WhatsApp continues to roll out its latest feature worldwide, and it’s a huge update to bring everyone together! Communities is a new way to organize your WhatsApp groups and connect all sub-group members.
This post has everything you need to know about WhatsApp Communities. We will discuss how to start using the feature and grow your online community.
This article will cover:
- What are WhatsApp Communities
- How is it different from WhatsApp groups
- How to monetize a WhatsApp Community
- Creating your first WhatsApp Community
- Tips for managing your WhatsApp community
What are WhatsApp Communities?
Creators, entrepreneurs, and business from over 180 countries use WhatsApp to communicate individually or in groups.
WhatsApp Communities are a new way to organize your WhatsApp groups. A community collates the groups and sub-groups in a bigger space. Members of these different groups can now interact with each other.
While Communities are a similar to groups, this feature offers larger and more structured discussion groups for its user. It gives community owner the option to organize and bring related groups under one umbrella.
WhatsApp Communities are available to iOS, Android, and Desktop users.
Image credits: WhatsApp
WhatsApp just added WhatsApp Communities, where users can build a single page to host multiple group chats—all in one place. The new Community feature offers WhatsApp video, audio, and text chat – plus:
- Larger file sharing
- Emoji reactions
- In-platform polls
- Business catalog
- Multiple admins
- Option to archive chats
- Send your live location to others
- Invite by link or QR code
How is WhatsApp Communities different from WhatsApp groups?
WhatsApp’s new Communities feature comes with a number of new features – features that will not be available for Groups.
The new features include:
- Admin controls
- Support for sub-groups
- 32-person voice and video calls
- larger-file sharing (up to 2GB)
- emoji reactions
- polls, member limits, and more.
WhatsApp group chats can host only up to 256 participants. While the new Community feature can have up to 1,024 participants.
Once you join a community, you phone number will is only available to community moderators.
Here is a table of differences between WhatsApp Communities and Groups.
Start Your WhatsApp Community Today
How to monetize a WhatsApp Community
WhatsApp is the most commonly used messaging app for hosting communities, but it is a bit extensive. Adding and removing members can take hours of manual admin work, and making money is not a option.
But you can use free platforms like Nas.io to automate these tasks. And giving community managers more time to create value for the community.
Community managers around building businesses on top of their communities. They do this in multiple ways:
- Charge a subscription for exclusive access to your WhatsApp community
- Run paid workshops and events
- Sell courses and digital products to the community
- Offer 1-on-1 paid sessions
And monetizing your community has never been easier thanks to Nas.io.
Nas.io integrates with your new and existing WhatsApp group to supercharge your WhatsApp features. After you connect your WhatsApp with Nas.io, you’ll have the ability to:
- Manage subscribers (paid or free) automatically
- Send broadcast direct messages to individuals or all your members
- Get engagement insights from the group such as engagement rate or most engaged members
- Automatic reminders about upcoming events to the chat group
In summary, Nas.io helps you build and monetize a thriving community on top of your favorite platform.
How to create your first WhatsApp Community
- To start, open your WhatsApp and go the “Communities” tab.
2. You can then enter the community name, description, and profile photo.
3. Then, add your groups.
You can “Create a New Group” or “Add an Existing Group”.
Note that as a Community admin, you can only add groups you created, not groups you are only a member of. You can make up to ten new groups, each with its name and description.
4. When finished adding or creating groups, click the green check mark icon to create your Community. You can now invite new members, add more groups, or post your first announcement welcoming everyone to the new Community!
WhatsApp Communities consist of admins and group members. Admins can create a Community with up to 50 groups, which can have up to 2,000 members (reduced from 5,000). Only admins can send messages in the announcements group to notify all team members.
Both admins and team members can participate in focused chats on different topics. Everyone within the Community can switch between group chats using the sub-group switcher beside the name of the chat.
WhatsApp protects all messages with end-to-end encryption so that only the members of the respective groups can see them and no one else. This security protects sensitive conversations among organizations, workplaces, and private groups. Additionally, members’ phone numbers are hidden from the Community at large and only visible to Community admins and others in the same group.
Tips for managing WhatsApp Communities
A growing WhatsApp Community can be difficult to manage. Discussions can flood over the groups chats when there are no strict guidelines set at the beginning.
Here are some tips on how you can manage and grow your WhatsApp community:
- Assign roles: To keep your community organized, you can assign different roles to members. They could manage the group or moderate conversations to make sure all members are following the rules.
- Set guidelines: It’s important to set guidelines for your community. Members can maintain the expected behaviors when there is a clear set of rules to follow. This can be guidelines on the allowed content type, how to engage with other members, and the consequences of breaking the rules.
- Monitor conversations: As the community manager, it’s your responsibility to monitor conversations and ensure that everyone is following the guidelines. If you notice any inappropriate behavior or content, you can remove the offending member or content.
- Encourage participation: To build a thriving community, it’s essential to encourage participation. This can include asking questions, sharing resources, or starting conversations.
- Share updates: Keep your community informed by sharing updates on new features, upcoming events, or other relevant information. This can help engage and keep your community members active.
- Use polls: Polls are a great way to get feedback from your community. You can use polls to ask for opinions on new features, get feedback on events, or gauge interest in a particular topic.
Learn more about the best practices for managing your community in this ultimate guide to WhatsApp Communities.
Monetize Your WhatsApp Community Today
Build your WhatsApp Community with Nas.io
Want to supercharge your WhatsApp Community? Integrate with Nas.io and increase engagement with our free WhatsApp features. Nas.io integrates your WhatsApp for an all-in-one community platform solution. Here, you can build a private community on top of WhatsApp, for free.
Learn more about Nas.io integration with WhatsApp here.
Summary
In summary, creating and managing a WhatsApp Community is as easy as creating a WhatsApp Group. Both options offer a similar experience, but the latter can accommodate more people and secondary groups.
If you are handling multiple groups chats on common interests, creating a WhatsApp Community is for you. It can help you separate different discussions or announcements to prevent overwhelming flow of messages.
Or even better, you can integrate your WhatsApp community with platforms like Nas.io for more management and monetization features.
If you find this post helpful for starting a WhatsApp Community, you can check our guide on WhatsApp Integration with Nas.io.
