8 Types Of Online Communities: Examples & Tips On How To Build Yours

Make sure to explain what makes your community special and how it will benefit them, such as if it’s solving a specific problem, offering support, or helping members achieve their goals. A learning community stands out because it targets people with a shared interest or struggle. If your focus is too general, it may not attract the right members. The type of community you build will determine how people engage, what value they get, and how you manage it. Many communities offer special resources like a resource library, webinars, or early access to events. In a community, people follow you because they participate, interact, and engage with your same-age-dates.com content or ideas.

Although this is a great idea if you run a fitness or nutrition-based community, it’s not exclusive to that niche. No matter who your audience is, encourage them to get moving with weekly or fortnightly fitness classes. From dancing and Zumba to step aerobics or weight training, decide which type of class would be the best fit for your community and go from there. You can even create leaderboards to encourage further participation and reward community members who engage in the activity.

Vague groups like “anyone starting a business” or “people who like fitness” won’t get you there, they don’t tell you who will really engage. Both types of communities can fuel your growth, sharpen your offers, and deepen your impact. When people feel emotionally connected to your work or business, they stick around. That’s the reason 86% of brands report better and deeper insights into customer needs.

First, let’s go over some key benefits and statistics of online communities to better understand their impact. On Bettermode, customers can connect by asking questions, participating in polls, and posting images and videos. And these members can create profiles and you can assign member roles.

Choose a subscription plugin that enables you to create membership tiers and integrates with popular payment gateways. There is an additional step if you’re going to monetize your community website. Either way, there are steps you need to take when setting up your community. Gamification encourages member engagement with badges, reputation points, or special status. If you’re unsure how to keep your members active and engaged, here are a few ideas to get you started. The second group includes the sales, marketing, and product development departments.

Building an online community is a powerful strategy as it helps you connect with your audience, foster engagement, and drive business growth. By understanding the importance of community, understanding your audience, and choosing the right platform, you can create a valuable ecosystem that benefits community members. Before launching your community, articulate clear objectives and goals that align with your overall business or content strategy. newlineWhether it’s fostering engagement, providing support, or driving sales, having specific goals will guide your community-building efforts and measure success. An online community is a virtual space where like-minded people gather to connect, share information, and engage in discussions around a common interest or goal.

If you’re a solopreneur, you’re on the hook for just about everything. But once your community reaches thousands of members, you’ll likely need help. If you’re using Facebook Groups, It’s a good idea to link your group to your business page. This will help community members follow your non-community posts and help drive a little more traffic to your site. Still, if you want to soften the ask even more, you can offer freebies for new members, which is a common email list-building strategy. Thinkific’s community asks how people found us, if they have an account with us, and for permission to add them to our mailing list.

• According to user reviews, Discourse is a highly recommended community platform that provides a modern, easily extensible platform for users.
• Its community groups offers a platform for users to connect with each other, ask questions, share experiences, and offer support related to pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.
• When you get beyond the forum function, it’s also nice to be able to take a conversation to DM or group chat.

Build directories, programs, and resource hubs with simple layouts. You don’t have to set up separate tools for content, chat, and members. You run everything in one place, with full control over who sees what. That’s useful when you have limited tech support or no IT team at all.

It offers two types of subscriptions – annual and 6-month subscriptions. The table below shows all the platforms we will review in more depth in this guide while looking at each one’s pros and cons, features, and pricing. Swarm has recently introduced the Launch plan which gives members the opportunity to build their community at minimal cost. The jump between Launch and Growth plans might be significant in terms of cost but allows up to 5x the number of members as well as 1 hour live streams.

And there’s a good suite of member management tools and analytics built in. Mighty Networks is G2’s top-rated community management software and it can mix memberships seamlessly with courses and events. And Mighty is designed for engagement, using AI to boost member connections. Building successful online communities with active members creates a two-way conversation between brands and target audiences. Engagement tactics like polls, Q&A sessions, and gamification encourage customers to participate and interact with the business and other users.

Hivebrite is a community platform built specifically for professional and alumni networks, although it can be used for other things. It includes a content management system to organize and publish content, dedicated subgroups where students and alumni can connect, a branded mobile app, and a job board feature. Professional networking platforms, such as LinkedIn, are specifically designed for building and maintaining professional connections.

If you have something people care about — and you want to build connection instead of just traffic — you’re ready to start a community on Whop. Many creators begin by managing everything themselves, but as your group scales, you’ll need help. Bring on moderators or a community manager early to handle member requests and keep discussions healthy. In addition to community guidelines, you need community moderators. They welcome new members, facilitate engagement, monitor user-generated content, and enforce codes of conduct. These questions will help you understand what customers expect from online communities.

But since the discussion isn’t usually in real-time, it allows for a conversation over days, weeks, and even years. The platform supports community-driven learning and collaboration, enabling users to create spaces for courses, memberships, and events. It is designed to integrate seamlessly with other tools and services, making it a flexible option for those who already have existing ecosystems.

Popular Features

Here we discuss and compare some of the most popular community-building platforms to help you create your online community and stay engaged with activities and sessions. And while it’s nice in theory, the completion rates of traditional online asynchronous courses are abysmally low. As a result, more and more people are looking for a course that’s not just for them to watch; they’re looking for the engagement that only a community can bring. Keeping your community dynamic and fresh is key to sustaining engagement. Regularly update your community content by introducing new topics in forums, hosting unique live events, or adding new gamification elements. Keeping the content fresh ensures that members have new reasons to return and participate.

Features Offered By Website Toolbox

The virtual version is a fantastic way to spark creativity and make your community members laugh. Show-and-tell activities will help community members get to know and understand each other better. Online talent shows are a great way to encourage members to share their skills and interests with the rest of the community. Create a code of conduct to be your guide to online etiquette, detailing what is and what is not okay to post in the community. Include a link to these guidelines in the community so members can easily reference this document. All it takes is two or three trolls to ruin even a 40,000-user community — trust us, we’ve seen it before.

You’ll need to understand goals that various stakeholder groups are striving for. That’s not only among users – it’s also among your internal team and leadership. If you’re able to afford paid community platforms, you should create a list of features you’re looking for and compare them with the items we listed in this article. Nas.io is a community platform that lets you set up a membership, sell digital products, and host events in one place.

Effective Tips For Maximizing Community Engagement

Request a quote from its official website to get pricing plans for Glue Up’s Community Management Suite. It also gives your members a chance to get to know each other a bit more privately than on the main forum, and gives you the foundation to foster real friendships in your community. But also, gamification can be an amazing tool to boost engagement (whether it’s AI-driven or not). Look for things like recognitions, streaks, leaderboards, unlocks, and customization for the member journeys. Spaces allow you to gather smaller groups of community members around shared interests.

A whop is the home of your online business – or in this case, your online community. It’s free to start and only takes a small cut when you get paid. Whop also handles payments and customer support for you, with response times under three minutes and a 97% satisfaction rate. This clarity helps you design a space they’ll actually want to join. For example, if you’re teaching job seekers, your audience research might show that many already have jobs but want promotions — meaning they’re willing to invest in premium guidance. Turning your customer base into an engaged community of active members takes time and effort, but the result is a dedicated group of brand ambassadors.

If you’re hosting your community on your own platform, you can customize things like fonts, colors, and key imagery, without the noise and distractions that come with social community platforms. Add a lesson to your welcome chapter, and the welcome email, with a link to join the group and a summary of what they can expect by joining. It will certainly take more work on your part at the start of building your online community.