feature of LinkedIn Groups is the ability to accept and decline membership requests
• Easy to moderate
• It’s already recognized as a platform for professionals to engage and share in thoughtful and insightful conversations
• Awareness of LinkedIn Groups of interest proliferate automatically via regular LinkedIn Update Emails
• Numerous LinkedIn Groups can be established to resonate with specific target audiences

LinkedIn Group: The Cons

• Security
• Intellectual property (IP) protection [My thinking here is along the lines of tech companies that use their online community to provide easy access to bug fixes and other IP-like assets.]
• Not customizable

YourCo.com/onlinecommunity: The Pros

Basically the opposite of LinkedIn Group’s cons:

• Security
• IP protection
• Highly customizable

YourCo.com/onlinecommunity: The Cons

• Budget is required if you need to hire web developers
• Promotion of the site is solely in your hands

While these thoughts only touch the surface, the message is that we marketers need to consider ways to leverage innovative technology whenever we are presented with a challenge.

The Bottom Line: LinkedIn Groups is an online community platform worth considering. The key is to define your goals, target audience, budget, features needed, and the short- and long-term requirements. Then determine which platform will best achieve your online community goals.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

Crosby out.

Tags: linkedin, social networks, online community
 

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