The rise of remote work has made Slack a popular business messaging app. Today, it’s becoming a go-to platform for an online community.
Communities can enjoy the interactive features designed for collaborative work. Online community creators can turn this into an opportunity to earn.
In this article, we’ll discuss the steps on how to build your Slack community and different ways to monetize it.
What is a Slack Community?
A Slack community is a group of people who share the same interests. Fitness enthusiasts, career growth seekers, or creatives can discuss their goals and share progress with this platform.
Creators and online coaches can create a Slack community to gather members on one platform. Announcements on upcoming events and community forum discussions can be made here.
Slack is a cloud-based software that allows you to manage your Slack Workspace and Channel on the web, desktop, and mobile app.
Slack Workspace and Channel
When you create an online community on Slack, there are two things you will immediately see: Workspace and Channel.
The Slack Workspace functions like a virtual office where you can see all the members. This is where you can navigate your channels and direct messages.
In the Workspace, you can create different channels to organize conversations and discussion groups. That way, the specific topics or projects stay only in one place for more focused interactions.
Create a Slack Community: Step-by-Step Guide
To start, download the app and make sure it’s updated to the latest version.
Set up your Workspace
1. Create an account. You can create your Slack account for free by following these steps:
- Provide an email address
- Enter the code sent via email
2. Create your Workspace and give your community a name!
3. Set up your workspace and add the following:
- Description
- Logo or image
- Unique URL
Create a Channel
You can have a #general channel where everyone is across all community updates. This is a channel all members can join and be across and see all announcements and new joiners.
Then, you can create channels based on topics or interests relevant to your community. You can choose to set it in private or public.
If you set your channel private:
- Click on ‘Invite to Channel’
Enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite.
If you set your channel public:
- Click on the three dots next to the channel name and select ‘Get Link.’
- Copy the link and share it via email or direct message
Manage your Slack Community
There is no limit to the number of people you can invite to your Slack community. To effectively manage, you will need to utilize the channels and tools available.
To foster a healthy environment for your members, make sure that the conversations are productive and respectful.
You can establish rules and guidelines and have two options to make them visible. First, you can pin the message on your #general channel or create a dedicated space for this.
Help members get started
Guide your members in starting their journey right. For example, you can create templates for self-introduction. This way, they can feel encouraged and at ease joining the group.
As the admin, you can add them to relevant channels, edit permissions, or add restrictions if there’s a need to.
Keep community members engaged
The best thing about Slack is the segmentation feature where you can create different discussions at once.
Create activities, and events, or offer 1:1 coaching services that can help members in their journey. If you have a free or paid online course, you share them as resources to your community and spark meaningful conversations.
Other community platforms like Nas.io help track your membership rates and activity. This way, you can easily adapt to the needs of your community.
Monetize Your Slack Community
Slack is a community platform with both paid and free versions. While Slack doesn’t have a built-in monetization option, you can connect to platforms like Nas.io to start earning.
Monetize your Slack Community here
Connect Your Slack to Nas.io
You can take this route to start earning money from your Slack community through 1:1 coaching sessions, subscriptions, paid events, and online courses.
Here’s how:
- Start by creating your community on Nas.io.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to connect to your Slack.
One-on-one Coaching Sessions on Slack
Once your Slack community is connected to Nas.io, you can direct your members to your landing page where they can find all the details they need about your 1:1 sessions.
They can see your available time and book a session in just a few clicks. The booking process is easy because they can pay through localized payment gateways. You won’t need other scheduling tools or payment methods outside Slack if it’s connected to Nas.io.
Just like Joselo of Sin Pretextos. In their community, members can book a 90-minute coaching session for personal development and how to achieve their goals.
Create a paid 1:1 session here
Sell Digital Products on Slack
If you love building online courses and original resources, you can sell them to your Slack community through Nas.io.
It has a native course builder where you can create and organize content in text or video formats. Nas.io securely hosts the paid contents on the platform and you can customize access only to paying members by sharing the link.
Nas.io will handle the payment processing through the local payment gateways available in their region.
Create Events on Slack
Events keep your community engaged! It gives them something to look forward to like meeting other community members in person or virtually.
Nas.io comes with tools that support this feature. You can schedule paid and live events and announce them to your Slack channels.
Members can also see details on your Nas.io landing page!
Newsletters to Your Slack Community
A newsletter is great for staying in touch with your community—especially if it’s huge!
Nas.io is equipped with Magic Reach, which lets you send newsletters to all of your community members in an email or through a messaging app. You can send it to everyone or select a specific audience.
It comes with open-rate insights so you’ll know if the campaign has been effective for community engagements.
Conclusion
Slack is a great community platform to stay connected with your members. It’s a powerful cloud-based platform where you can onboard as many people as you like.
While not every team messaging app like Slack gives you an option to monetize, there’s a route you can take to make that possible. Integration to a community platform like Nas.io gives you the necessary management tools.
From 1:1 coaching sessions to paid online courses, you can streamline them into one management and payment processing solution.
If you enjoyed our post on how to start a Slack community and monetize it, check out Why Building Community Pays More than Amassing Audience to learn more!
