LinkedIn group managers can take advantage of several tools and services to make their groups more valuable for members. I’ve already discussed the pros and cons of a closed LinkedIn group in this space. After you’ve decided on that, you have a few more things to think about. Here are my recommendations/thoughts:

Use the Subgroups. Members of your group can opt in to a subgroup of your main group. This might be a good way to serve members from a particular geographic area, those who have specific interests or needs, or those sharing a common background. If your main, larger group is a closed one, you may choose to allow members of the larger group to join the subgroup without manager approval, or to have a group manager approve each request.

Enable Discussions, News and Jobs. What good is a group without discussions? Enabling this feature allows group members to converse amongst themselves. Giving up control of the conversation can be a scary prospect for some, but it’s the name of the game when it comes to social media. The News option allows group members to post links to news articles AND gives you the opportunity to drop in your organization’s RSS feed. The Jobs board gives group members a forum for finding new hires; enabling this feature means you could help a group member find a job.

Create an Automated Greeting for New Members. When someone new joins your group, they get an email welcoming them. As group manager, you can customize that message with instructions, links and all sorts of information. Make sure you’ve taken full advantage of a communications piece that will go out to every single member as they join.

As always, make sure to put some thought in to the relevance of these tools to your audience. For example, there might be a case where subgroups just aren’t necessary, because your main group is already small in size. Don’t use the tools just because they’re there; think critically about what benefit they’ll have for you and for your group members and then proceed.