As a flexible content management system that is here to stay, WordPress is a great place to set up your online community. Regardless, you may just be used to using the blogging platform and not sure how to best adapt it for a community website.
Luckily, you can create just about any type of online community you can think of, thanks to the variety of relevant plugins that seamlessly integrate with WordPress. There are tools to help you create fan sites, support networks, interest-based groups, and more.
In this post, we'll talk about why you might want to create an online community in the first place. Then we'll highlight some of the best plugins to do it and introduce their key features. Let us begin!
Why create an online community
A forum is a great example of a community site that enables users to meet and discuss a specific topic.
An online community, such as a forum, social media network, website, or membership site, is a platform where like-minded people can join. These communities can be meant to provide support, network, or even just have fun.
Creating your own community brings a number of benefits, whether you are a business owner, blogger, or just someone looking for a place to hang out online. As an example:
- If you are a business owner, it can help you stand out from your competitors and engage your target audience more deeply.
- If you are a blogger or an influencer, you have the ability to reach a specific niche audience and build a dedicated audience.
- No matter what the purpose of your community site is, you can control its content and layout, unlike a restrictive platform like Facebook.
Decidedly, each community site has its own purpose and goals. Luckily, WordPress makes it possible to design yours to meet the needs of your community with a number of useful plugins.
We've carefully selected the five tools below, focusing on ratings, reviews, and key features. Although it is not a complete list, we believe that these are the best options to start on the right foot or help you expand your existing site. Let's jump!
1. BuddyPress
BuddyPress enables you to create a social network for your colleagues, special interest groups, family members, or anyone else. It offers a simple but customizable platform to build and interact with your community.
With BuddyPress, members of your network can create personal profiles, connect with other users, and even create and interact within their own groups. You get all the benefits of your own exclusive social media platform, no coding required.
The best thing about BuddyPress is that it is free and, like WordPress, there are many BuddyPress plugins that you can download for free or purchase to expand its core functionality.
2. Posts submitted by the user
User-submitted posts make it possible for you to turn your WordPress site into a multi-author blog. This is similar to the BuddyPress Compatible Plugin User Blog, but with more functionality.
As a standalone plugin, User Submitted Posts are a great option for sites with a content focus. Whether you're running a hobby group, industry community, or special interest website, your users can become part of the community by offering their own knowledge and expertise. This plugin definitely makes it possible for you to fully control approved posts. To enable those posts, you simply need to copy and paste a shortcode into a page, post, or widget.
The plugin is free and includes a basic submission form and limited support. Regardless, you can upgrade to the premium version and receive definitive updates, full support, and additional customization options for the submission form.
3. Mongoose Page Plugin
The Mongoose Page Plugin is a lightweight feed plugin that enables you to bring your active Facebook community, and all of your followers, to your WordPress site.
By adding a shortcode to a page, post, or widget, you can add your Facebook feed directly to your WordPress community website. Even better, users can interact with your feed (like, share, and comment) all without leaving your website!
The simplicity and clean design of this plugin make it a great addition to any site. At the same time, its easy-to-use control panel simplifies customization. As with the other plugins mentioned on our list, the Facebook page plugin is totally free.
4. Simple membership
Simple Membership is a website membership plugin that is lightweight, easy to use, and customizable. With this plugin installed, you can easily create a membership site for your online community.
Whether you want to build a more private site, allowing only approved members to participate, or offering different permissions at different membership levels, this plugin will get the job done. Simple membership enables you to create unlimited subscription levels, both free and paid. With paid subscriptions, you have the added benefit of accepting secure payments through PayPal.
There is no cost for this plugin, and since it is focused on simplicity, no additional plugins or add-ons are offered. It's fully functional on its own and will get you up and running in no time.
5. bbPress
The bbPress forum plugin enables you to create a full-featured forum on your WordPress website, and is a great way to start the conversation on your blog. Since forums are an easy way to connect with like-minded people, this is a great plug-in option if you want your online community to get started quickly.
At the same time, this plugin is well designed for both beginners and experienced forum moderators. With bbPress, you can easily set up and moderate your forums. At the same time, you can divide your site into sections and even allow user-created content.
As open source software, bbPress is free to download and use. At the same time, there are many plugins compatible with bbPress, such as Notify (no spam) - that extend the functionality of the tool and improve your user experience.
Whether you want to offer support, build a fan base, or provide a place for like-minded people to hang out, WordPress is a great platform for building your online community. In fact, there are dozens of plugins available for that very purpose.
In this post, we introduce you to five of our recommended plugins for community building. Which of these community building plugins are you most interested in and why? Or do you have one that should be added to the list? Let us know in the comment section below!
