The Invision Community platform is capable of integrating with other powerful services, creating a unified system of connections with the click of a button.
One of the greatest benefits of integrating with Invision Community is instant expanded functionality.
This is often done through an API (application programming interface), which allows our platform to seamlessly communicate with third-party developed software like Google, Zapier and SendGrid.
We also use webhooks to integrate. Webhooks allow other services and applications to stay in sync with your community data or to perform an action after a specific event occurs in your community. Read more about them here.
I had a chat with one of our developers, @Daniel F, who walks us through webhooks, explains why they’re useful and shows us an example (see the video above). In the example he uses, we would...
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- Open Zapier, use the webhook trigger (only available with old plans) and grab the url for the webhook.
- In the ACP -> System -> API, under the webhook tab, create a new tab and select the triggers/events which you want, e.g. when a club is created and paste the url which you got from Zapier.
- Then after saving the form, head back to Zapier and test it.
- Once the test was successful, move on to the next step in your Zap, e.g. use a newsletter connection to add the owner of the club to a club owner's mail list.
Here are a few integrations we want to put on your radar:
Zapier
What is it? Zapier is a service that allows you to connect over 3,000 web apps. The Invision and Zapier integration can communicate with some of the Internet’s most wide-reaching platforms, including Google Docs, Twitter, Facebook, Slack, Trello, Facebook Ads, ActiveCampaign, Zendesk, Asana, Salesforce, Hubspot, Discord, Stripe and more. Read our Zapier blog for more details (it’s worth your undivided attention!).
An example: When a moderator posts a topic in a news forum, share it on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.
MapBox
What is it? MapBox shares dynamic, performant, and customizable maps that can connect and visibly show where your members are around the world.
An example: Create events that link to specific locations and specify where they’re taking place.
Google Tag Manager
What is it? Google Tag Manager is a tag management system that allows you to add and update your own tags (snippets of code like a tracking pixel) onto your website for conversion tracking, site analytics, remarketing, and more.
Tags that can be incorporated include link clicks for events, scroll tracking, contact form abandonment, commerce shopping cart abandonment and more.
Expect to see more functionality with Google Tag Manager in our platform later this year such as quantifying total amount of reactions in a post.
An example: Tracking when a member clicks the ‘start new topic’ button.
Google Analytics
What is it? Google Analytics is a web analytics platform that shares statistics and basic analytical tools for SEO and marketing initiatives.
Understanding your website’s data, including who is visiting, how often, for how long, device usage and more can better help you optimize your community.
An example: Tracking unique visitors over the course of a year, then comparing that data to the previous year. Whether there’s an upward or downward trend, analyzing the data can help you create a plan of how to proceed, as well as understand what is (and isn’t) working.
SendGrid
What is it? Sendgrid is a cloud-based email delivery system. It’s a vehicle for your community to send emails to your members.
An example: Sending a monthly newsletter using the Bulk Mail function in the admin control panel.
Integrations are an efficient way to take your Invision Community platform to the next level. There’s even more in your ACP that we didn’t discuss in this blog.
If you have an integration in place that you’d like to share with us, or have an idea, drop us a line in the comments and let us know.
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