Building a strong community around your academy is key to keeping members engaged, learning, and interacting with each other. That’s why Forento includes a built-in community feature—think of it as a forum directly inside your platform, where students can ask questions, share insights, and discuss topics related to your training.
With community channels, you can take things a step further by structuring discussions into separate spaces. Just like a Discord server or Facebook group but fully integrated into your academy. Channels allow you to create different feeds for different purposes. You might have:
A general discussion channel for all members
A members-only channel for paying subscribers
An announcements channel where only you can post updates
By setting up channels strategically, you create a more organized and engaging experience for your community. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to set up and customize your channels to fit your academy’s needs.
How to Set Up Community Channels
To create and manage channels for your community, follow these steps:
1. Access the Channels Page
Open Forento’s Community page.
Navigate to the "Channels" section.
You'll see a default channel already created. This serves as the main space for your community, but you can rename and customize it to fit your needs.
2. Configure Channel Settings
For each channel, you’ll need to set up:
Name – Choose a clear, descriptive name for your channel.
Default User Access – Controls access for all academy members, including those without a paid subscription.
Membership-Specific Access – Allows you to set different access levels for your membership tiers.
3. Choose Access Levels
Each channel can have different levels of access:
None – Users cannot view or interact with the community.
Read-only – Users can view posts but cannot comment or react.
React to posts – Users can view posts and leave reactions (likes/emojis).
React to posts and comment – Users can view, react, and comment on posts.
React to posts, comment, and post – Full access, allowing users to create posts, comment, and react.
4. Set Access for Different Users
Here’s how you might configure channels based on different needs:
General Discussion Channel: Allow all members to read posts, but only paying subscribers can comment and post. This helps showcase the community while incentivizing paid memberships.
Announcements Channel: Set access to read-only for everyone, so only you (the admin) can post updates.
Premium Members-Only Channel: Restrict access to paying subscribers, allowing them to fully interact and engage, while setting the default user access level to "None".
By structuring your channels effectively, you create a well-organized and engaging space that encourages discussions while adding value to your membership offerings.