Starting an online community is a commitment, so you really need to understand why you are looking to create one. There are a number of tried and tested steps to launch your community. 1) Identify your own niche, something that would resonate with peoples’ passion. 2) Find a place for your community to gather. You can do it on social media, but there are too many distractions. 3) Populate your community with content. There is no point of inviting member into an empty community platform. 4) Start inviting members from your mailing list and social media 5) keep in mind that having a small and engaged community is better than having large one which is not engaged. It’s better both for revenue and engagement.

There are many examples of online communities. From Facebook Groups to gated community platform the number of online networks is growing fast. We have a number of inspiring communities on our platforms, such as A Year With My Camera (community of photographers) Action for Happiness (mental health support charity) and DADAF (community dedicated to dads). Other examples include:

Cerebral Palsy Alberta (CPAA). CPAA is a registered non-profit that created an empowering online community app they call “Flutter”. Flutter enables people with disabilities and their loved ones to connect to those who can help enhance their quality of life, including health professionals, disability advocates, researchers and more.

Jasmine Mays is a fitness consultant who chose to migrate from Facebook Groups to Disciple in order to gain more control over her content and community. Tired of Facebook’s intrusive practices and seemingly arbitrary censoring of important content she found in Disciple to be the perfect software platform from which to serve the many people who depend on her fitness courses.

The mental health charity Action for Happiness found that many of their members were uneasy discussing sensitive topics using social media apps. They needed to create a safe space in which people could open up without worrying that their deeply personal input would be monetised or otherwise misused. They found the perfect platform with the Disciple Media community platform.

That’s a tricky one. Community is defined by its members. We believe that the true community should be united by a single passion or interest. That’s why social media is not really a community. It’s a group of individuals with different interests and aspirations.

There is no silver bullet when it comes to community building, but you can start by researching a particular gap on the market. We have a community of dads (something that wasn’t that popular when they started) and a community of window cleaners. When you find a gap in the market, it’s much easier to create your community. When you start with Disciple we also provide you with the best tips to grow and engage your community.

A Feature-Rich Community Platform

Online communities built with Disciple are more than just another message board. The Disciple community platform provides a host of useful, state-of-the-art features that enable you to shape the community experience in ways that benefit both your members and the long term business goals of the community leaders. Those features include:

Private messaging – With some community apps, users need to exit and open a third-party messaging app if they wish to send a private message to other members. With Disciple, they can send all the private messages they want without having to disengage from the community.

Push notifications – Have an important event coming up soon? Disciple push notifications allow you to keep community members up-to-date on all the latest goings-on in the community. Notifications can also be targeted and personalised to reach a precise demographic within the larger community.

Moderation tools – Disciple provides robust moderation tools that enable you to establish exacting guidelines and enforce them discreetly and fairly. Every decision will be based on rules you yourself have established.

Live streaming (mobile app) – This feature is perfect for product launches, live events, important announcements and more. Video quality is typically higher than Facebook or Zoom and you are able to stream to every member of the community or target only specific members.

Activity feed – This powerful feature allows you to provide every member of the community with content tailored specifically to them. It’s a great way to ramp up customer engagement and make your members feel like they’re a part of something special.

Outstanding customer support – While your community is yours we don’t just provide you with an app and cut you loose. We are always here to provide technical support that ensures your community hums along without disruptions. Should you opt for a mobile app you will be provided with your own Customer Success Manager.

The end result of more precise and productive content moderation, as well as having greater control over the community environment as a whole, will be an enhanced user experience that promotes long term engagement, shines a flattering light on your brand, and becomes a net positive in the lives of your members.

A Community Platform You Can Monetise

Of course, you may wish to monetise your community in order to ensure its long-term sustainability. Whereas outmoded community platforms like Facebook seem to issue more and more restrictive monetisation rules on a weekly basis, Disciple leaves monetisation decisions up to you.

Not only that, but we provide a wealth of methods for you to choose from when it comes to monetising your Disciple online community, including:

Subscriptions – You can choose to offer a variety of different subscription levels that provide access to different types of content.

In-app purchases – In-app purchases allow you to offer a variety of goods and services to your community members. If yours is a brand-related community, in-app purchases are a must.

Paid app download – While many community builders offer their community app as a free download, you have the option of charging for yours if you wish.

Sponsorships and advertising – Sponsorship deals and in-app advertising are two great, largely hands-off ways to monetise your community.

Store links – If you have an online store separate from your brand community platform you can link to it through your Disciple app.

Apple/Google Pay – These services enable physical purchases as well as allowing non-profits to collect donations.

Instead of restricting your ability to monetise your community, Disciple provides a multitude of ways for you to generate the income necessary to enable your long term community building efforts.