Circle.so Review: Top Tool for Managing Online Communities

In today's video, I am going to be reviewing a new tool that has made my life significantly easier when it comes to managing the Unicorn Factory community. The tool is called Circle, and it's an online tool that you can use to create an online forum.

Why Circle?

I set up the Unicorn Factory on Circle after using Slack for about a year and a half because I wanted to find something that would make it easier for people just joining the community to get involved with discussions that were happening inside of the community but were getting lost on Slack.

Overview of Circle

Inside of Circle, you have things called spaces, which are basically channels that people use to store different types of content. Inside of my welcome group, I have three spaces: the Start Here space, the Introduce Yourself space, and the Announcement space. The Start Here space is where I send all of the freelancers who have just joined the Unicorn Factory, and I use it to answer commonly asked questions that freelancers have after they've joined the community.

Creating Posts on Circle

Creating a post on Circle is straightforward. You hit the plus button and fill it out the way you would fill out a blog post on Medium. They have a rich text editor that makes creating engaging content a lot easier. You can embed videos, images, gifs, and more. Additionally, you can embed different headings, embed code, mention people in posts, and more.

Connecting Freelancers

One space that has been great for connecting different freelancers to each other is the Freelancer Connect space. This space is where freelancers can come and introduce themselves and connect with other freelancers. It's been a great way to create a sense of community and help freelancers find other freelancers to collaborate with.

Managing the Community with Zapier

I also want to show you some workflows that I've got set up inside of Zapier that allow me to manage the community a lot more effectively. These workflows include automating the process of welcoming new members to the community, sending out reminders for upcoming events, and more.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Circle is the best online community building tool out there at the moment. It's easy to use, has a lot of great features, and it's helped me manage the Unicorn Factory community more effectively. If you're considering setting up your own online community, I highly recommend checking out Circle.

🤩 TRY CIRCLE FOR FREE (Affiliate Link):

https://www.connorfinlayson.com/a/circle

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

01:25 Unicorn Factory Circle

04:55 Private / Paid Groups

05:32 Circle Features

06:58 Circle Mobile App

07:18 Do you really need a community forum?