What are the best practices for creating and moderating an exclusive social media community?

1 Define your purpose and goals

Before you create an exclusive social media community, you need to have a clear vision of why you are doing it and what you want to achieve. What is the main topic, theme, or problem that your community will focus on? What are the benefits and expectations for your members? What are the metrics and indicators that will measure your success? Having a well-defined purpose and goals will help you shape your community strategy, structure, and content, as well as communicate your value proposition to your potential members.

2 Choose the right platform and tools

The next step is to choose the best platform and tools for your exclusive social media community. Depending on your target audience, budget, and features, you may opt for a dedicated platform like Mighty Networks, Circle, or Tribe, or use an existing social media network like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. You may also want to integrate other tools like email marketing, analytics, or gamification to enhance your community experience. Whatever you choose, make sure it aligns with your purpose and goals, and offers a user-friendly and secure environment for your members.

3 Create a membership model and criteria

Another important decision is how you will select and manage your members. Will your community be free or paid? Will it be open to anyone or require an invitation or application? Will it have different levels of access or privileges? How will you verify and onboard your members? How will you retain and reward your members? Creating a membership model and criteria will help you define your community boundaries, standards, and incentives, as well as attract and retain the right members for your community.

4 Develop a content and engagement plan

Content is the lifeblood of any social media community, especially an exclusive one. You need to create and share valuable, relevant, and engaging content that meets your members' needs, interests, and preferences. You also need to encourage and facilitate interaction, collaboration, and feedback among your members, as well as between you and your members. Developing a content and engagement plan will help you plan, schedule, and deliver your content, as well as monitor and measure your community performance and satisfaction.

5 Establish rules and guidelines

Every exclusive social media community needs rules and guidelines to maintain order, respect, and quality. Rules and guidelines are the norms and expectations that you set for your members and yourself as the community creator and moderator. They cover topics like membership criteria, content types and formats, communication etiquette, feedback mechanisms, conflict resolution, and consequences for violations. Establishing rules and guidelines will help you create a positive and productive community culture, as well as prevent and address any issues or problems that may arise.

6 Moderate and evolve your community

Finally, you need to moderate and evolve your exclusive social media community. Moderating means overseeing, facilitating, and supporting your community activities, interactions, and feedback. It also means enforcing your rules and guidelines, resolving any conflicts or complaints, and removing any inappropriate or harmful content or members. Evolving means adapting, improving, and growing your community based on your members' needs, interests, and feedback, as well as your own goals and insights. Moderating and evolving your community will help you keep it relevant, respectful, and valuable.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?