Community Management: The Key Ingredient to a Robust Online Presence

You’ve built a name and established your brand online, which is excellent. But remember that the key ingredient is the community of supporters and followers you have amassed over time that has strengthened your online presence.

Why are communities important?

Communities enhance your brand’s visibility on social media since they promote engagement. In addition, each active engagement brings your brand closer to your users.

Community software and community platforms are the same things. These tools help build robust, dedicated online communities.

The best community software also integrates content, community, courses, and commerce to provide value to members.

Using modern community software platforms allows you to manage your community more efficiently than ever.

There are online courses that will help members reach their goals faster, private or premium groups where members can go deeper into specific topics, and native mobile apps that allow members to check in anywhere they are.

It’s more important than ever to stay connected with your customers, especially during a disaster like the Covid-19 pandemic, when online platforms are the primary – and sometimes the only – means of communicating.

For many businesses, community engagement software has proved indispensable for reaching target audiences, but it offers more benefits than that.

Community engagement software has many benefits, but what are they?

Customer communities are becoming increasingly popular among businesses to engage their customers, manage interactions and provide timely support. Sounds familiar? Because customer communities accomplish many of the same objectives as customer engagement platforms.

In a few key ways, a customer community platform is like a modern-day customer experience platform.

Community platforms help manage the customer lifecycle and provide a goldmine for customer analytics, just like CEPs do. At their core, however, they are a shared online space between brands and customers that helps bridge the gap between them. Through user-generated content, customer communities facilitate one-to-many interactions. Let’s explore the advantages of customer communities in more detail.

Your brand could benefit from investing in community software in the following ways:

Enhances and streamlines customer service

It has been traditional to provide physical customer support within a contact center, but it has become increasingly expensive and challenging to manage, particularly during a pandemic.

However, online engagement platforms or community engagement software can enable consumers’ issues or queries to be handled remotely due to their “always on” approach.

An online support portal allows customers to access digital self-service to find solutions.

As a result, customer support can become more effective, efficient, streamlined, and, ultimately, more affordable.

A better security system

It can be safer for employees and customers to collect and store information on secure digital platforms.

Using an online platform eliminates the risk of physical documents being lost or compromised.

Boosts employee and customer engagement

You can keep staff and customers engaged with the gamification features and the conversation-starting/resolving forums, increasing the likelihood that they will produce new, diverse content and valuable data for your business.

Capturing and analyzing data more quickly

You can also use all the data you gather – whether it’s data or user-generated content – for marketing analysis and planning.

In addition, you can also roll out any marketing or business improvement plans much faster than if you were starting from scratch.

Enhances brand recognition

The more word gets out about these platforms and how helpful they can be to your business, the better it will be for your potential customers and recruits.

Using community engagement software will enable you to provide customers with quality service and attract prospective employees with its benefits.

Creating innovative solutions

You can build your setup with the newest features and intelligent technology with community engagement software and online engagement platforms.

By doing so, your business will continue to demonstrate its commitment to driving innovation and development.

Enhances sales, profits, and retention

Ultimately, if you combine the above strategies, your employees and clients will be happier, more enthused, and more productive, eventually increasing sales and profitability.

Take a closer look at community engagement software, and learn how these innovative platforms can benefit your business.

White-label community software: what is it?

Community Software (sometimes referred to as white-label community platforms) is software that comes pre-built for communities.

Rather than starting from scratch, creators can customize their online communities’ look, feel, and features.

White-label communit

y software is an excellent option for creators looking to save time and money.

A few examples of community software are presented here that creators can use to create their own memberships and communities.

Nas.io

The content creator and CEO of Nas Company, Nuseir Yassin, has launched a new tech platform called Nas.io.

Online community leaders can start and manage a growing online community more easily with Nas.io’s modern, intuitive tech solutions.

Engage members and communicate with them

In light of the ever-changing algorithms of the most popular social media platforms, community managers need help reaching their audience. In recent years, community managers have turned to group chat platforms for smaller niche groups. However, this poses a number of challenges, such as the fact that members may become lost once they join the group.

Using Nas.io, you can manage existing chat platforms like Facebook Groups, WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, or Slack by adding a management layer. For example, community landing pages can be used by managers to inform members of what to expect in the conversation. In addition, Nas.io allows community managers to send emails and messages to their communities via a unique feature called Magic Reach. It automatically determines the best way to communicate with community members, depending on how they prefer to be contacted and which platform they are most active on.

Event creation and management

The best community builders provide their members with both in-person and virtual events that they can enjoy.

Event creation and management are simplified with Nas.io with everything from calendar invite to virtual meeting rooms to registration forms.

Members can access a customized event page by filling out three primary fields, which generates a Zoom link that can be shared with them automatically.

Community managers can expect higher attendance and engagement rates by sending and saving notifications to members’ calendars, emails, and mobile apps. The manager can also set up a hassle-free payment processing system should there be an admission fee to join these events. The platform can also handle member authentication to ensure exclusivity.

Maintain a sustainable community

Community managers who wish to sustain their community can earn through the monetization features that Nas.io offers.

Creators can choose to make their communities accessible, paid, or even NFT-gated, based on membership subscription fees, exclusive content access, and event participation. The membership can be paid with credit or debit cards, PayPal, or even cryptocurrencies, depending on the member’s needs.

Hivebrite

This community platform was initially designed and geared towards alumni communities that have become a full-service community management tool.

The software provides users with the essentials: Think groups, messaging, and a discussion forum.

Utilizing Hivebrite’s all-in-one platform, organizations can create, manage, and engage a vibrant network of alumni, professionals, or supporters.

In addition to allowing the creation of branded community portals, the addition of custom user profile fields, and the selection of features that are most relevant to each community, You can customize this modular platform to meet the individual needs and characteristics of each community.

The platform’s powerful features make it easy to manage and interact with members of the online community.

By using this tool, users are able to send messages and promotions to specific members by using search and targeting filters. Furthermore, they can create a variety of ticket types, collect payments online, and invite members of the community as well as external users to attend events, in addition to scheduling and promoting events.

Member data management

By using Hivebrite, users can easily organize, manage, and update information about the members of their online community.

Users may launch profile update campaigns to facilitate community members updating their profiles without logging into Hivebite.

You can also update

the member data in bulk and use filters to find specific individuals or groups.

A centralized and automated communication system

All communication with members can be automated and centrali

zed using a single platform.

A user can send targeted emails, automated newsletters, in-app alerts, or push notifications to members of their online community.

Building a vibrant network with these features is a great way to keep everyone updated.

Managing paid events

The features available on Hivebrite make it easy for users to plan and organize events that raise money for charity.

A built-in calendar allows users to schedule events on the platform easily.

The company can also create a variety of tickets, allow participants to register online and pay for the event via credit card, and send out email reminders and invitations to the event.

It is also possible for them to promote their events on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Despite this, it needs more robust community platform features: live events are not supported, so there can be no Q&A sessions, group coaching, or virtual meetings.

In addition, it offers features to strengthen community engagement and allow people to build connections with other members.

Whether it is alumni job boards recommending each other for opportunities, online donation drives for community fundraising, or finding nearby people via GPS, Hivebrite continually enhances how communities are brought together.

You can manage and engage members with complete control over your brand and community with Hivebrite’s suite of tools. For example, you can customize your community website with your logo and colors. In addition, multiple admins can be created and assigned rights and roles to manage the website.

Various options are available for defining how members will access the platform, such as signup forms, paid signups, SSO (Single Sign On), and social sign-in (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Xing). In addition, users can create public pages, member areas, menus, and more using Hivebrite’s integrated content management system.

The platform integrates with customer relationship management systems and social media sites and offers a mobile application for iOS and Android that users can customize with logos, colors, and branding.

Bettermode 

Bettermode, formerly Tribe, is a white-label community software solution for big businesses looking to add a community component to their sites.

It allows members to start discussions, share content, participate in polls, and more.

The Bettermode customer community platform engages customers and builds meaningful relationships.

Customer support and success teams create knowledge bases and resource centers with Bettermode.

Communication with customers, event planning, and content creation are all responsibilities of marketing teams.

The platform has a high level of customization, an app ecosystem, third-party integrations, and premade templates that simplify setting up a community.

However, they do not offer much in the way of robust community features: you cannot create and host online courses or live events, you cannot direct message other members, and you cannot monetize—that means you cannot create a membership-based site using it.

There is no doubt that Bettermode is an excellent platform suitable for both creators and brands.

With Bettermode, you can create communities on the web or mobile devices.

In addition, you can convert them into apps (PWAs) and fully customize your community to reflect your brand.

Components such as activity feeds, groups, posts, etc., can be converted into widgets and easily embedded inside your site.

Popular social media sites inspire the design.

In other words, you create your own Facebook, Quora, and LinkedIn.

The tool is also highly secure and allows you to build GDPR-compliant communities.

With the Social Login system, your members can quickly join your community using Facebook, Slack, LinkedIn, Google, and Twitter.

A few key features to keep in mind are as follows:

You can personalize content based on activity feeds like those found on social media sites.

Rich media support (e.g., direct video upload) for different types of posts.

Members can do upvotes, comments, and replies to posts.

Create sub-communities and categorize content using groups and topics.

Customize the CSS theme by adding your brand assets, changing the colors, and adding your brand assets.

Websites can be enhanced with social components using embeddable widgets.

With 25+ languages to choose from, you can localize your community.

Ensure members are engaged by using powerful notification tools.

A rich gamification system that includes reputation scores, badges, and leaderboards

Combining user-driven flagging, standard moderator tools (e.g., edit, delete), and automation (e.g., keyword blacklisting) to create a moderation system.

A powerful SEO strategy that ensures search engines index your community quickly

This software platform gives you complete control over the members and content data.

You can connect Tribe with 2000+ popular apps by connecting with 20+ third-party tools, such as Zapier.

You can use SSO to grant existing users access to your community.

You can measure critical metrics for your community with extensive reporting capabilities.

Thinkific

One of the most popular all-in-one community platforms, Thinkific offers a variety of features and is easy to use.

Known for its ease of use, this is one of the best platforms for creating, selling, and maintaining online courses.

Thinkific allows you to create sales and course pages, manage users, and sell your online course through coupons and an affiliate program.

This LMS platform operates cloud-based, so Thinkific hosts all your pages and content.

You can point your domain name to Thinkific pages if you already have one. You can use separate hosting if you’re at the beginning stages of running your business and funds are limited.

Besides being one of the most affordable platforms, it also allows users to create informative and engaging courses.

There are many features included in Thinkific, including a drag-and-drop editor, course management, and payment processing.

A platform like this might be the best option if you want to control your community experience.

Besides courses, videos, and articles, you can also share any kind of content.

Building and growing your community is more accessible when you use your trusted tools and services.

By tracking your content’s performance, you can find out what works and what needs improvement.

There are several important characteristics to take note of, including:

Create a professional website with a drag-and-drop website builder.

A complete e-commerce solution is included, so you can begin selling immediately.

Flexible products allow you to offer a wide range of services and products

With Market & Sell, you can reach more customers through marketing tools and social media integrations

You can customize the appearance of your website by using themes

You can completely customize your website’s design with advanced customizations

Mighty Networks

All the features you need to run an online community are in one place with this popular community software platform: subscriptions, memberships, courses, and so much more. Moreover, you can access it instantly via the web and mobile apps.

As well as polls, direct messaging, and paid groups, Mighty Networks also offers robust community features.

All the tools you need to grow and monetize your online business are incorporated into Mighty Networks. The Mighty Networks platform allows you to manage and create a variety of content, build sales and landing pages, and even accept payments once you’re ready to monetize your work.

The Mighty Networks platform brings together creators and entrepreneurs’ communities, online courses, sales pages, and more, all under one brand, on the web, and across mobile platforms.

Chat messages, subgroups, member categories, and an activity feed connect community members.

With a rich CMS, you can write articles, embed images, videos, and sound files, as well as ask questions and post polls, with commenting and liking support.

The platform is user-friendly and has the potential to improve community engagement.

The Mighty Network platform allows you to repurpose your existing community completely.

Using this approach, you can build powerful, lag-free courses and community tools that will wow your students.

Then you can start charging people for your courses, resources, or whatever else you see fit by developing dynamic websites, enhancing, rebuilding, or creating a community. Mighty Networks is about protecting your courses from weak paywalls and letting them shine while earning an income.

Rather than just earning an income, Mighty Networks focuses on building a community.

The Mighty Networks platform is an excellent place to start if you want to turn your ideas and passion into a community-centered online space.

Mighty Networks isn’t just for educators – it’s for business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to start selling courses and resources online.

This platform has a slight learning curve, but it doesn’t take too long to grasp. It’s an intuitive, easy-to-learn system that anyone can learn and use.

The following are some key features you should take into account:

Member activity feeds customized to their interests

Articles and topics

A direct private messaging service

Create a community that is public, private, or paid

Automate workflows with Zapier

Data Analytics

Domain created specifically for you

Membership fees

Conclusion

Through user-generated content, engagement, and of course, adding value to your community network, a customer community platform can help businesses embrace the voice of their customers.

Businesses can use customer communities to facilitate one-to-many interactions, helping them bridge the gap between brands and their customers.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want assistance leveraging customer communities or strengthening your community management goals.