Your platform includes FluentCommunity, a private community that lives on your own domain rather than on Facebook or Discord. The members, the rules and the data are yours.
Why a community on your own platform
- There is no algorithm between you and your members. A post reaches everyone, and no one’s feed buries it.
- Members sign in with the same account they use for their courses, so there is no second platform for them to abandon.
- Member list, conversations and content all stay on your platform. You can export them, and no third-party service can hold them hostage.
The building blocks
- Spaces: themed areas, similar to channels. Use them for announcements, general discussion, wins, Q&A or one space per cohort, whatever fits your business.
- Feed: the stream of posts and comments inside each space.
- Members: everyone with access; you control who joins which space.
A sensible starting structure
Start smaller than you think. Three spaces are plenty:
- Start here / Announcements: post-only for you; members read and comment.
- General discussion: open conversation.
- Ask anything: questions about your course topic.
Empty spaces kill communities faster than anything else. Add more only when the existing ones are alive.
Connecting it to courses and purchases
Community access can be automated like everything else on your platform: a purchase or a course enrollment can add a member to the right space automatically, and a course completion can unlock an alumni space. See Automations: make your systems work together.
Moderation basics
Set the tone in a pinned “how we behave here” post in your Start Here space. You (and any moderators you appoint) can remove posts and members from the admin side. Communities mostly self-regulate when the owner is visibly present. A short weekly post from you does more than any rules page.
Getting the first members in
Announce it to your email list with a direct link, and make joining part of your course onboarding (“Lesson 1: introduce yourself in the community”). The first two weeks decide whether a community lives: seed questions, reply to everything, tag members who would have good answers.
