Why add a community?

Courses teach; communities retain. A private community gives your students and customers a place to ask questions, share wins, and connect with each other — which increases course completion, reduces churn on memberships, and turns customers into advocates. Viral Growth includes community features so you can run this alongside your courses instead of sending members off to a social network you don't control.

Create a community group

Click Memberships in the left sidebar and open the Communities tab.
Click Create Group.
Add the essentials: a group name, description, cover image, and logo. This is your community's front door, so make it clearly yours.
Choose the group's visibility and access — for example, private (members must be approved or granted access) versus discoverable. For paid communities, tie access to an offer so purchasing unlocks the group automatically, just like a course.
Set your community's custom URL so you can share a clean link.

Set up channels

Channels keep conversations organized by topic. Instead of one noisy feed, create focused spaces:

Inside the group, click Add Channel.
Create a small starter set — more channels are not better at launch. A proven starting lineup:
- Welcome / Introductions — new members post an intro; easy first engagement.
- Announcements — admin-only posting for updates and events.
- General Discussion — the main conversation space.
- Wins — members share results; the best retention channel you'll ever create.
- Questions & Support — course-related help.
Reorder channels so the most important ones sit at the top.

Invite and onboard members

Share the group link directly, or grant access through an offer so buyers land in the community automatically.
Add a pinned welcome post in your Welcome channel explaining what the community is for, where to start, and the rules.
Seed the first week with content yourself — a question of the day, a poll, a behind-the-scenes post. Empty communities stay empty; active ones compound.

Moderation basics

Publish rules up front. Three to five simple rules (be respectful, no self-promotion without permission, keep it on topic) prevent most problems before they start.
Assign roles. Promote trusted members to moderator so someone is always watching the feed. Admins manage settings and channels; moderators handle content and members.
Use your tools. Moderators can remove posts and comments, pin important threads, and remove or block members who repeatedly break rules.
Act fast on spam. Delete it and message the poster once; remove repeat offenders. Visible spam signals an unmanaged community.
Moderate in private. Correct behavior via direct message rather than public call-outs — it keeps the tone constructive.

Note: Community engagement follows a 90/9/1 pattern — most members read, some react, few post. That's normal and healthy. Judge your community by whether questions get answered and members keep showing up, not by whether everyone posts daily.

FAQs

Can I run a paid community without a course? Yes — attach the group to a paid offer on its own. Community-only memberships are a popular recurring-revenue model.
Can members access the community and courses with one login? Yes, the same member login covers courses and community groups they've been granted.
Should I allow member self-promotion? Most communities restrict it to a dedicated channel or a weekly thread. Unlimited promotion reliably degrades feed quality.