Circle.so Review: How I Organized the Unicorn Factory Community

Watch: Circle.so Review: How I Organized the Unicorn Factory Community

This June 2021 review describes how I organized the Unicorn Factory community after using Slack.

In today's video, I am going to be reviewing a new tool that has made my life significantly easier when it comes to managing the Unicorn Factory community. The tool is called Circle, and it's an online tool that you can use to create an online forum.

Why Circle?

I set up the Unicorn Factory on Circle after using Slack for about a year and a half because I wanted to find something that would make it easier for people just joining the community to get involved with discussions that were happening inside of the community but were getting lost on Slack.

Overview of Circle

Inside of Circle, you have things called spaces, which are basically channels that people use to store different types of content. Inside of my welcome group, I have three spaces: the Start Here space, the Introduce Yourself space, and the Announcement space. The Start Here space is where I send all of the freelancers who have just joined the Unicorn Factory, and I use it to answer commonly asked questions that freelancers have after they've joined the community.

Creating Posts on Circle

Creating a post on Circle is straightforward. You hit the plus button and fill it out the way you would fill out a blog post on Medium. They have a rich text editor that makes creating engaging content a lot easier. You can embed videos, images, gifs, and more. Additionally, you can embed different headings, embed code, mention people in posts, and more.

Connecting Freelancers

One space that has been great for connecting different freelancers to each other is the Freelancer Connect space. This space is where freelancers can come and introduce themselves and connect with other freelancers. It's been a great way to create a sense of community and help freelancers find other freelancers to collaborate with.

Managing the Community with Zapier

I also want to show you some workflows that I've got set up inside of Zapier that allow me to manage the community a lot more effectively. These workflows include automating the process of welcoming new members to the community, sending out reminders for upcoming events, and more.

Choose around your community's needs

Circle helped me organize onboarding and discussions through separate spaces. That experience does not make it the best choice for every community. Create a Start Here space, an introduction space, and one useful discussion space before adding more. For current costs and tradeoffs, compare Circle and Skool.

🤩 TRY CIRCLE FOR FREE (Affiliate Link): https://www.connorfinlayson.com/a/circle TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:25 Unicorn Factory Circle
• 04:55 Private / Paid Groups
• 05:32 Circle Features
• 06:58 Circle Mobile App
• 07:18 Do you really need a community forum?