A community is the longest-term investment you can make as a creator. A course sells once. A challenge runs 7–30 days. A webinar is gone in 90 minutes. A community lives for years and becomes the main reason buyers stay.
Most creators make the same mistake: they launch a community as an "add-on" to an existing course, leave it without structure, and in three months it dies. A dead community is worse than no community — it signals unprofessionalism.
In this guide I'll show you how to create a community on audienced with a clear structure, how to launch it with the first 100 members, and how to keep it alive even when you can't be online 8 hours a day.
Two types of community: free vs paid
First the choice that defines every later decision.
Free community
- Open to anyone who registers.
- Typically larger (500–10,000+).
- Less engaged, more passive members.
- Useful as a lead magnet for courses and memberships.
Paid community (community plan)
- Only for subscribers on a monthly or annual plan.
- Smaller (50–500), but engagement density is much higher.
- Direct revenue source.
- Primary retention driver.
I recommend a hybrid structure: the main community is free (public spaces + general content), with private spaces inside for paid plan members. See the blog on membership for details.
Step 1: create the community
In the admin panel click Community → Create community.
Set:
- Community name: "Ana Novak Academy" or "Moms who create" — something that immediately tells the target member they belong here.
- Tagline (1 line): "A space for European moms building a business without the guilt."
- Cover image — 1920×480 px, professional.
- Visibility: public (visible on the pricing page) or closed (invite only).
Step 2: space structure
This is the most important architectural decision for the community. A poorly structured community with 10 similar channels dies in a month.
Basic spaces I recommend
Public (free access):
- Introductions — new members introduce themselves.
- Weekly win — post one thing you did this week.
- Questions — open Q&A (members to each other).
- Resources — links, PDFs, tools.
- Events — calendar of live sessions, webinars.
Private (members of the paid plan only):
- Pro questions — 1:1 with you, response time ≤ 24h.
- Pro resource library — bonuses, templates, private webinar recordings.
- Community calls — archive of monthly live sessions.
Rule: less is more
5–8 spaces is about right. 15+ disperses activity. If in doubt, merge two spaces into one.
Step 3: the first 100 posts
An empty community is almost as bad as a dead one. The first member who lands and sees 0 posts doesn't engage. Before launch:
- Publish at least 10 starter posts — your intro, your story, 3 resources, 1 question, 1 announcement.
- Invite 5–10 close friends from your audience to help "seed" the community with first comments.
- Set clear rules in a pinned post: what we accept, what we don't, how we introduce ourselves.
The first 100 members are the hardest. Invite each personally. DM, not mass email. Every early member carries 10× the weight of a later one.
Step 4: daily routine
A community dies if the creator shows up twice a month. It lives with ritual.
Daily routine (30 minutes)
- Morning (10 min): post the daily prompt ("What's one thing you plan to do today?").
- Midday (5 min): like, reply to 3–5 comments.
- Evening (15 min): open the private Pro space, answer open questions.
Weekly routine (60 min)
- Monday: post the week's plan.
- Wednesday: post a mid-week reflection question.
- Friday: "Win Friday" — members share results.
Monthly routine (2–4 hours)
- Live community call — Zoom, 60 min, once a month.
- Resource drop — new PDF, template, recording.
- Review rules and structure — maybe drop or rename a space.
If you can't personally, delegate to a community manager — a student, a power user, someone with 2–4 hours a day for ~€500/month.
Step 5: moderation
audienced gives you tools:
- Hide post — hidden for everyone, visible to you for review.
- Delete — permanent.
- Block user — can't post or comment.
- Ban — removes from the community.
- Pin post — stays at the top of the space.
Typical rules I recommend:
- No promotion of outside products (links to competing courses, MLM, pyramid schemes).
- No personal attacks.
- No hate speech, discrimination.
- No off-topic politics / religion.
- Violations: first warning, second ban.
Clearly communicated rules eliminate 90% of conflicts.
Community gamification
Link activity to points and badges (see the blog on gamification):
- Post: 5 points.
- Comment: 2 points.
- Likes: 1 point.
- First on the weekly leaderboard: "Community Star" badge.
- 30-day streak of activity: "Consistent" badge.
A weekly and monthly leaderboard in a pinned post in the main space creates healthy competition.
Direct messages (DMs)
audienced supports 1:1 DMs between members. Creators often use them for:
- Answering private questions that don't fit a public space.
- Personal welcome of new members in their first days.
- Premium 1:1 coaching inside a membership plan.
DMs can be disabled for non-plan members in settings if you don't want free members to become "too busy".
What to do when the community stalls
A stall moment will come. Every community has a 3–6 month "plateau" period — fewer new members, less activity. What to do:
- Personal outreach to the 10 most active: DM, thanks, ask what they'd improve.
- Re-energise challenge: launch a 7-day mini-challenge for existing members. Advertised only inside the community.
- Higher interaction: personally reply to every comment for 2 weeks. Power users will notice.
- New content drop: new resource, new course, new bonus.
- Remove dead spaces: if a space has been inactive 4+ weeks, kill it or merge.
Frequently asked questions
How long does setting up a community take?
Technically: 2–3 hours (create, spaces, pinned posts). Strategically (content calendar, first 50 posts, invites): 10–15 hours.
Do I have to be online 24/7?
No. 24-hour response time (workdays) is sufficient. Set expectations clearly.
Does the community work in a mobile app?
Yes. The audienced PWA has a native feel. Push notifications for new comments, likes, DMs.
How is a community different from a Facebook group?
Facebook is owned by Meta. The day they change the algorithm, your community dies. An audienced community is your asset on your domain. Plus: data, structure, integration with courses and payments, plus gamification, plus privacy.
How does the community link to courses?
The course automatically enrolls the buyer in the linked community / space. Enable this in the course settings → Auto-enroll in community.
What do I do with my existing Facebook group?
Run both in parallel for 2 months. Post in the FB group that "place A" has become the audienced community. Invite members via DM and a pinned post. After 2 months, freeze or archive the FB group.
How many members are "enough" for the community to be active?
At least 30–50 active members for daily posts to sustain without you. Below 30 you need to be more present.
Closing thoughts
A community is a long game. The first three months you invest huge time for little visible return. Then it boils. After 12 months you have a living organism that creates value on its own.
If you're starting now, start with a single clear structure, 5 spaces, 10 starter posts, and personal invites to 20 people. That's enough for week one.