Setting the Scene
The Covid-19 pandemic was a slingshot for community-driven businesses. Founders of online communities, often driven by a unique personal experience through which they developed a skill and/or passion, now have an abundance of tools at their disposal to grow their community and help other like-minded individuals.
Generic tools and social media platforms, such as Facebook, are seemingly decreasing in popularity with the emergence of No-Code and other modern technologies.
What if your community is built on a sensitive or private matter and some members don’t want to share their public profile?
What if you want to own the data you’re collecting and not give it all away to social media giants?
What if you want your online platform to offer customised content in a unique format to set you apart from similar communities?
No-Code Solutions
No-Code enables community leaders to rapidly create a platform that serves the needs of their community with a professional, on-brand online presence.
What are some of the benefits?
Accessibility
Tools such as Glide allow you to create apps that work seamlessly across any modern device, so community members can access content and engage on a mobile app, tablet app, or through a browser portal.
Feedback and Iteration
The speed at which you can build No-Code solutions significantly reduces the cost involved. This, in turn, empowers community leaders to receive feedback and iterate through ideas and features on the fly, meaning they can meet the needs of their members and literally build the platform with them! As these tools are constantly evolving and improving, community leaders can take advantage of their latest features without having to invest time and money into upgrading their platform.
Flexibility and Peace of Mind
Let’s say you want to add a new feature, such as a marketplace, a discussion forum, or some gamified educational quizzes. You can do so down the line without the need to look into a crystal ball and predict what your community will want six months after you’ve launched your platform.
Integration
No-Code solutions can be integrated with other tools and services, such as analytics platforms and marketing automation tools, to provide a more comprehensive solution for community management.
Look and Feel
Platforms can be customised to match the branding and identity of the community, creating a recognisable online presence in a solution through which members can flow as desired.
Private Use
Some members may not wish to share their real name or photo and prefer to engage with other like-minded individuals with a nickname or an alias and a photo of, let’s say, their favourite pet until they feel more comfortable.
Administrative Control
This is not spoken about enough. I speak to and work with community leaders on a regular basis who have been desperate for their interface that allows them to:
- Manage their community members
- Add, edit, and archive content
- Send out notifications
- Engage with their community properly
- Visualize data. Which content is the most popular? Which users are engaging the most? What feedback has been received that could be implemented to improve the platform?
Remaining at the Forefront
There are a wide variety of tools out there that community leaders can use to their advantage. I believe that No-Code, which at this stage is still early in its adoption for business use, presents an extremely compelling case for being one of the top choices to explore in this sector. Companies like V88 are pushing the boundaries of what No-Code can do, and we plan to remain at the forefront as these tools continue to evolve and improve over time.
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