The 7 Steps to Creating an Online Community (With Examples)

 The benefits of developing an online community are apparent, whether you're a niche expert, an online course provider, or a Fortune 500 firm.

Among other things, communities may convert your followers into engaged evangelists, boost traffic to your website, assist you in client retention, and enhance your income.

In this post, we'll teach you how to create an online community by using examples from entrepreneurs and online course producers that have created active communities around their business and brand.

You’ll learn:

• What is an online community

• Why build an online community

• Common types of online communities

• How to build an online community

• How to grow an online community

What is an online community?

An online community is a collection of people who convene in a virtual place and share shared interests, ideas, and goals.

Depending on your company objectives, this might take the shape of a private group where you can exchange fitness programme learnings and transformation tales. It might also resemble an open forum where hundreds of people congregate to exchange materials and criticism on their photography.

Whatever platform you choose, online communities are an excellent method to foster genuine interactions among your fans. They provide your viewers the ability to:

• discuss topics that interest them 

• engage with a brand, online course instructor, or other community figure

• learn together

• collaborate on projects

• share advice and related news

Why build an online community?

Online forums may be a terrific method to bring your students together in one location to debate course content, apply what they've learned, and ask questions. This also allows you to gauge what your audience wants to learn from you.

Thinkific's online community is a method for us to bring our customers (and future customers) together in one place to exchange ideas, discuss strategy, and gain practical feedback on our product.

Benefits of online communities

Regardless of your team size, there are many common benefits to creating an online community:

• Make a name for yourself as a thought leader in your field. Grow your network and audience to broaden your sphere of influence.

• Make brand evangelists. Increase your business's recommendations by enlisting the help of brand evangelists.

• Your audience's feedback. Regular communication with your community may help you enhance your products and services to better serve them.

• Boost your revenue. A community will assist to generate more engaged followers, which will enhance retention and, in turn, revenue. 

• Respond to market shifts. Digital communities help you maintain touchpoints with your audience when being in the same physical space isn’t possible.

• Online communities are a natural fit for digital entrepreneurs. Two of Thinkific’s most successful course creators didn’t actually start out with courses on day one. They started out creating niche professional learning communities with Facebook Groups, and were soon pulled into course creation by their communities by request.

• Kate Baker created a group called The Veterinary Cytology Coffeehouse, for veterinary professionals who want to learn more about veterinary cytology and hematology.  In her first year, the group grew to 35,000 members without any advertising. But she didn’t start her group with the goal of commercialization – her group members began increasingly asking for courses and more information. 

• Latrina Walden created her course after initially starting a very successful Facebook group for nurses to support them through their very stressful board exams. After overwhelming response to some of her live Q&As and calls in the comments for more materials, she began selling courses.

• Both of these entrepreneurs succeeded in creating learning communities, which provided them with the impetus and validation they needed to launch online courses.

• Whether you’re an independent course creator, an influencer, or a company looking to support its customers, the following tips and strategies will help you get your community started.

• Common types of online communities

There are many types of online communities. Here are four common types, differentiated by the purpose that brings them together:

1. Interest. A group brought together by a common interest or passion. Like Thinkific’s Facebook group for Online Course Creation.

2. Action. Communities that come together to bring about change. For example, Black Lives Matter activists forming a group to plan rallies.

3. Place. Communities within geographic boundaries. For example, your local neighborhood Facebook group that shares about the best eats in town.

4. Practice or Profession (aka community of practice). Members of a particular profession come together to share professional development tips and learn how to excel at their jobs. For example, veterinarians, or nurses forming a group to further their professional knowledge, or artist groups where members join to master their craft.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on two types of communities we’ve seen be particularly useful for entrepreneurs: learning communities, where members are brought together around a course or membership site. And brand communities, where businesses bring people together around a common mission, goal, or lifestyle championed by the brand..

Let’s take a look at each:

1. Learning Communities: These involve building a community around a course, or a membership site to enhance value and engagement. 

2. Brand Communities: Businesses and their most engaged customers can form brand communities, where customers can go beyond a transactional relationship to form an emotional connection with the brand and other loyal fans.

Throughout this article, we’ll share specific examples across both types of communities.

What is a learning community?

A learning community is a group of people with similar learning goals who meet to discuss course topics and assignments. They allow students with common educational goals to collaborate on coursework, engage in peer-to-peer learning, and engage with their instructor.

They complement online courses because they enable social learning, peer-to-peer support, and student-to-instructor support. They also help with accountability, as students can be paired or placed in cohorts to hold each other accountable for learning goals.

Learning communities allow your students to connect with you as the instructor as well as other students, and can provide motivation and support to continue moving forward in your course.

For example, Tiffany Aliche has built a wildly successful online membership community teaching women about personal finance. Members of her community are often participants in her online program, and log on to discuss learnings and progress towards financial independence.

Other examples of learning communities include:

• Kate Baker, an online community creator turned course creator after starting a Facebook group for veterinarians

• Latrina Walden, a former nurse who created a community to help nurses with exam prep before expanding into online courses

• Dana Malstaff, who created Boss Mom, and offers resources, community, and guidance to entrepreneurial moms.

Why build a learning community? 

Many of our top course creators can attest that learning communities improve student outcomes including retention, test scores, and completion rates. They also improve course creator outcomes, because happy and engaged students will stick around longer, refer their friends, and buy more courses. 

Benefits of learning communities

Key benefits of learning communities include:

• Social learning: Communities allow students to learn from teaching others and asking questions.

• Faster answers: Questions get answered faster in communities, without relying on a quick response from the instructor.

• Course production ideas: Our top course creators are continuously listening to what’s happening in their community, what questions people are asking or challenges they have, and using this information to anticipate the needs of their students.

• Cohort-based Learning: Cohort learning helps give learners a sense of community that many are craving and improves learning outcomes. Members benefit from a supportive network with increased collaboration that holds everybody accountable.

What is a brand community?

A brand community is a group of customers, partners, and employees – brought together in one place to support each other, provide input, and ultimately develop deeper emotional connections to a brand. 

It can be hosted by a company on their website, or in a group on Facebook, but isn’t limited to one or the other, since community strategies can be implemented across many channels.

Members of a brand’s community can be described as the company’s fans because communities allow customers to build deeper emotional connections with a brand and each other.

Our Brand Community was built to bring Thinkific, our customers, and experts that support our users together in one place – centered around our platform and the success of our users. We’ll share some key value points and examples from our group. In the next section, we’ll share some specific examples of how our community creates value for all stakeholders unsolved.

Another example of a brand community is  Brit + Co’s creative community – which complements their online classes and membership site built on Thinkific In their community, students can share inspiration, ideas, accomplishments, and their journeys in the creative space.

Why build a brand community?

Whether it’s supporting your customers, or testing product ideas, the concept of online communities has moved far beyond being a social media strategy since the benefits of community can be seen across the entire organization. 

Brand communities don’t just change the company’s marketing strategy. Companies report an overall deeper insight into customer needs and product designs.

Brand communities are beneficial to companies because brand-community members buy more, remain loyal, and reduce marketing costs through grassroots evangelism.

Benefits of Brand Communities

Some of the many benefits brands are seeing from their communities include:

• Direct communication with customers – communities add another channel to communicate with customers for sales and customer service inquiries

• Product feedback – brand communities create a forum to test ideas and get feedback from your core customers before making product decisions

• Customer acquisition – communities can attract new customers, or help build trust to assist with conversion

• Customers supporting customers – customers can answer questions by other customers, reducing the burden placed on your support staff

• Loyalty – having a strong product or service will only get you so far, brand loyalty often comes from a strong community

• Customer retention – better support and better customer experience will lead to better retention

To illustrate the value a brand community can create, we’ll share a few key benefits and examples from our brand community.

Motivation and reinforcement

Imagine how impactful it would be if your users could support other users, motivate each other, and share success stories.  

In our brand community, we celebrate wins and share best practices to ensure when one member of the group wins, we all win.

Tips To Help You Locate The Best Mortgage Loan Lender

Are you willing to buy a new house or a new land? If yes then you must be also on the lookout for some of the best home loans. But before you get a home loan, you will need to do more research about the various mortgage loan lenders who can provide you with multiple options in regards to home loans.

Now every mortgage lender provides different home loans at different interest rates, so if you are looking for the best mortgage lenders, you should hire a reputed Mortgage Broker Hobart. However, you can also follow these tips to find the best mortgage loan lender near you:


Fix your credit score

The mortgage lenders will always check your credit score before granting you the loan. A lot of people may not understand what the credit score. It simply refers to the maintenance of your balance in your bank account, the payment of various bills, fixing the dues, making timely payments, and many others.

So if your account has errors where there is not enough monthly balance, late payments, delinquent accounts and bill over dues, it could affect the sanctioning the loan. Also you might not be eligible for the best loans provided by the top mortgage loan lenders near you if you do not have a good credit report. So you should look for Mortgage Broker Sunshine Coast who can help you fix your credit score.


Find out which type of loan lender is best for you

If you are new to taking loans from mortgage loan lenders, you might need to know more about these lenders. There are many different types of mortgage loan lenders and before you choose a particular one, you need to check if they are at all suitable for you and your purpose. A mortgage broker will be able to better direct you but you can also find out about the differences between various mortgage loan lenders.

There are typically four types of loan lenders, namely, correspondent lenders, wholesale lenders, portfolio lenders, and hard-money lenders. Each of them hold different policies which you need to check for suitability before applying for a loan.


Look for negotiations

If you are buying a plot or a home, it may get difficult for you to provide a huge sum of money to buy it. So most people go forward with mortgage loans and they approach mortgage brokers to help them get these loans from reputed mortgage loan lenders.

However, if you are taking a loan you must remember that higher the budget, higher will be the tax and other miscellaneous costs. The schemes also differ and they may not always be in your favour. On the other hand, home loans within smaller budgets are easier to pay and you will be eligible for a number of schemes that can aid you in paying the loans. So you should take your time in negotiating the budget with the landowners.

If you have almost no knowledge about finances and loans, you should hire Mortgage Broker Hobart who can help you in finding the best home loans with lowest interest rates.

Stop Wage Garnishment with the Help of a Consultant

 

There are many ways to stop wage garnishment. In order to figure out the different ways, you can consult an experienced lawyer. There are many institutions that have tax consultants who can help you to figure out debt settlement and taxes. The collector collects a certain amount of money as garnishment and deducts it from the salary by the court order. This is a legal procedure and to prevent this, you need to make sure you can figure out a good option of payment. 

Consultant’s advice

A good tax consultant can help you to prove that garnishment is preventing you to afford the basic needs of the family. There is no escape from the IRS because the agency will soon require you to pay your dues. If you can talk with your negotiator and help yourself out, you can easily deal with the situation. You need to stop borrowing for money and you need to check with the sources of debt and identify the ways to resort to stopping wage garnishment. 

Consult and work with the professional

If you can deal with the people and gain a favorable response, the situation will not go out of your hand. It is the best time to consult and work with the professional. There are many individuals who offer services working in an institution. You cannot escape the income tax in the orange country. Sooner or later you are bound to make a payment that is delayed for a long period of time. 

Schedule payments

If you can talk to deal with the person you are going to pay the money, you can help yourself with the schedule so that you can make the payments in an easier way. You can resolve the issue by paying the amount and full or half the amount by paying it in a certain manner. All these can be tactfully handled by the consultant. Since they have a lot of experience, they can help you with the procedures and different ways to tackle the wage garnishments. 

The final word

The last way out or option for protecting yourself is to file bankruptcy. Most of the time, it is not suggested to do so. By taking advice from a consultant, you can help yourself to deal with the situation in a better way. At times garnishment leads to a difficult situation where it becomes worse to even make your ends meet.  You can avoid such situation by finding the best service provider to deal with debt settlement and the consultants would give you all the support you need to lead a peaceful life and still be able to settle your tax debts in the proper way. view Source:https://mamby.com/post/stop-wage-garnishment-with-the-help-of-a-consultant.

Characteristics Of Mortgage Brokers Toowoomba

With so many mortgage brokers around, there must be some special characteristics that a mortgage broker must have to woo you to choose a particular one from the mortgage brokers Toowoomba. The mortgage broker should be able to deliver high levels of service and customize home loans based on the requirements of the clients. Let us look at some more features that set a mortgage broker apart from his/her peers:

• Approving tough loans

Their expertise should be able to help customers with unusual circumstances. They should be able to help customers with previous records of bankruptcy as well.

• Getting the right fit of home loan

The experience of the mortgage brokers Sunshine Coast takes a holistic approach while assessing the client's financial situation as well as long-term goals for ensuring that the home loan is right for him/her and that it is feasible enough to be paid back in time.

• Getting affordable interest rates

Good and lasting relationships with their panel of lenders allow the brokers to negotiate sharp interest rates based upon the nature of the application.

• Fast approval and easy processing

They should be able to help with complex processes of pre-approval and application, making things run fast and smooth till you get to own your dream home.

• Honest and Trustworthy

With so many contenders in the brokerage, it is hard to trust people. Go for the brokers who have robust credentials and proof of experience.

• A longer panel of lenders

Dealing with the different major banks, credit unions, building societies, as well as specialized lenders can help these brokers negotiate a discounted rate for you, and top it up with flexible credit policies.

• Free upfront evaluations with credit reports

They should be able to provide realistic indications of how much you will need to borrow, along with your borrowing limits, and help you overcome the difficulties of home loan approval. Also, friendly communication with the customers is important from the part of loan agencies.

• Being members of the AFCA and FBAA

Being a member of The Finance Brokers Association of Australia helps to make sure of the professional standards of the brokers. The membership with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority protects consumer rights as well.

While most brokers tend to be simply salesmen, get the brokers that are experts in terms of the lending guidelines in force. Working with many lenders across different kinds of services ensures better deals, perfect fit according to possibilities and expectations regarding the property as well as financial services. However, the brokers must themselves be aware of the various policies, possible loopholes, and ways out of them. This is reinforced by the presence of an extensive credit assessment process which occurs in-house. This is completed before applying the brokers mediate your application with any lender.

Since most mortgage brokers Toowoomba have the experience of working in the credit department of lenders, and know the titbits of approving/declining loan applications, they can speak the professional language and build the right case for a fast and hassle-free approval of your loan.

Factors To Consider When Opting For T-Shirt Printing Dubai Service

 T-shirt prints are very much in trend in the recent times. You can print absolutely anything you want on a blank t-shirt and slay your look. You will require to get in touch with a printing company if you want to avail t-shirt printing service, Power bank printing Dubai, postcard printing service, notebook printing service, etc. After you have chosen the printing company from where you are going to opt for the t-shirt printing service you will have to consider checking at certain factors before placing your order. Now if you are interested in knowing about some of such factors then you are at the right place.

Size availability:

 
You surely won’t want to buy a printed t-shirt that does not fit you and regret later on. The printing company which you have chosen should offer you to choose from a variety of sizes that is from S (small) to XXL.
Printing type:
You will then have to consider looking at the printing type options that are available. You will be required to choose a printing type option for either or both backside and front side. You can select different types of print for each side or a similar printing type for both the sides. Generally, you will have three printing type options to choose from such as metallic foil, flock, and colour printing.
Area covered:
Next up you will have to consider deciding the exact areas of the t-shirt where you want the prints to be paved. You can get the print on the front side, on the back side, and on the sleeves of the t-shirt. Further you will have to select whether you want the prints to be located in the 1/4th area of the t-shirt, or on the half part, or on the full length in the front and back side; and in case of sleeves you will have to decide whether you want the print on the left sleeve or on the right sleeve. 

Payment options:

 
After selecting all the necessary details regarding t-shirt printing you will also have to consider checking the payment options that the printing company has. Generally, the printing company will ask you to pay half of the total amount before they start the production of your printed t-shirt. And for the rest half amount the printing company should allow you to pay in cash that is cash on delivery (COD). Along with COD you should also be given an option to pay via credit card, cheques, and online bank transfer.

Ending Thoughts
As mentioned earlier, along with t-shirt printing you can also opt for any other printing service from a printing company such as Box Printing Dubai, flyers printing, etc. Along with the aforementioned factors you can also consider checking another factor when opting for t-shirt printing service and that is the delivery tenure. If you will choose to avail the service from a prime printing company then the printed t-shirts will reach you within short span.

Steps In Finding The Right Poster Printing Manila Firm

The right poster printing company can design a poster that's effective for publicity and branding. Moreover, they are cost-effective and are a powerful tool for building brand awareness. Irrespective of whether you are using posters as an external or internal promotional tool, they can effectively convey the message. Here are some of the steps that will help you pick up a suitable Door Hanger Printing Manila firm.


Prepare a list of printing companies

The first step is to prepare a list containing the names of all the top printing companies. Make sure that you list them based on their popularity and rating. A highly rated company should be your first choice to opt for. In case you do not get convinced by their service, go with the next company, and so on.


Bulk quantities

Look for a printing company that can handle bulk quantities. Not only that, but they should also deliver the order timely. If a company cannot promise to fulfill your demands, ensure that you do not opt for it because it can be quite difficult for you if the products are not delivered timely.


Company's reputation

Before deciding, ensure that the company's reputation is considered without fail. A highly reputed company has earned this reputation by offering the best service to their customers. As a result, you can ensure that you will also receive superior quality service if you hire them. Therefore, ensure to check the company's reputation before making any decision.


Printing solutions or techniques

Do not forget to ask the company what kind of printing technique they use. Are they using the latest technique, and what are their charges? The answers to all these questions will help in determining if you are hiring the right company. Ask if they can get printed any complicated design or not. If possible, take a look at the previous prints that they have done for top companies.


Discuss your needs

You must visit the company and chat with the professionals to understand them better. See if they can provide you the service that you are looking for. If they are not efficient enough, you should choose a different printing company; otherwise, it will be a great loss for the company.


Meet more than one company

While choosing printing companies, do not target to stick on one. Ensure that you look for at least two to three companies as it would be easier for you to choose a reputed and trustworthy printing firm. Your objective is to get top quality finished products at affordable pricing.

Narrow down your list

With all the above aspects, you can strike off companies you think are not fit for the business. With that, you will get a better picture of whom to hire. The best Envelop Printing Manila will try their best to ensure that their clients receive the expected result. As a result, you can do the company's promotion and spread the message across your audience.

How To Choose The Right Company For Buying Salvaged Cars

Each and every car has been through an accident whether big or small in their entire shell-life. Sometimes, when a car in a considerably good condition receives major injuries in an accident it gets recycled and sold meaning the car is retrieved and salvaged by a company dealing in automobiles and made fit to use. Generally, these cars are then sold at individually or at a salvage cars auction.

However, it is difficult to choose right the company to buy those cars from. Here is a list of all major factors you should consider while looking at accident cars for sale:


Background check: Always run a background check on the company from whom you are willing to buy a car. That company should not have any criminal charges hanging over their heads particularly the theft of an accident car. Salvage cars are not bought by cheques or payable through EMI. The payment needs to be entirely in cash via a single payment. Thus, you should always be sure about the honesty and legitimacy of the company.


Assessment: The Company you are buying the car from should provide you with a detailed assessment of the damage incurred by the car and the extent of repair that has been done by the company itself.


Photographs: The Company should give you the photographs of several cars in your price range as options along with their separate assessments. The photos should contain two sets per car- one before the accident and one after the repairs. Then, you can perform a virtual visual inspection through these pictures. It will help you to curate a shortlist down to a few options.


Inspection: After making a small shortlist or selecting a particular one, you should visit the place where the salvaged cars are being kept. Then, you should ask them to perform a thorough inspection right in front of your eyes.


History: When you have selected a car, the better companies will give you the car's status by the registration number after checking in with the department of vehicles. The company does it to make you aware of whether the car has some pending fines against it or not.


Insurance: Many salvaged cars that have been thorough serious accidents have difficulty in getting insurance after being sold off. Good companies will arrange an agreement between you and the insurance company especially if it involves a high-end luxury car.

Certain companies allow you to buy accident cars in car auctions wherein you can choose between a car that has been repaired and a car that has been just salvaged and you can do the repairs by yourself. This is a very good offer if you have excellent knowledge of car repairing. To find a salvage car auction you need to search the internet by the words ‘car auctions near me’. Not all companies arrange auctions for both budget and luxury car buyers. Do a check before visiting an auction that sales accident cars.