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Communities give your members a dedicated space to connect, discuss, share wins, ask questions, and build relationships with each other — all within your branded member portal, alongside your courses and membership content.
Communities overview

Communities overview showing all community groups in the platform

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What is a community?

A community is a social feed-style space attached to your member portal. Members can:
  • Post text updates, images, and videos
  • Comment on and react to other members’ posts
  • Create and join topic-based Groups within the community
  • Direct message other members (if enabled)
  • Receive notifications for new posts, comments, and mentions
As an admin, you can moderate posts, pin important announcements, create groups, and manage member roles.

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Creating a community

1

Navigate to Memberships and Communities > Communities

Click Memberships and Communities in the left sidebar, then select Communities. Click + New Community.
Create community group

Creating a new community group from the Communities section

2

Name and configure the community

Enter a community name, description, and upload a cover image and logo. These appear in the member portal and on the community landing page.
Community group setup

Community group setup — entering name, description, and branding

3

Set access rules

Choose who can join the community:
  • Open — any member who logs into the portal can join
  • Restricted — only members with a specific membership or tag can access the community
Community privacy settings

Community privacy settings — public, private, or paid access options

Group settings panel

Community group settings panel with access configuration options

4

Create groups and channels

Groups are topic or interest-based sub-spaces within the community. Click + Add Group to create groups such as “Introductions”, “Questions & Answers”, “Wins & Celebrations”, or “Resources”.
Channels panel

Community channels panel showing all available channel types

Channel types

Channel type selection — feed, chat, events, and learning tabs

Group channels

Community group channels view showing all channels within a group

5

Configure notifications

Set up email digest notifications to keep members engaged. Options include:
  • Immediate notifications for new posts or comments
  • Daily or weekly digest emails summarizing activity
6

Publish and invite members

Publish the community and send invitations to your existing members via email automation. New members who purchase access can be automatically added via an automation action.

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Community channel types

When you create groups inside a community, you choose a channel type for each group. Different channel types support different interaction styles:
Channel types

Channel type selection — feed, chat, events, and learning tabs

Channels panel

Community channels panel showing all available channel types

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Feed channels

Feed channels are the default channel type. Members create posts (text, images, videos), and other members comment and react. Admins can pin posts, approve content before it appears, and create polls. Feed channels work best as the main social hub of your community.

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Chat channels

Chat channels support real-time threaded messaging. Unlike the feed, chat messages are shorter and conversational. Use chat channels alongside live events or office hours to give members a space to ask quick questions without cluttering the main feed.

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Events channels

Events channels let you schedule and promote community events. Members RSVP, receive reminders, and can view upcoming events in a calendar view. Link events to specific modules or course milestones to drive attendance at relevant sessions.

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Learning channels

Learning channels embed courses directly inside a community group. Members can switch between the social feed and their course content without leaving the community interface. This is ideal for cohort programs where course consumption and peer discussion happen side by side.

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Community moderation

As an admin or moderator you can:
  • Pin posts — keep important announcements at the top of the feed
  • Delete posts or comments — remove inappropriate content
  • Mute or ban members — restrict posting rights for specific members
  • Approve posts — enable a moderation queue so posts require approval before appearing publicly
  • Create polls — post a multiple-choice poll to gather member opinions
Post creation

Post creation interface in a community channel

Community leaderboard

Community leaderboard showing top contributing members

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Member roles

Assign roles from the Members tab inside the community settings.
Member list

Member list showing all members and their roles in the community

Manage members

Managing members inside a community group — roles and permissions

Member roles

Member role assignment — changing member roles within a community

Member actions

Member actions — message, promote, or remove members from the community

Approval requests

Membership approval requests for restricted community groups

You can require a paid subscription to join a community group.
Paid group details

Paid group setup — configuring payment type and pricing for community access

Paid group subscription

Subscription options for a paid community group

Paid group pricing

Pricing configuration for a paid community group

Paid group payment settings

Payment gateway settings for a paid community group

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Community badges

Badges reward members for participation and achievement within the community.
Badge creation

Community badge creation — designing and naming a new member badge

Badge assignment criteria

Badge assignment criteria — setting conditions for earning a badge

Badge levels

Badge levels and progression settings for community gamification

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Community and courses

Pairing a community with a course creates a cohort experience:
  • Members work through the course and discuss lessons in the community
  • Create a group for each course module as a dedicated discussion space
  • Post weekly challenge prompts to drive engagement and accountability
Learning tab courses

Learning tab in a community showing courses available to members

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Automations for communities

Use the Community Member Joined trigger in Automations to:
  • Send a welcome email with community guidelines and tips to get started
  • Add a tag to the contact record for community members
  • Notify a team member or moderator
Post a welcome prompt (“Introduce yourself — where are you from and what are you working on?”) as a pinned post on day one. This single action dramatically increases new member participation rates.

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Frequently asked questions

Communities support several channel types you can add within any group: Feed (social-style post wall), Chat (real-time threaded messaging), Events (scheduled community events with RSVP), and Learning (linked courses displayed inside the community). Choose the channel type that best fits each group’s purpose.
Yes. When setting access rules for a community group, choose Restricted to limit access to members who have a specific membership offer, tag, or custom field value. Members without the required access see the community listed but cannot join or view content.
In the community group settings, enable Paid access and configure the subscription type, billing frequency, and price. Members are prompted to pay before joining the group. Ensure your Stripe account is connected in your Hoop payment settings to accept payments.
There are three roles: Admin (full access — manage settings, groups, members, and moderate all content), Moderator (moderate posts and comments, pin content, manage members), and Member (post, comment, react, and direct message). Assign roles from the Members tab inside the community settings.
Yes. Enable the moderation queue in the community group settings. When activated, all new posts from members are held for admin or moderator review before appearing publicly in the feed.
Badges are visual credentials you can create and award to members based on participation or achievement criteria. You design the badge (icon, name, description) and then either issue it manually from a contact record or link it to an automation trigger. Earned badges appear on the member’s profile inside the community.
Use the Community Member Joined trigger in Automations. Add a Send Email action to deliver your welcome message, include community guidelines, and provide tips on getting started. You can also add a tag or notify a team member via the same workflow.
You can require payment to join a specific community group, creating a monetized community experience:
  1. In the group settings, enable Paid access.
  2. Choose the payment type: one-time, subscription (monthly/annual), or payment plan.
  3. Set the price.
  4. Connect your payment gateway (Stripe is required for paid groups).
  5. Members are prompted to pay before gaining access to the group.
Paid groups are ideal for premium content channels, mastermind groups, VIP access tiers, and exclusive coaching communities.
Embed paid courses directly within community groups to create a cohort learning experience:
  1. Add a Learning channel to the group.
  2. Select the course to embed.
  3. Link the course to a paid offer (configured in Memberships and Communities > Courses > Offers).
  4. Members who purchase the offer gain access to both the course content and the community group.
This combines the social engagement of a community with structured course delivery — members discuss lessons, share wins, and ask questions alongside the curriculum.

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Member approval questions

When a group is set to Private, you can add custom approval questions that members must answer before their join request is submitted:
  1. In the group settings, navigate to Approval Questions.
  2. Click + Add Question and enter your question (e.g., “What is your main goal for joining this group?”).
  3. Add as many questions as needed.
  4. When a member requests to join, their answers appear alongside the join request for admin review.
Approval questions help you screen members, gather insights about your audience, and ensure the group maintains quality.

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Ban members and report content

Admins and moderators have tools to maintain community safety:

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Banning members

  1. Navigate to the Members tab in the community or group.
  2. Find the member and click the three-dot menu.
  3. Select Ban. The member is immediately removed from the community and cannot rejoin.
  4. Banned members can be unbanned later from the Banned Members list in community settings.

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Reporting content

Members can report posts and comments that violate community guidelines:
  1. The member clicks the three-dot menu on a post or comment.
  2. They select Report and choose a reason (spam, harassment, inappropriate content, etc.).
  3. The report appears in the admin’s Moderation Queue for review.
  4. Admins can delete the content, warn the member, or ban the member based on the report.
Publish clear community guidelines as a pinned post in your main group. This sets expectations for behavior and gives moderators a reference point when handling reports and enforcing rules.
Last modified on March 6, 2026