What community building platform should you use?

If you have a community or are expanding one, you are probably using a community building platform, like Slack, Hive, WhatsApp, or a LinkedIn group.

When choosing a community-building platform, there are several important factors to consider based on your goals, target audience, and resources. Here’s a list of key considerations:

1. Audience Needs and Demographics

• Who is your target audience? Ensure the platform matches their preferences, such as ease of use, mobile accessibility, and features they would engage with.
• Size of the community: Some platforms are better for small, niche groups, while others are ideal for large, diverse communities.
• Engagement style: Determine whether your community is more focused on conversations, learning, events, or collaborations, and choose a platform that supports that dynamic.

2. Core Features

• Communication tools: Look for features like forums, messaging (private and group), live chat, video, and social feeds to facilitate interactions.
• Content creation and sharing: Consider platforms that allow members to share posts, videos, blogs, articles, or other media types.
• Customization: Can you tailor the platform to suit your branding, themes, or specific community needs (e.g., custom fields, colors, or layouts)?
• User profiles: Does the platform allow for customizable member profiles and the ability to showcase user-generated content?

3. Moderation and Safety

• Moderation tools: Ensure the platform provides robust moderation features, such as content filtering, reporting, and user permissions.
• Privacy & Security: Check for data privacy regulations compliance (like GDPR) and secure login options (e.g., two-factor authentication).
• Spam prevention: Make sure the platform has tools to combat spam and maintain a healthy environment.

4. User Experience

• Ease of use: Consider how intuitive the platform is for both administrators and community members. A steep learning curve can discourage engagement.
• Mobile-friendly: Ensure the platform is responsive or has a mobile app, especially if your audience is active on smartphones.
• Customization and accessibility: Can the platform be easily customized to provide a consistent and accessible user experience for all members?

5. Scalability and Growth

• Flexibility: Will the platform allow your community to grow and evolve over time with the addition of new features, tools, or integrations?
• Future-proofing: Consider if the platform is continuously updating and improving based on user feedback or if it feels stagnant.

6. Monetization Options

• Membership and subscriptions: Does the platform support paid memberships, subscriptions, or tiered access if you plan to monetize your community?
• Event ticketing and donations: Some platforms offer tools for selling tickets to events or accepting donations directly through the platform.

7. Integration and Third-Party Tools

• Integrations: Can you easily integrate with other tools like CRM systems, marketing platforms, email marketing, analytics tools, etc.?
• API access: If you need further customization or automation, check if the platform offers API access.

8. Analytics and Insights

• Tracking engagement: Does the platform provide analytics on user engagement, activity, and growth to help you measure success?
• Reporting tools: Being able to gather insights into the health and behavior of your community can be essential for adjusting your strategies.

9. Cost and Budget

• Pricing: Compare pricing tiers to see if the platform fits within your budget, considering both upfront costs and ongoing expenses.
• Free trials: Many platforms offer free trials or freemium models, allowing you to test the platform before making a commitment.

10. Support and Customer Service

• Support options: Ensure the platform offers responsive support via chat, email, or a help center. It’s crucial to know that assistance is available if needed.
• Community of admins: A platform with a strong community of administrators can provide insights, best practices, and troubleshooting help.

11. Reputation and Reviews

• User feedback: Look up user reviews, testimonials, or case studies to gauge how others have experienced the platform.
• Success stories: Platforms with proven success in community-building may be more reliable in helping you achieve your goals.

12. Compliance and Legal Considerations

• Terms of service and data ownership: Ensure the platform complies with legal regulations and allows you to maintain ownership of your data and user-generated content.

13. Switching Costs

14. Management Time and Effort

15. Demographic preference

Examples of Platforms to Consider:

• Discourse: Great for forums with an open-source and customizable approach.
• Mighty Networks: Excellent for building niche communities with courses and paid memberships.
• Circle: Focuses on community engagement and collaboration with integrations to existing websites.
• Slack or Discord: Popular for real-time communication and smaller groups, but also flexible for larger communities.
• Facebook Groups or LinkedIn Groups: If you’re looking for something simple and already familiar to your audience.

Here is a guide to the best community platforms and show you where each excels, who they’re best suited for, and what you can expect in terms of pricing, user experience, and functionality so you can make an informed decision.

When choosing a community platform, be sure to start by defining your objectives and key results, the costs of doing so in time and effort, and monitor them on a regular basis. Many platforms are relatively new, so if you have already built one using another older platform, consider what it would take to migrate 35,000 users to a new one or supplementing it with another one that adds value.

Remember that information is the glue that binds communities, so if you are starting one, test and try before you buy.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack