Getting started with Groups

Welcome! In this guide you will find:

• What are groups

• What is the difference between groups and categories

• Group functionalities

• Getting started with Groups

• Report feedback and issues

What are groups

Groups is a brand new feature built for communities with a larger member base. Groups empower your users to engage around a specific;

• Interest (I like flying drones, who else..)

• Role (I’m a Customer Success Manager, how can I best..)

• Industry (I’m in Healthcare, how do you deal with..) 

• Region (I’m in Amsterdam, who is near me that I can relate to..)

• Product (I’m using product X with version Y, how can I get the most out of it..)

• etc.

This feature allows you to create public and private groups from Control, and to organize the content around a common interest or theme. 

Community members can browse, view and join groups. Once member of a group they can ask questions and start discussions - Ultimately Groups allows members to more easily engage with the content they find most valuable.

What is the difference between groups and categories

Groups and categories have a lot in common, they both serve as a bucket that contains content around a common theme. Groups, however, tend to focus on a more specific interest that only applies to a small segment of users within the community. Groups typically consist of a few dozens of members.

Where categories are completely anonymous (you don’t know who is interested and subscribed to a category) groups thrive on the social aspect of group members (knowing which other community members share the same interest and passion as you.) When you become a member of a group you will appear in a group member list. Unlike categories, community managers and moderators can export a list of group members.

We often see and hear companies hosting offline events and meetups for a specific group of users. Within groups it is possible to create and highlight events – Groups and Events combined provide a powerful set of features to let community members engage with each other online and in the real world. 

Group functionalities

The following features and functionalities have been developed for Groups

Groups module: A new section in Control where community managers and moderators can create and manage groups.

Public group: A type of group where all visitors can see the content and group members.

Private group: A type of group where content and group members are hidden for non-group members.

Join group: Option for users to join a public, or request to join a private group to become a member. Once a member of a group they can ask questions and start discussions.

Invite users to groups: Options to invite users to groups via open invite links of invitation emails.

Member management: See who is a member of a group, remove unwanted members from a group and approve or deny new users that requested to join a group.

Export members: Export a list of group members as .CSV file. 

Group overview page: A new overview page in the community where community members can explore all public- and private groups in a community.

Notifications: Receive email notifications on new topics and events posted in groups

Private events: Publish events to private groups

Getting started with Groups

This section provides information on how to get started with groups

 Find the group feature

1. Sign in to Control as a Community Manager or Moderator

2. Navigate to Platform > Groups

 Create a group

1. Navigate to Groups in Control

2. Click New group

3. Add the mandatory fields for your Group

   1. Group name

   2. About this group

   3. Hero image

   4. Thumbnail image

4. Select the group type in the settings 

5. [Optional] Feature topics in your group to encourage meaningful community conversations

6. Press Save changes - your group is now live on the community and will show up on the groups overview page

 Feature topics in a group

1. Navigate to Groups in Control

2. Find the group you want to feature topics in

3. Go to the Group details view

4. Scroll down to the Featured topics section and feature add the topics you want to feature

5. Press Save changes - your topics are now featured in the group and will show up on top of the group detail page below the Hero image

💌 Invite users to a group

1. Navigate to Groups in Control

2. Find the group you want to invite users

3. Click Invite members 

4. Use the invite link on invite users by email by entering their user name

 Remove members from a group

1. Navigate to Groups in Control

2. Find the group you want to remove members from 

3. Go to the Members view

4. Find the member you want to remove and click Remove member - this member is instantly removed from the group. He/she can rejoin the group at any time.

 Approve or deny members that want to join a private group

This action is only available for private groups

1. Navigate to Groups in Control

2. Find your private group

3. Go to the Applications view

4. For each member decide to Approve or Deny – when approved to a group members will be able to see the topics, replies and other group members. 

 Moderate topics posted in a group

All topics posted in a group can be found in the Content Overview section, there are two ways to moderate them.

In Control:

1. Navigate to Content > MODERATION Overview

2. Find the topic you want to moderate and click the title

In a Group page in the community

1. Make sure you are logged in as moderator or community manager

2. Find the topic in the group you want to moderate

3. Click the Control button in the moderator toolbar - this will bring you to the topic moderation page in the control environment

 How to promote groups on your homepage

We offer an out of the box widget dedicated to groups. You can select the " Group" widget and select groups you would like to promote on your homepage. You can drag and drop them to determine the order in which they appear. 

Report feedback and issues

If you want to share any feedback or report issues, please email our product team at support@insided.com. Your feedback will help us shape the future of the Groups feature