Are you looking for a platform to build and grow an engaged online community or membership site that’s not a Facebook group, Discord, or Reddit? Circle.so might be the platform you’ve been searching for.
In this review, I’ll dive into the features and benefits of Circle.so, and help you decide if it’s the right choice for your community members.
With more than 7,500 creators and businesses across the world trusting Circle with their communities, it’s a platform that’s worth exploring. Let’s dive in!
What is Circle.so?
Circle is a robust cloud-based online community management platform packed with eLearning and digital product marketing features.
Circle.so is designed for creators and businesses to bring together engaging courses, discussions, members, live streams, chat, events, and memberships in one seamless experience.
It is an all-in-one platform that provides building blocks to bring your vision to life, fast and without headaches. Circle has everything you need to run your business, all in one place, including online courses, live sessions, and real-time chat.
Circle provides an extremely streamlined login process, and if you already use alternative membership management software, Circle has built-in and customized integrations.
It’s specifically designed for creators who want to gather their community members around their content, engage them in discussions, and turn them into paying members.
What Type of Communities Can You Build with Circle.so?
- Brands & Startups
- Customer Communities
- Course Communities
- Membership Communities
- Coaching Communities
- Clubs & Organizations
Circle.so Use Cases
Here are some common use cases for Circle.so:
- Paid membership communities: Circle.so is a great platform for building paid membership communities, where you can monetize your content and engage with your audience.
- Course platforms: Circle.so can be used as a course platform, where creators can offer courses and engage with their students through a community attached to the course.
- Organizing discussions: The primary use case of Circle.so is to organize discussions that add value to your listeners. You can introduce welcome discussions, tips, and tricks, a specialty of your products, or something about what the benefits of your products are.
- Local meetups and book clubs: Circle.so can be used to connect with like-minded people and form local meetups and book clubs.
- Brand communities: Brands can engage with their customers and build brand loyalty.
- Non-profit communities: Non-profits can engage with their supporters and build a community around their cause.
- Clubs: Members can connect and engage around a shared interest or hobby.
Circle.so can also be integrated with other tools and platforms to automate workflows and improve productivity
Features of Circle.so
- Custom branding: Circle allows you to customize your community’s look and feel to match your brand.
- All-in-one platform: Combine all the tools you need to engage your community, including discussions, live streams, chat, events, and memberships. Integrations: Circle integrates with a variety of other platforms like Teachable or Outseta using single sign-on (SSO), so members only need one login to access your community or whatever else you want.
- Embedding: You can embed the whole community, or individual spaces (sections) into your website in a kind of native.
- Workflows and APIs: Circle.so offers features like Workflows and APIs that enable it to grow alongside your community.
More Features
- Create
- Organized discussions
- Private spaces
- Rich posts
- Your brand
- Content & resources
- Member Directory
- Engage
- Group chat rooms
- Live streams
- Events
- Private Messaging
- Event Spaces
- Weekly digests
- Monetize
- Paid memberships
- Recurring subscriptions
- Gate Access
- Offer upsells
- Free trials
- Coupons & discounts
- Manage
- 1000’s of integrations via Zapier
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Advanced analytics
- Invite teammates
- Roles & Permissions
- Add to website
How to Monetize Your Community with Circle.so
Circle.so offers monetization options to help you generate revenue from your community while providing value to your members. Here are some of the ways you can monetize your community with Circle.so:
Setting Up Premium Membership Tiers and Benefits
To set up premium membership tiers and benefits, you can create different membership levels with exclusive benefits.
For example, you can offer early access to content, exclusive events, or personalized support to members who upgrade their membership. You can also offer different pricing tiers for different levels of access to your community.
Paywalls
You can set up paywalls to monetize member access on Circle.so. Here’s how you can set up paywalls:
- Go to the Paywalls section on your Circle dashboard.
- Choose whether you want to set up a subscription or a one-time payment.
- Set the price and billing frequency for your paywall. You can set up monthly, quarterly, or yearly payments, depending on the content you are creating and selling.
- Choose which content or features you want to gate behind the paywall.
- Customize the messaging and design of your paywall.
- Publish your paywall and start monetizing your community.
With paywalls, you can monetize your community by charging for access to your content or features. You can set up flexible payment options and offer free trials to attract new members
Integrating Payment Gateways for Seamless Transactions
To integrate payment gateways with Circle.so, you can connect your Stripe or PayPal account to your Circle.so account.
This will enable seamless transactions for your members, and you can easily manage payments and subscriptions from your Circle dashboard.
Integrations and Extensibility with Circle.so
Circle.so offers a range of integrations and extensibility options to help you connect with other tools and platforms and automate your workflows. Here are some of the ways you can integrate and extend Circle.so:
Connecting Circle.so with Other Tools and Platforms
- Integrately: Integrately allows you to connect Circle with a variety of apps in a few simple steps.
- Zapier: Connect Circle with thousands of the most popular apps via Zapier, so you can automate repetitive tasks.
- Single Sign-on (SSO): Integrate your community with your existing website or other community platforms through SSO.
Circle.so Integrates with Popular Email Marketing Services
- Mailchimp: Circle integrates with Mailchimp, allowing you to sync your community members with your Mailchimp audience.
- ConvertKit: Circle integrates with ConvertKit, enabling you to automate your email marketing and engage your community members.
Leveraging Circle.so’s API for Custom Development and Automation
If you’re more tech-savvy or work with a developer, Circle.so offers an API that enables you to build custom integrations and automate your workflows.
With the API, you can access and manipulate data in your Circle community, create new members, and manage your community’s content for a more personalized experience.
Circle.so Support and Resources
If you’re ever stuck or have questions, you can access Circle.so Support and Resources. Circle.so offers a comprehensive knowledge base that covers everything from getting started to advanced features.
You can also access tutorials, FAQs, and best practices to help you build and grow your community.
If you need further assistance, you can contact Circle.so’s customer support for help with troubleshooting and technical issues.
Additionally, you can engage with the friendly Circle.so community to learn from other creators and brands and get tips and best practices for building and growing your community.
Circle.so Pricing
Circle.so offers 4 pricing plans for different budget and business needs:
- Basic Plan: $49
- Professional Plan: $99
- Business Plan: $249 (Early bird pricing is $199)
- Enterprise: $399
Pros and Cons of Circle.so
Pros
- All-in-one platform for engaging your community.
- Custom branding to match your brand.
- Integrations with other platforms.
- Embedding options.
- Workflows and APIs to grow alongside your community.
- Some users may find the pricing plans on the expensive side.
- As with any platform, there is a bit of a learning curve to get your community set up just the way you want.
Circle.so Review: Final Thoughts
Circle is a well-rounded and modern community platform that is easy to use and can grow with your community.
Its robust features for building your community and engaging members, intuitive, clean, and distraction-free design, and ability to integrate with other tools, make Circle.so a top community platform
Ultimately, Circle is a great choice for creators who want to gather their community members around their content, engage them in discussions, and turn them into paying members. If you’re looking for your next or even first community platform, Circle is worth looking into, and who knows, it might just be the platform that meets your community (and business) building goals.
Recommended Reading:
Your Personal Brand: How To Build It and Why Your Online Image Matters