Olivia Clark

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

Invision Community has an exciting opportunity to have customer service superstars join our team. 
Invision Power Services, Inc. is behind the leading community software platform, Invision Community. Our tailored solutions serve clients of all sizes, from smaller communities to the world’s biggest brands.
We have been on the forefront of independent and white label engagement communities since 2002.
 
The Role
General duties could include assisting customers via forum support, customer communication and marketing needs, and bringing ideas and energy to new customer focused initiatives. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. This role will vary based on your experience, skills, and our needs. If you have a passion for helping others and all things customer service, we would love to hear from you.
The position is remote, but it will require significant overlap with the EST working day. We offer a friendly relaxed environment with an established team who have a passion for what they do. There is an opportunity to learn from others and progress into more senior roles.
 
Key Responsibilities
Provide public facing support and guidance to customers and prospective customers. Work with customer service team to communicate and prioritize customer needs Write and edit documentation Website maintenance and content creation The most important characteristic is a willingness to learn and to take on new challenges. The role is varied and we are happy to find the right combination of duties to fit your skills and experience.
 
Skills & Experience
Familiar with social engagement, not necessary Invision Community Experience writing cheerful and helpful support responses Willingness to learn our Invision Community software The depth of experience can vary between applicants. Please apply even if some of these areas are not your strongest points. We can offer training and mentoring for the right candidate and our team is very supportive.
 
Location
Remote but must be available for a significant portion of 9-5 EST working day.
 
Salary
Part-time and full-time positions are both available and pay would be determined by experience and assigned duties.
 
How To Apply
Please complete the application form (This link has been removed) giving us as much information as possible.

You’ve got questions, and you’ve got answers.
One of the glorious benefits to running a thriving community is its ability to be self-sustainable. We’ve added new Solved features available on both standard and self-hosted plans. 
While you’re working on growing the community’s presence (and the bottom line), your members are busy connecting and engaging with one another. In addition to you and your team answering questions, peer-to-peer networking is an efficient way to increase support and quickly attend to your members’/clients’/customers’ needs. 
Invision Community’s previously existing Solutions feature allows a topic starter, as well as community moderators, to mark a reply inside a topic as the solution to the question. We’ve added a green block for the member who started the topic that encourages them to mark a response as the solution. This is only visible to them and not other members participating inside the topic. 


 
Here is what the new Solutions button looks like:


 
Not only did it receive a style update, but more importantly the topic starter can now receive periodic emails reminding them to revisit their topic and either re-engage until a solution is found, or mark a previously-posted answer as the solution. 
Community leaders have the ability to turn this feature off, or set the number of days before an email is sent (the default is set to 14 days).
Here is an example email:


 
We also added a Solved report in the Statistics section of your Admin Control Panel.
The report consists of daily snapshots taken within the community. The platform then records the percent of topics solved, as well as the average time it took to find a solution. This helps you understand pain points in your community, as well as what kinds of questions get answered and how long it took for a solution to come to light. 



Benefits of your community using Solutions:
Cuts support costs: Customers help one another so your team can focus elsewhere. Builds a library: Community answers are easily searchable & shareable for future customers. Gives props: Reward customers for answering questions with Achievements. Empowers members: Customers help themselves by asking questions and finding answers. The new Solutions features are available in an upcoming update to version 4.7 of our platform. 
The Solutions option is located in: Admin Control Panel -> Community -> Forums -> Forums -> Select desired Forum -> Edit -> Display Settings -> "Enable Solved?" Toggle + "Allow the topic starter to mark solved?" Toggle
Thoughts? Let us know what you think in the comments! 

Community managers and moderators have a simple but powerful new tool at their disposal: scheduling a topic's future publishing date.
Previously, if a community manager wanted to draft a topic for a future release, they would have to craft the content elsewhere. It wasn’t the best experience. After listening to client feedback, we implemented a path for those with moderator privileges to create topics now, but have them go live in the future. 
Set this new permissions setting in the Admin Control Panel -> Moderators -> Content -> Can set a future publishing date? 
Notice the Publish date and time fields at the bottom:


 
Here are a few examples of when this would be useful:
Welcoming new members
A community manager can compose a topic welcoming members from that week, but set it to go live the next week. It’s a powerful, engaging and visible way to acknowledge new sign-ups. Pair this with our new Alerts System.
Anniversaries
Big day coming up? Create content around it now, but set the topic's publish date on the actual day. 
Content calendar
If you are in charge of creating community content, budget a chunk of time towards creating engaging topics. Set their future publish dates apart so there’s space for members to engage accordingly. It also allows your team to visually see the content and weigh in with changes (or hoorays!) before members see it.
Related:
 
Announcements
Scheduling an announcement inside a topic, in tandem with our Announcements workflow functionality located in the Moderator Control Panel, allows community moderators to create space for feedback from loyalists. 
Promo campaign
As a community manager, time is a commodity. Setting up a promotional campaign for a future product release sets you up for success. When planning intricate marketing projects, organization and editing are paramount. Setting a future release date creates space to ensure the messaging is clear and effective.
This feature, available for all Invision Community clients, is available in 4.7.1 Beta 1 (out now). View our release notes.
Thoughts? Let us know what you think in the comments (preferably now 😉).

See what members are currently most engaged with in real time in your community by using our new Trending Content feature included in our latest release, 4.7.0. 
Our new Trending Content feature, available on our Business & Corporate/Enterprise plans, automatically rounds up a list of engaging topics that are most active in the present moment within your community and proudly displays them for other members to see and contribute to. 
Trending Content is one of the best ways to stay on top of popular and current topics, as well as engage with other members in the here and now. It’s also a powerful method to inform search engines that your community is an authority in its niche because your members are constantly fueling the community fire.
How does the real time Trending Content feature work?
Our platform applies a value to different forms of engagement. This informs the Trending Content feature as to what it should display without delay.
This criteria is weighted and includes:
Replies: most valuable ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Topics that receive replies are the clearest sign a piece of content is trending.
Reactions: valuable ⭐️⭐
Your members are engaging with other members’ topics and replies. That’s great in helping to decide what is trending, but ultimately we want members to comment.
Views: somewhat valuable ⭐️
Visibility is important and plays a role in deciding whether a content item shows in the Trending Content section. 
 
The Trending Content may be visible in a block, or on your community's leaderboard.
Trending Content block:


 
Trending Content section on the leaderboard page:

 
The Trending Content feature may be turned on or off by visiting your Admin Control Panel (ACP) -> System -> Smart Community -> Features -> Trending Content.
 

 
Examples of useful Trending Content blocks in different types of communities:
 
Enterprise communities
If you’re in the corporate realm, displaying a list of trending content gives your influential clients and members an opportunity to see what’s shaping the ecosystem of your big-named brand. It also provides the company with an opportunity to monitor trends, then focus on more content like it to create another set of trending topics.
Educational communities
Display a list of trending content amongst your students. If there’s a particular question that captures the attention of your e-learning audience, chances are it’s engaging and thought-provoking. By including a Trending Content block in prominent areas of your community, students (and teachers) have an opportunity to weigh in and reach a solution together. 
Gaming communities
Include a Trending Content block inside your gaming community to drum up interest in new releases, share insider information and rumors about your favorite games and consoles and gauge what your fellow gamer peers are engaged with. 
Support communities
Should a critical support issue arise, your team will see what content items your clients are contributing to, assess, then solve.
News communities
Don’t be the last to know. When breaking news strikes, members tend to flood to the content item and share their two cents. Including a Trending Content block in a news community is the most efficient route to quickly keep your members in the loop regarding live news. 

Our new Trending Content feature is available in version 4.7.0. 
Thoughts? Drop us a line in the comments and let us know what you think. Should this blog post receive great engagement, you'll see it in our Trending Content feature located in our community forum. See you there!

Invision Community’s forthcoming release includes an exciting new feature available for all. 
Announcing the Alert System! 🚨™
The Alert System is a new tool for community managers to communicate with their members. There are times when a community manager needs to bring information to the attention of either a single user, or a group of users; when existing systems such as PMs or warning points are not suitable. So, we developed a happy medium to empower you. 
The new alert system offers multiple ways to engage with single users or multiple member groups with a message that must be acknowledged and dismissed before further engagement with the community.
Here are a few examples of when a community leader can use the Alert System for individual members:
Moderator actions 
A moderator moves a topic and wants to inform the topic starter that the topic has been moved and why. 
Get ahead of warnings
A member left a comment that doesn’t justify a warning point, nor should it warrant a private message. You want to kindly remind them of the community guidelines. 

Community leaders may wish to send information to an entire member group. This may to warn them of new limits, or to notify support changes, etc. 
Here are a few examples of when a community leader can use the Alert System for groups:
Updates to community guidelines
After reviewing and updating your community guidelines or terms of service, you can send an alert to all affected member groups outlining the changes, so they are aware. As the message needs to be dismissed before any further interaction with the community, you can be sure it has been read before any more posts are made.

This example shows an alert with send anonymously switched on.
 
Welcome message
To strengthen your onboarding flow, you may like to send all new members a welcome message to introduce yourself and your team, along with some helpful information to help get them settled in.
This example shows an alert with the option to reply, with send anonymously turned off.
Heads up
Remind a group of a permanent account-related change, like their subscription will be decreasing/increasing. 
New forums added
After consultation with your community, you want to add some new discussion areas for your VIP Members. You can now send an alert targeted to members in that group to let them know where the new forums are and what their purpose is.
Let's chat
You notice that a great community member is having a bad day. Instead of reaching for punitive tools, you can send them an alert that they have to reply to before being allowed to continue engaging in the community.

These are just a few examples; of course, the alerts functionality has a lot of flexibility built in. 
Alerts are managed from the Moderator's Control Panel.

 
Let us take a look at the different areas that can be configured.

 
Dates
Each alert has a start date, and this date can be in the future. This is especially useful if you have an event coming up you want to showcase. You can optionally set an expiration date to only serve the alert for members that visit between the start and end date. You can also leave it running indefinitely for uses such as the welcome message.
Send to
This section allows you to choose to send to a single user or to a single or multiple groups. If you are sending to groups, you can further fine-tune the deliverability by choosing to send to everyone currently registered and to new members when they register, or you can target just new members (to be precise, this will target members who register after the alert date), this option is ideal for the welcome message alert.
Send as yourself or anonymously 
You can choose to send the alert anonymously or from yourself. There are times when you want a personal touch and times when you need more of a system style alert, perhaps when notifying of guideline updates. Or, if the message is general, or you want to protect members of your team, send the alert anonymously. 
Replies
If you choose to send the alert personally, then you can allow the member to reply, force the member to respond to dismiss the alert or remove the ability to reply. For a welcome message, you'd likely want to allow replies which then will create a new personal message between you and the member. 
We have built the system to be very flexible to cover a wide range of uses where you want to directly engage with a member or group of members and be confident that they have seen the alert before any further engagement in the community. Alerts can be used to strengthen onboarding, notify sections of your community about exciting new features and changes or even create an open dialogue after a punitive measure such as having a posting time-out.
This feature is coming to Invision Community 4.7, across all platforms.
Thoughts on our new Alert System?! Drop us a line in the comments and let us know what you think.

Improving SEO with your community is a hot topic with community managers. Many minor tweaks can move the needle in the right direction, but the most significant changes come with increasing crawl efficiency.
I recently wrote about changes we made to Invision Community to improve crawl efficiency. By removing thin content pages and being laser-focused on what you want to be crawled, you present a more efficient site ready for crawling.
Crawl depth is another metric that impacts crawl efficiency. The more 'clicks' Google and other search engines have to make to get to your content; the less efficient your site is for crawling. With a community, this can present problems because using forums and child forums segments content and places it an extra click or two away from the home page. Segmenting is ideal when your community has defined content boundaries, but it can mean Google has to work harder to find your content.
We introduced a "fluid view" in a past release, which streams all of your community's topics into a single filterable view. This streamed view works well when you have a small number of forums, but it is less valuable when you have a more significant number.
Wouldn't it be perfect if you could have a fluid view per forum or category so you can stream the forum's topics with any child forum's topics in a single view?

With our latest release, you can do just that! In this example, I have a forum called "Ideation", and there are two child forums. The new feature enabled on a per-forum basis in the AdminCP allows the topics from all three forums to be streamed in a single view. As with the global fluid view mode, your members can toggle the filters to refine which forums you want the stream to include.

Showing the topics from multiple forums in a single unified stream is not only helpful for search engines as it reduces the crawl depth, but it also reduces helps your members find valuable content faster.
Update (July 14, 2022):  You asked and we listened! Thanks to valuable client feedback, we made an update to our fluid view feature included in our latest release, 4.6. To better the user experience, we improved the fluid-mode per forum filters to remove a page reload! We also reversed the filter checkbox status to make it clear which filters are being viewed. 
The Fluid View updates are available now. We'd love to hear your thoughts below!

Twenty years ago today, Invision Community was founded and within months the first version of Invision Community was released. Little did we know, this would be the start of a remarkable journey spanning several decades.
Our first version appeared shortly after we founded the company. It might be hard to imagine a time before social media and YouTube, but when we started out, the web looked very different.

The first version of Invision Community was called Invision Board, reflecting the popular term for forums back in the early 2000s. It was full featured and you may recognise some elements that persist today.
Like today, it even had a separate control panel where you could create new areas of discussion and customise the theme.

Twenty years is a long time and we've continued to adapt with the ever-changing needs of community managers. We've seen the rise of social media impact how people consume content and found ways to compliment Twitter and Facebook by offering a place for long-form permanent discussion.
Several elements remain from those early days but the concepts behind the theme have change significantly. New workflows, UI elements and views have helped the platform stay fresh and we've certainly innovated a few features that have since become industry standard over that time.
I can't express how proud I am of what we've built together. From those humble beginnings working until 2am to growing a creative and talented team around our passion for community.
I'm still as excited today as I was back in 2002. This year will see us build and release new tools to help guide and inform community managers. Our community platform continues to go from strength to strength.
Of course, the platform is only one part of Invision Community. Over the last twenty years I've been grateful to get to know many of you and watch your lives unfold.
This is as pure as community can get and I'm privileged to be part of it.

We have a few other surprises to celebrate our twentieth anniversary. We can't wait to share them!

I'd love to hear your memories of Invision Community! When did you first use our products and what was your community for? Please let me know in the comments below.

Moats have been used for centuries as a way to defend a building from potential attack.
A flooded ditch around a castle is a great way to make it harder to be taken. You can't push battering rams against walls, and neither can you dig under the castle. Quite frankly, a moat is a pretty decent deterrent when there are plenty of other castles to pillage.
What does this mean for your business?
A community can be an economic moat, or in more simple terms, your competitive advantage.
When your product or service is surrounded by an engaged community that feels invested in your brand, you'll be able to resist challenges from competitors looking to tempt your customers away.
Humans are social creatures, and we love seeking out and joining a tribe that aligns with our values. The intangible value of belonging creates a sense of momentum for your brand and helps champion it to others.
The statistics back this strategy; 88% of community professionals said in a recent survey that community is critical to their company's mission and 85% said that their community has had a positive impact to their business.[1]
Your competitive advantage
One of the cheapest ways to create momentum for your product is to build a community around your startup. A community is much more than a one-time marketing campaign and can help you throughout your company's life cycle if you take the time to grow it right. [2]
Creating a buzz around a product can take a lot of time, effort and money. 
Traditionally, this buzz would be created with a mixture of videos, websites, influencer reviews, and heavy advertisement spends across multiple channels, including social media.
 Your community can create a shortcut and reach an audience without those costs and increase the chance of your product being shared virally. 
Your community creates a bond over a shared interest that continually re-enforces loyalty to your brand. This creates a personal investment which makes it less likely your customers will try a competitor.
Put simply, if a company can move from just shipping a product to building a community, it can benefit from several competitive advantages such as:
Engaged members help acquire new members, lowering the cost for customer acquisition. Increased customer retention through community loyalty. Members won't want to abandon the community they enjoy. Reduced support costs as members support each other. This benefit forms a loop that generates more value as the community grows.

Brand building 
Another area of opportunity for social marketing is "brand building" - connecting enthusiastic online brand advocates with the company's product development cycle. Here, research becomes marketing; product developers are now using social forums to spot reactions after they modify an offer, a price, or a feature in a product or service. Such brand-managed communities can have real success. One well-documented example is IdeaStorm, Dell's community discussion and "brainstorming" website, which saw a measurable increase in sales following its launch, by providing a forum for meaningful dialogue and "to gauge which ideas are most important and most relevant to" the public. [3]
By creating a community around your product or service, not only do you create brand advocates, but you also gain powerful insights into what your customers want through research which drives marketing. 
Consumers today crave a stronger bond with brands. It's no longer enough to give them a customer support email address and a monthly newsletter. They want a much more in-depth interaction with the company and other users of the product or service.
One tactic for success is for brands to move away from the hard-sell to instead embrace the notion of "co-creation". This means moving beyond "old-school" approaches to website advertising to embrace the principles of relationship marketing - building virtual environments in which customers can connect with each other to share insights and relevant information.
To capitalise on currently available opportunities, marketers need to find or establish real brand communities, listen to them, and then create special programs and tools that will empower potential and existing community members, rewarding existing consumers and eliciting behavioural change from potential consumers. [3]
Evernote, the note-taking app, is a great example. Their lively community encourages customers to interact directly with staff, post their wish-lists for future versions and learn more about what happens behind the scenes.
The community creates evangelists for Evernote and makes it harder for competitors to gain a foothold with a potent mix of dialogue, access to other customers, transparency from the brand and many opportunities for co-creation of content.
Co-creation fundamentally challenges the traditional roles of the firm and the consumer. The tension manifests itself at points of interaction between the consumer and the company where the co-creation experience occurs, where individuals exercise choice, and where value is co-created. Points of interaction provide opportunities for collaboration and negotiation, explicit or implicit, between the consumer and the company.
In the emergent economy, competition will center on personalized co-creation experiences, resulting in value that is truly unique to each individual. [4]
In simple terms, a community allows your customers to feel closer to your brand and the products you sell.

 
What are you waiting for?
Nearly 80% of founders reported building a community of users as important to their business, with 28% describing their moat as critical to their success.[1]
Our team at Invision Community has over two decades of community building experience and are trusted by brands of all sizes.
Whether you have an existing community, or you're taking your first steps to create your own, our experience and expertise will guide your success.

[1] https://cmxhub.com/community-industry-trends-report-2020
[2] https://viral-loops.com/blog/your-company-needs-a-pre-launch-campaign/
[3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268200746_Social_media_and_its_implications_for_viral_marketing#read
[4] https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jhm/Readings/Co-creating unique value with customers.pdf

Branded communities mobilize your impassioned fans and customers. 
If you’re even a little familiar with community building, you’ve probably seen marketing jargon about why owning your own community (and not exclusively relying on social media) is absolutely imperative for growth. 
Relying on social media is a gamble. 
At any given time the social media giants can take away your platform and following you had spent years building.  Meaningful ongoing conversations aren’t really a thing. No customization; your social account won’t have different functionality than everyone else (there’s a few exceptions with Instagram, but it’s based on follower count). With a community, you can grant your members far more flexibility and power.  Companies that thrive know of social media’s limitations. They opt to also include a community component to their brand because it’s a serious advantage. They use social media as a tool to drive traffic to their community and get to know their clients/customers on a deeper level. 
Owning your own branded community... 
Strengthens brand identity. Duh, but not really. I’d say most companies fail to establish a real look and feel. This is done by evoking an emotion in the customer through an intentional balance of visuals (colors, logos, fonts) alongside experiences the company, along with the community, creates together.  Builds trust with the consumer. Getting digital face time with your customers, sharing content and offering value on a consistent basis are the building blocks of trust between company and consumer. Gain this, and become an authority in your industry.  Provides a deeper understanding of customers' needs. Save money on market research. Tap into your audience's needs free of charge.  Encourages an open dialogue. Customers want to feel heard! Create an environment that's a two-way street so their thoughts and feelings don't fall into the Internet abyss. Creates visibility. At the heart of any business are the customers. Show them your true colors.
  Your brand’s look & feel matters
Now that we’ve nailed down the ‘why,’ let’s touch on the nuts and bolts, err… colors and fonts. 
Don’t underestimate the power of a cohesive and imaginative visual associated with your brand. 
When you think of McDonald’s, does your brain fire off a pair of golden arches and a ketchup red color combo? When thinking about Coca Cola, maybe a cursive font bubbles up. Apple is internationally admired for their visuals and product presentation.
These aren’t accidents.
Companies spend millions of dollars on marketing to perfect the brand’s look and feel. 
Your community should aim to feel as immersive as possible through its branding. 
Your community, powered by Invision Community, was designed with that in mind. In the admin control panel, community leaders can design their own theme, including colors, fonts, headers, footers and logo. 
Take a look at how some of our clients transformed their communities into something extra special:
 

Squarespace
 

Fiverr
 

Corsair
 
Those communities enlist our enterprise services. However, if you don’t have the marketing budget just yet to create a totally custom look and feel, we have a new option at your disposal starting today.
We just launched a theme service available for all Invision Community clients on our standard plans. We’ll create you a theme based on certain criteria and keep it updated throughout future platform updates. 
If that’s something of interest, please visit this new page on our website and reach out to us to get started.
Design your new theme today.
Owning a branded community doesn’t need to be complicated. If your idea is solid, and your intentions are to unite and connect like-minded people, then you’re golden. 
Are you  interested in a branded community? Do you have a community that could use some extra attention? Are you ready to launch a new community but don’t know where to start? Drop us a line in the comments and we’ll respond to you.
 

Gratitude is an essential part of building community.
One of the most powerful emotions is gratitude. It helps foster meaningful connections, expands awareness and, well, it just feels good!
Invision Community features powerful tools to help you maintain relationships with your clients, customers or members. Approaching them with gratitude in mind will inspire your community to blossom into something even greater. 
 
Here are five ways to show your community members you are thankful for them:
 
1) Achievements


Our robust Achievements system is the most obvious method to tap into gratitude. As a community leader or moderator, you can literally show thanks by rewarding your members.
Manually award members a Badge and Points for exemplifying leadership, posting special content or for their positive contributions. 
Move members into an exclusive Rank for consistently being a positive force in the community.  Display a block of Badges on the community homepage to make members’ accomplishments visible.
 
2) Newsletter
Send a bulk email from the platform directly into your members’ inbox.
A newsletter is a wonderful way to intimately communicate with your die-hards. Blast the email to your entire community, or choose specific user groups. For example, relay this special gratitude email to members who’ve posted 100 times or more. 
 
3) Curate content

Highlight your members’ topics or blog posts by curating them for more to see. This not only thanks your community for positively contributing, but also encourages others to follow suit. 
Use the Our Picks widget or the Feature moderation action to prominently display content items. Though different tactics, both showcase what your members are posting. 
 
4) Reputation
Our Reputation system is one of the most efficient and effective ways to show gratitude in an instant. 

“Reacting” to members’ posts visibly shows thanks and communicates to others that the post is worth stopping and reading. Reacting also increases a member’s perceived value in the community. The higher a member’s Reputation score is, the more they are trusted by others. 
 
5) Topics
This might be the most powerful but challenging tip of all: create a topic in the Forums and tell your community you’re grateful for them. 
It’s one thing to award badges and points, curate content and send a newsletter, but it’s another for you, the community leader, to spend a moment and personally thank your members for supporting you. They are spending their time, one of the most valuable assets, with you. That’s worth celebrating! 
Speaking of… Invision Community would like to take this moment to thank you. Whether you are a serious hobbyist, a medium-sized company or an enterprise industry giant, we want to thank you for believing in us and using our platform to better your business.
If you’re someone who’s interested in joining, we’d love to hear from you!
🙏  Get in touch with us! 🙏

Earlier this year, Invision Community launched a native gamification system called Achievements. We added significant improvements to Achievements in our new release, 4.6.8, out now!  🎉 
Achievements allows community leaders to reward members with points, badges and ranks for their outstanding contributions. We listened to your feedback and implemented some very exciting changes.
In this post, you'll get a crash course on the new updates included in your Admin Control Panel (ACP) upon updating your community to 4.6.8. Once you're familiar with these concepts, you can take action to elevate your community.
 
New! Married group promotions with Achievements. 
New! Added metrics to better understand how Achievements functions within your community. 
New! Implemented additional rules to further empower your members. 
New! Updated email notifications to let your members know when they've earned a badge.
New! Download member lists based on Achievements criteria.
 
Before we expand on the new features, here's a recap of Achievements to refresh your memory:
 
Related: Want to know more about Achievements? Read our original blog post.

Now that you’re up to speed, let’s take a look at the new metrics and rules.
 
Group promotions


 
Group promotions lay out various user journeys.
Based on actions a member takes in a community, for example  commenting 100 times, having a high reputation score or having joined a community a year ago, the platform will automatically place them in a group (based on the rules you previously set up). This is useful when creating a hierarchy in your community. The more your members are engaged, the more access / privileges they receive.
 Now, community leaders can automatically place members in specific groups based on what badges they've earned in the community.  
Couple examples:
A moderator manually awards a member the 'Helpful Superstar' badge. In this scenario, that badge can only be earned if a moderator chooses to give it. Once someone earns that badge, they're automatically placed in the 'Helpful Superstars' group. This group may have the ability to create clubs (whereas the other groups can't).  A member earns the 'Engaged' badge. 'Engaged' badges are earned when a member has replied 100 times since joining. Once they've posted 100 replies, the system automatically places them in a new group with other contributing members.   
Related: Learn more about Group Promotions
 
Metrics
Metrics reports are essential for understanding what's working in your community, and what needs improving. 


 
Badges Earned: Track what badges were earned during a defined period of time. This is especially useful to track both member engagement as well as identify how often your community moderators are awarding badges manually.
Badges earned by member group: How many members in each group earned a badge. Track this when quantifying what groups are most engaged with your community. Understanding which group(s) earn the most badges helps you better tend to groups that might be less engaged. It might be a good idea to show them some extra attention. 
Badges by member: Search a time-based list of all members with an earned badge total. Easily discover who your VIP members are and reward / thank them for being active contributors. 
 
Related: Maximize community growth with our new reporting metrics
 
Rules
Set up rules based on various criteria. These rules will automatically take a specific action once the criteria has been met.
 


Member downloads a file: Members may earn a badge for downloading a specific file. This could be useful if your company wanted to share new policies or an announcement; track which members took the time to download the information and publicly recognize them for staying on top of things. 
Member purchases a package or product: Members may also earn a badge for purchasing either a package or a specific product. For example, you could create a rule for members to earn a coveted product badge for opting to purchase a physical product (like a t-shirt). Only members who've purchased an item from your community would receive this type of recognition. 
 
Outreach
Jump into your members' inboxes with tailor-made good news. 


 
New Email notifications: New notification emails let your members know when they've received a coveted rank.  
 
Segment
Download a list of members based on a number of Achievements criteria, including points, ranks and badges.


 
In theory, you can upload this list of members elsewhere to target this specific audience (like sending an exclusive email drip campaign in Mail Chimp).
Several examples include downloading a list of members who've:
Earned 500 or more points Earned a specific badge Reached a specific rank  
Achievements is a robust feature to engage your VIP members and spark the fuse of inspiration for newcomers. There’s a lot of power at your fingertips.
Unsure where to start with implementing Achievements? Check out our original post and determine what behaviors you want to reward within your community. Sometimes just logging in is a good place to start. Reward them for that. 🙂
Ready to take Achievements to the next level? Check out the new Group Promotions and Achievements Metrics now available in 4.6.8.

Where are you in your journey with Achievements? Drop us a line in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

It’s been a minute since our last blog post, but we have cooked up several epic projects in the interim.
To refresh your memory, we recently launched a new platform update, 4.6. It includes *takes a deep breath* Achievements, Zapier integration, web app and push notifications, anonymous posting, solved content, the ability to show when a team member has replied, a new health dashboard, spam improvements and more.
In the time since, we prepared a few special treats for you. Before we dive into the feature feast, sample our forthcoming website refresh. In the very near future, our entire website will slip into something a little more comfortable. Not only will the look and feel change, but we’re implementing new sections to explain how and why Invision Community is any business’ go-to- solution for community building. More on that to come, but for now take a bite out of this:



Onto the feature updates; hope you’re hungry!
Extended closed Club functionality
Clubs with ‘closed’ permissions have more flexibility than ever. 
Now, the owner of a closed club can opt to have the club’s forums, calendar, pages, gallery and downloads be visible for all to see (despite the club being set to closed). Previously, members could not access any part of a closed club unless they joined.
For example, a closed club leader could create a special landing page that’s viewable by members who have not yet joined the club, but the rest of the club is closed. This might be useful as a means to encourage someone to join, share information that’s pertinent to those in and out of the club or as a sales tool. 
Another example could be keeping the club-associated forums visible for all, but keep the club’s calendar and image gallery exclusive to the club’s members as an incentive to join. 
Gobble up this screengrab below:
 

 
Subscribe to Activity Streams
Never skip a beat! Members of a community can now subscribe to any default or custom activity stream (minus the All Activity Stream) and receive either daily or weekly email notifications with a roundup of content they may have missed. 
This is especially useful for die-hard community members and moderators who frequently consume content. By subscribing to an activity stream, members have important, need-to-know items they’re interested in delivered straight to their inbox. 
 


Community administrators have the option to limit how many activity streams a member can subscribe to. 
Because email notifications are inherently intimate, we have also implemented something called stream decay. If the user hasn't visited the site for a predefined amount of time, the activity stream email notifications they previously subscribed to will automatically stop until the member re-engages with the community by visiting. Pretty nifty, right?
 

 

Health Club
Since you’ve made it to the bottom of this blog post, sink your teeth into dessert. Sugar free, of course! 
We recently launched a new Health Club. It’s free to join and available for all Invision Community clients. This is a great opportunity for you to connect with other community leaders in the industry, as well as our own team, through the important modality of physical and mental health. The world is in a weird spot right now; please utilize this club to lean on one another for support, give advice, ask questions and share your health wins and missteps. As cheesy as it sounds, upping your general well-being will make you a better community leader and ultimately elevate your community as a whole. Just some food for thought!
 

The new Club and Activity Stream features will be made available in September.
Questions? Comments? Feedback? Drop us a crumb in the comments - we’d love to hear from you!
Header photo: Unsplash

Well, friends, what a journey we've been on since we started work on Invision Community 4.6.0.
With 11 developers accumulating 934 commits over 3,157 files changing 120,281 lines of code, we're ready to show it to the world.
Along with over 260 bug fixes, this new release contains some great new functionality. Let's take a look at what's new.
Achievements
Achievements, badges, ranks, rules, gamification, whatever you want to call it, this is the most significant feature for Invision Community 4.6.0. This brings a whole new level of earning and showing trust to other members while gently nudging more quality contributions to your community.
 
Zapier integration
Do you want new member registrations to magically appear in a Google spreadsheet? Perhaps you want members who opt-in for newsletters to be added to Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign. Cloud and Enterprise customers can do all this and more without writing a single line of code, thanks to Zapier.
 
Web app and push notifications
We took the time to round out our PWA (progressive web application) framework for 4.6.0 to include service workers, push notifications and more. I barely understand it, but Rikki takes you through the changes in our blog entry.
 
Anonymous posting
For some types of community, where discussion topics are particularly sensitive, community owners want to make sure that members register with their real details but are given the option to post anonymously where appropriate. For example, organisations dealing with abuse or sensitive topics might want the member to feel safe and disinhibited to post info without fear of being identified by the rest of the community.
 
Solved content
In Invision Community 4.6.0, we have rounded out our "solved" feature by allowing the feature to be enabled on a regular forum, along with notifications, statistics and more.
 
Show when a team member has replied
When you're scanning a list of topics, it's helpful to know when a community team member has replied, as these replies tend to have more authority and are more likely to resolve an issue. 4.6.0 adds a feature to show when a member of the team has replied.
 
Health dashboard
As Invision Community is a top of the line community platform with excellent developers and an amazing QA team, it's unlikely ever to go wrong. On the infrequent occasions that you need to identify potential issues within your community, the new health dashboard makes it easier to diagnose problems and request support.
 
Spam improvements
Our Enterprise customers run very visible and very busy communities. One of the pain points they had was identifying and limiting the annoyance of spam within the community. We created a new round of improvements based on that feedback to mitigate spam, and these changes are available to all Invision Community owners with 4.6.0.
Cloud and Enterprise customers will also benefit from multiple under-the-hood optimisations for our cloud platform, including better caching of resources for faster response times.
Let me know in the comments which feature you're looking forward to the most!

Moderation feels a bit like an outdated term created pre-social media, but it stuck. We’d like to re-frame your thinking in terms of guiding your community versus moderating it.
 

Guidance is an essential component to any thriving community because it creates structure and boundaries for the community.
Oftentimes, people think community guidance is about restriction, but in reality it allows your community to express itself in a healthy way. 
All communities run into issues unless there are clear guidelines laid out for all members. It only takes a couple of toxic trolls to bring down an entire community of thousands of members.
As a community leader, it's important to find the balance between allowing freedom of speech and restricting what people can and can't say. 
An Internet troll tends to want to see what they can get away with and push the boundaries to the brink. They’ll claim that they are not allowed to speak their mind, but I want to stress the importance this:
Freedom of speech has some limitations. 
For instance, you can't just shout ‘FIRE!’ in a crowded room because you believe you have the right to freedom of speech (though some would argue you can, which is why guidance is imperative). There are certain rules that everyone needs to follow in order for an online community to function.


 
The first thing you'll want to do when guiding your community is... to create community guidelines.
These guidelines must be visible and easy to access. There, you can lay out all the nitty-gritty rules you want, but essentially it should boil down to this:
Be kind. 
Treat people with respect when posting and remember that there’s a person behind the user name. It's important not to hide behind anonymity just because you can. 
Being a part of the community means that all members must abide by these guidelines.
Now what happens if someone "breaks the rules” or ignores these guidelines? As your community’s leader how do you proceed?
You do so by creating actionable rules that can adversely affect a member’s standing in your community if they break them. 
I know that sounds kind of threatening, but it's important to establish to your community that you're there for them and that your priority is to hear them out, but at the same time you must take action to keep the peace. 
Invision Community has automatic moderation tools and a warning system section baked into the software. Below is a snapshot of Invision Community's administration panel where community leaders may set up custom automatic moderation rules:
 


Tap here for more specific information on how to implement community guidance/moderation to your community. 
One important component to these rules is that you enforce them across-the-board to all members and do so consistently. 
If you leave the door open for one member and not another, it's going to create an unwanted hierarchy and instigate chaos.
One of the best ways to be consistent is by walking the walk. 
Show your community how you want them to post by posting and contributing that way yourself. What that does is it sets a visible precedent.
From there, you'll begin to notice other community members contributing in a way that is similar to you (lead by example).
This is a great opportunity to consider them to join a new moderators team. Whether they are paid moderators or are volunteering their time, you still want them to be mini leaders inside your community. It's important that you are a positive role model for them. 
Watch the video up top, then drop us a line in the comments! And hey, while I've got you... check out what our own community has to say about moderation (aka community guidance 😉).
 
Remember, guiding your community starts from the top (a.k.a. you!). Now get out there and moder-... guide!
Stay tuned for more Invision Community video content coming soon!

Without a doubt, clubs is one of the most popular features added to Invision Community in recent times.
Invision Community clubs allows you to run sub-communities on your site. We've seen clubs used in many ways, including managing geographically local groups and clan groups for large gaming sites.
This popularity drives us to keep incrementally improving the feature set for clubs, and Invision Community 4.5 is no different.
One thing that was raised many times was a way for club owners and leaders to create simple pages with general information members need.
Happily, in Invision Community 4.5, this feature now exists (and more!)

In addition to the title and visual editor that allows full formatting of the page content, there is an additional visibility setting which allows owners and leaders to define which types of members can view the page.
This is perfect for showing a page that is only visible to non-members which informs them how to join the club.
Likewise, it is a great way to display moderation guidelines to the club moderators only.
Of course, owners and leaders will always be able to see all pages added to a club.

Additionally, once a page is added to a club, a tab will be added alongside others, and the page can be re-arranged just like the rest. 
Using this, owners and leaders can create an alternative unique index page for the club.
default-view.mp4
This is just one of many club improvements finished for Invision Community 4.5. We'll be talking about these in a future blog!

If you're reading this blog, then it's likely you already have a community and have been running it for some time. I'm going to go further and say that you've done all the right things; you've set it up correctly and themed it, so it matches your site.
Once you have built your community and watched it spring into life, it's easy to think that you have done all you need to do.
However, there are three simple things that you're probably not doing that is curbing your potential growth.

 
Promote your community
No matter how well you have set up your community, if you're not regularly promoting it, then you are limiting your potential audience.
Look for ways to promote your community to a new audience. If you regularly write blog posts or a newsletter for your existing customers, then make sure you write about your community and encourage people to join.
If you have a presence on social media, then share links regularly. Even adding a link to your community in your existing email signature will catch a few more clicks.
Get creative! One community owner I know went through Apple's rigorous verification process to post quality articles from their site to Apple's News app.
Why not sign up to HARO (Help A Reporter Out). This is a free email sent daily that contains requests from reporters looking for sources to quote in articles. The email is broken up into sections so that you can find relevant stories for your niche. It's a very simple way to get quoted in other publications with a link back to your site.
Think about how you can promote your community to a wider audience.
Post great content
Do you take the time to create great content and post it to your community regularly? By great content, I mean a piece that encourages in-depth discussion, shows that you are a leader in your niche and sets the tone for the rest of your community.
With the rise of social media, we're often fed a diet of disposable content such as "Motivation Monday" which may generate likes, but it does nothing to connect with your audience.
You could use the Blog app, the Pages app or post in the relevant forums within your community. Try and encourage discussion and ask them to share their thoughts and experiences too.
People love to share what they do and talk about their experiences, so it shouldn't be hard to get people active on your topic.

Reward contributors
Way back in the dark ages, a high post count was the only badge you needed to show others that you were to be feared and respected. I still remember joining some communities in the early 2000s and was in awe of members with 10,000+ posts.
In today's more sophisticated times, we need a little more to keep us involved.
There are a lot of tools you can use to reward your members. The simplest is the group promotion tool which automatically moves members based on specific thresholds. You can give your members elevated permissions or special badges to show to others that they are more experienced.
If you have a more active community, you could consider rewarding your most engaged users with a prize. This prize could be a free subscription, a discount code for your products or even a small Amazon gift voucher.

These are just a few things that you can incorporate into your workflow to help further build your community.

I'd love to hear your tips too, please share them below!