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All About Communities: A Master Help Guide
All About Communities: A Master Help Guide

Learn all about the Ivorey™ community feature, and how to create, manage and promote your free or paid groups!

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Written by Grace
Updated over a month ago

Getting Started With Ivorey™ Communities

Before you steam ahead setting up your communities, here's some good-to-know information that will ensure you understand how communities work in Ivorey™, and whether a community is the right fit for your needs.

Learn the basics of communities

Ivorey™ communities are designed to replace tools like Mighty Networks, Skool, Discord Facebook groups etc. Whilst you may be running a membership, a mastermind or a group program, - think of a "community" as an interactive space for your users to engage with each other, share content, ask questions and build connections. Once you create a community, you can provide login details for people to access the beautifully branded portal you create online.

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Ivorey™ communities can be structured to organize different topics of conversation into channels. These community areas are seamlessly integrated into your courses, eliminating the need for separate community software. You can create an integrated experience by linking relevant courses in the learning tab, some members also utilize this feature to upsell other courses. You can help members keep track of upcoming calls using the events calendar and encourage participation by using gamification tools like leaderboards and rewards.

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When someone purchases a product, you can automatically grant access and send login details via a workflow. We have pre-made email templates ready for you inside the Ivorey™ Template Library to shortcut this process for you!

How many communities do I need?

Most Ivorey™ clients setup multiple communities, breaking them down by offer type. For example, a Coach or Course Creator could have all of these course portals:

  1. A community to host their Membership

  2. A community to host all their Group Programs

  3. A community to host all their Masterminds

  4. A free community to develop relationships and act as a lead magnet

By giving each community its own space, you can customize the branding, who gets access and take full control. Plus you can seamlessly navigate between them using the switcher.

How long will it take to setup my community?

Besides from loading in your actual content (e.g. pinned posts, videos, adding events to the calendar) - each community portal will take approximately 20 minutes to fully brand and set up - including all your automated emails that will attach to each community (since we have pre-made all of the templates for you!) Once you've made your first community portal, it will become even quicker next time since you can clone/duplicate the first portal and just make some small adjustments.

Which type of community should I choose?

There are three types of communities available in Ivorey™ you can choose to create a private, paid or free community.

  1. Private/Paid Communities: In these communities, users must be invited or have a paid subscription to access the linked course.
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  2. Free Communities: Members automatically gain access to the linked course, regardless of whether they've paid separately for it or not.

What's the difference between a community and a course?

A course is a portal that houses all your learning material and content. A community is similar to a facebook group - its a place where you connect, collaborate and chat with your members.

Can the Ivorey™ team setup my community portal for me?

Absolutely! Our mission is to close what we've coined the 'Implementation Gap', which is why women hire us to "do it for them" every single day! Browse and book a done-for-you service right here.

How To Setup A New Community: A Step-By-Step Guide

Below is a step-by-step guide of how to setup your new community - just select the drop-down and follow along!

STEP 1: Set up your Client Portal

Ivorey's client portal feature allows you to create a centralised hub for your clients to access your courses, community, affiliate programs, invoices and contracts all in the one place. This will be the same client portal for all of your courses and communities, so you only need to do this once.

TIP: If you have already set up your client portal you’ll only need to complete this once, so skip ahead to the next step!

STEP 1.1: Create a custom domain for your client portal

  1. Click on [Site Pages] in the left-hand menu of Ivorey™
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  2. On the top bar, select [Client Portal] then > [Settings]
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  3. Click [Domain Setup] to setup your Client Portal domain
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    1. Option 1: Customize your client portal domain by updating the text in the “Sub Domain” section, OR
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    2. Option 2: For a unique domain name, you can create a subdomain using your domain provider for example: clients.yourdomain.com

STEP 1.2: Customize your client portal branding

  1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to [Site Pages] then > [Client Portal] then > select [Settings] from the drop-down menu.
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  2. Click [Branding] and follow the prompts, and don't forget to save your changes!

STEP 1.3: Setup your user profile inside your client portal

  1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to [Site Pages] then > [Client Portal] then > select [Dashboard]
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  2. Click on your [Client Portal URL] and login. If this is your first time logging in you'll be prompted to set up your password.
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  3. At the top left, select the Circle image placeholder, select [View or Edit Profile]
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  4. Follow the prompts to setup your profile, and don't forget to save!

STEP 2: Create A New Community Group And Setup Your Profile

Start by creating your new community group, then customize it to suit your needs. Follow the steps and prompts shown, or watch the video below.

STEP 2.1: Create a new community group in Ivorey™

  1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, select [Courses] then > [Communities] then > [Groups].
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  2. Select [Create Group] and follow the prompts.

STEP 2.2: Set up your user profile for your communities

  1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, select [Courses] then > [Communities] then > [Groups].
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  2. Click on your [Community] and login. If this is your first time logging in you'll be prompted to set up your password.
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  3. At the top left, select the Circle image placeholder, select [View or Edit Profile] and follow the prompts.

STEP 3: Customize Your Group Channels and Branding

With your group made, you're now ready for the fun part - customizing it! The next step is to add channels, think of these as dedicated discussion areas within your community, allowing people to engage on specific topics. You can also tailor each group to reflect your brand's unique style and aesthetics. If you have multiple communities, you can create a distinct feel when your members toggle through the different ones they are in.

STEP 3.1: How to create channels inside your community

  1. Click on the [Community] you want to edit
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  2. Once inside on the bottom left, select [Add Channels] and follow the prompts
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  3. You can also opt to make some channels private if you desire to

STEP 3.2: Customize your community branding

  1. From the Ivorey™ main menu, click on [Courses] then > [Community] then > [Groups]
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  2. Select the community you wish to customize, select [Settings] then select [Themes]
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  3. Choose from pre-designed [Community Themes] or leverage the [Custom Theme] option to incorporate your brand's hex codes for a tailored look.
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  4. Click [Save] to apply your chosen theme.

TIP: Be sure to regularly hit ‘save’ so you don’t lose your work!

STEP 4: Add a Course To Your Community Learning Tab (Optional)

Create an integrated experience by linking courses to your community so that your users can access both course content and community discussions from a single, convenient location. You'll notice your community has a 'Learning' tab. This is where you can add courses.

STEP 4.1: Learn use cases and considerations for adding courses to communities

  1. The courses that you add to the learning tab will show up to all members of that community, there is currently no way to hide who sees what. Due to this, be sure to only add courses here that you'd be happy for all members of that community to see.
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  2. When you add courses, you can set them as free. This is a great option if you have a group program, course or mastermind for example, where all of the members inside the community all get access to the matching course. You could add the course into the learning tab and set it to free.
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  3. You also have the option to set them as paid. This is a great option for free communities, or more general memberships where there's a mixed bag of people inside and you'd like to create more opportunities to sell. Members can click on a course and buy it directly from the community, from whatever price you set it for inside that community itself. If someone already has access to that course, they'll be able to login to it without paying.
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  4. If you don't want to use this feature - you don't need to! Members can always use the 'Home' tab to see all of their courses, so adding additional things to the learning area is not a requirement.

STEP 4.2: Add courses to your community learning area (optional)

  1. Login to the community you want to edit as an admin.
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  2. Navigate to the [Learning] tab then > [Community] then [Add Course] and follow the prompts.

STEP 5: Add an Event Calendar To Your Community (Optional)

Ready to take your community engagement to the next level? The events calendar is designed to help you easily create, manage, and join exciting gatherings within your groups. Whether you’re hosting a local meetup, online workshop, or celebration, the new Events Calendar feature makes it easier than ever to bring your community together and keep everyone in the loop!

STEP 5.1: How to add events to your community

  1. Login to the community you want to add an event and select the [Events] tab.
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  2. On the top bar, select [Community] then > select [+ Event] and follow the prompts

NOTE: When you create new events in your community, it will automatically send a notification to whoever you chose as eligible for that event. It will also send automated reminders about the event so you don't have to worry about doing that manually yourself!

STEP 6: Create Rewards To Gamify Your Community (Optional)

Gamification is proven to increase user activity, retention, and satisfaction in online communities. Gamify your community to boost engagement, foster competition, and reward loyal members!

By default, Ivorey™ communities will create leaderboards that celebrate members who are proactively engaging in the community through posting, commenting and liking. You can also add your own rewards system on top of this, to actually gift them something when they hit a certain tier. For example, you could encourage community engagement by having free merch, bonus calls, or access to paid courses/communities through your rewards program.

STEP 6.1: How to setup rewards in your community

  1. Login to the community you want to edit and select the [Settings] then > [Gamification & Rewards] and follow the prompts.
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  2. Make sure you have additional workflows or monitoring to actually gift people the rewards once they hit the rank - the inbuilt feature just manages the reward system, but you will need to actually grant them access/deliver the reward to them.

STEP 7: Choose How To Sell or Promote Your Community

There are multiple ways you can sell or promote your community. Use the drop-downs below to find your prefered way!
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Option 1: Share the direct link to your group

By sharing the URL straight to your group, they'll be able to see some basic info about your group, then subscribe and pay. If your group is free, they wont need to pay anything - but both options still require them to create their own account. Once they do this, they will have access the community and also be saved as a new contact inside of Ivorey™

Option 2: Sell your group via a website or funnel

If you prefer to create a proper sales page about your community, you can follow the Funnels Master Help Guide which will show you how to create a sales page, checkout page and thank you page - then a workflow that grants access to your community. Once you grant access, you just need to include an email in the workflow that links them to your community group. From there, they'll be able to create their own account and login.
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TIP: If you have a standalone paid community that you are seriously invested in growing - then for best practice, we usually suggest building a proper funnel with an order form on a dedicated checkout page. Although it's slightly more upfront work, you'll be able to get the best tracking and analytics, where you can see how many people viewed your sales page, abandoned cart, and converted. You will also be able to add bump offers at the checkouts and upsells on the thank you pages. Funnels give you the most flexibility, control, and opportunities to increase conversion.

Option 3: Include your group as part of another purchase

Many Ivorey™ members sell courses, group programs and masterminds that they want to provide a community for. In this case, all you need to do is add one step in your post-purchase workflow for the other product, to "Grant Access To Group". This will tell Ivorey™ they have permission to join the group without charge. You just need to include an email in the workflow that links them to your community group. From there, they'll be able to create their own account and login.

CONGRATULATIONS! You've officially setup your community and are ready to start welcoming your first members through the door! 🥂

Frequently Asked Questions About Communities

Is there a limit on how many groups I can have?

There are currently no restrictions on the number of groups or the number of users within the groups that you can create in a Community. It's important to be aware that this may be subject to change.

Is there an app people can access my community from?

Yes! Please download the Kollab app (here for iPhone and here for Google) which is a free inclusion of all Ivorey™ plans. You will use the same login details as you usually do for your community. You can provide all of your members the same details to also download the Kollab app - and sign in with their own login details too.

Can I white-label my own app for courses and communities?

We are so excited to say that yes - you can! The Kollab app that has been shared above, is also available to white-label with all your own name, courses, community and branding. There is a 3-4 week process to complete the legal documentation required by Apple and Google, but once you do that - it gets officially lodged in the app store (it's a real app!) and your clients or student download it to access all of your content and communities on-the-go! The white-label app can be added onto your current plan for $79 USD per month. To get started, follow the steps below:

  1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to [Communities] then > [White Labelled App].

  2. Follow the prompts to subscribe and complete your payment.

  3. You will be redirected to a form where you need to answer questions and lodge some business information in accordance with legal requirements from Apple and Google to be able to get in their app store.

  4. You can also add the colors, images etc for your app - and you'll be notified when it's live and ready to go!

How can I grant admin access for my team to manage my community?

  1. Click on [Courses] in the left-hand menu of Ivorey™

  2. On the top bar, select [Communities]

  3. Select the Community you would like to grant admin access to and login when prompted

  4. On the right side of the screen select [Invite Members]

  5. Under 'Invite via Email' enter your team member's name and email then make sure to toggle on 'Give Administrative Privileges' before clicking [Send Invite]

Can people see all my groups available to join?

Inside the settings for each community group, you'll see an option that allows you to choose between Public or Private. Private means only members can see the contents of that group, whereas public is available for anyone to see - even if they aren't a member. Just below that setting, there is another option that says "Accessible From Switcher" - toggle this ON if you want people to be able to browse all your available groups (no matter whether they are public or private). Turn it OFF if you don't want it shown.

How can I change my community's URL?

You can only modify your community URL once so it’s important to carefully check spelling before saving any changes.

How can I remove a member from my community?

To remove a member from a community:

  1. Click on [Courses] in the left-hand menu of Ivorey™

  2. On the top bar, hover over [Communities] and then select [Groups]

  3. Select the Community you would like to remove a member from

  4. Select the [Members] tab

  5. Find the member you'd like to remove and select the three dots next to their name

  6. Select [Remove Member]

How can I add links into my community?

To add links inside your Community follow these steps:

  1. Click on [Courses] in the left-hand menu of Ivorey™

  2. On the top bar, hover over [Communities] and then select [Groups]

  3. Select the Community you would like to add a link to

  4. On the right side of the screen select [Settings]

  5. Select [Links] then [Add Link]

  6. Add your description, URL and choose whether you'd like to make your link public or private then click [Add Link]

Note: You can add up to 3 links inside your Community. If you'd like to link more courses within your community, consider using the 'Courses' feature inside the 'Learning' tab within your community

How can I close a community that’s no longer active?

  1. Click on [Courses] in the left-hand menu of Ivorey™

  2. On the top bar, select [Communities]

  3. Change the status of your Community to from 'active' to 'inactive'

  4. On the deactivation pop up, click [Confirm]

Once a community has been made inactive, members will no longer be able to post but you as an admin are still able to view the community.

How does the chat feature work inside of communities?

Inside any group, select the [Chat] button on the top right and you'll see a list of your group members pop-up. Click on any member to initiate a private chat with them. If you'd like to disable the chat feature within any of your community groups, please login to your group, then go to your [Profile] in the top right, then [Account Settings] and you can toggle the chat feature on/off.

How do I link my community group to my client portal so members can access it?

Go to Site Pages > Client Portal > Settings > Apps/Permissions > in here you can toggle on or off the assets you want your clients to be able to see inside their client portal

STILL NEED HELP? We're just a chat away. Send a message via the widget inside your Ivorey™ account, and we'll be there to support you! You can also browse our done-for-you services if you want us to do the work for you instead 💙

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