Circle.so: The Community Platform That Actually Gives a Toss About Engagement

Let's cut to the chase: if you're a creator looking to build a genuinely engaged online community, you need to know about Circle.so.

Why? Because it's the first platform I've used that actually delivers on its promises. No more wrestling with clunky interfaces. No more cobbling together a dozen different tools and plugins. Just a sleek, intuitive platform that puts community engagement front and center.

In this article, we're going to break down:

• Why Circle.so outshines the competition (including some big names)
• The key features that have skyrocketed our community engagement
• Real talk on its limitations and who it might not be right for

I've spent years in the trenches of community building. Trust me, this is the insider info you've been looking for.

Why we chose Circle over their competitors

It's like someone took all our frustrations with other platforms, tossed them out the window, and actually built something that works for creators. Novel concept, right?

Unlike course-first platforms, Circle is all about fostering engagement. It's community-first. It's not just a place to dump your content and hope people show up. It's a space where your community can actually, you know, be a community.

We've battled with a few different options, so I'll give you the lowdown on how Circle compares to some of the ones we've tried.

If you prefer to listen, we recorded this while deliberating on our own choice, before later deciding firmly on Circle:

Community/Course Tools & AI Created Products for Creators

Here’s what we cover in today’s Creator Toolbox: Community and course platforms, including: * Mightynetworks * Podia * Circle TLDraw for creating UI and fun little animations with AI alone. HSTLMade channel with Richie. Seth Godin on writing a blog post a day for over 7000 days

Creator ToolboxJacob Anderson

Circle vs. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks isn't bad - it's got a solid feature set and it's community-focused. But using it felt a bit like trying to navigate London with a map of Birmingham.

Nearly everything's there, but it's not quite where you expect it to be. Circle, on the other hand, feels like it was designed by someone who's actually run a community before. It's intuitive, it's clean, and it doesn't make you want to tear your hair out when you're trying to set up a new space.

Be warned! For some strange reason, Mighty Networks does not acknowledge the existence of coupon codes. They simply don't offer them. Their advice is to set up a new pricing tier for every discount or campaign. Personally, I think this is complete madness. But hey, it's not my product!

Verdict: The member experience just wasn't good enough, and there were some key features missing for us.

Circle vs. Teachable

We used Teachable for a while for our courses, and it's great at what it does - delivering course content. But trying to build a community on Teachable is like trying to host a party in a library. It's just not built for that kind of interaction.

With Circle, we can have our courses and our community in one place, and it feels natural. Sure, the course features aren't as advanced as Teachable, but for most creators, they're more than enough.

Verdict: Teachable remains a stalwart of course delivery, but it's not suitable for building a community

Circle vs. Kajabi

We also gave Kajabi a go, and look, it's a powerful platform. If you're after an all-in-one solution that does everything from email marketing to funnel building, Kajabi's got you covered. But it's also like trying to crack a walnut with a sledgehammer if all you want is a solid community platform.

Circle is more focused, and in our experience, that focus pays off in terms of the community engagement we see.

Verdict: Complexity has always been a killer for us. We get better outcomes and do better work by choosing the most focused option. Every single time.

Circle vs. Facebook Groups

And let's not forget Facebook Groups.

For many communities, this is where it all started!

We all know them, we've all used them, and they're... fine. They're the ready meal of community platforms - convenientcreated but not exactly satisfying.

With Circle, we've created a space that feels like our own, without the distractions of cat videos and political rants from your aunt. Plus, the engagement we see on Circle blows Facebook out of the water.

Verdict: We don't use or particularly like Facebook, and quite quickly began to feel trapped by the pretty strict confines of their tool. It has its place, though.

Why we fell in love with Circle

Every platform has compromises, but Circle Zigs the same places we Zig.

• It feels like a private social network, not a stuffy old forum
• It has subscription and one-off monetisation built-in
• It gives us more control over our appearance than most competitors
• They've made space for us to get creative with how we build our community, using spaces, post types and even landing pages now
• Our only dislike was the lack of courses, which they delivered with many other great new features over the past 2 years

In a word, 'easy'. But let me explain.

Setting Up and Running Your Community

Everything's where you'd expect it to be, and setting up your community is surprisingly painless. I'm not saying you won't spend a few hours tinkering with it (because let's face it, we're creators - tinkering is what we do), but you won't need a computer science degree to get things up and running.

The space organization is particularly brilliant. It's flexible enough that you can set things up in a way that makes sense for your specific community, but not so open-ended that you end up with a digital version of your junk drawer. You know, the one with the odd socks, spare batteries, and that thing you're sure you'll need someday but can't quite remember what it's for.

Member Experience

For members, it's equally slick. The mobile app is actually usable (I know, shocking in this day and age), which means your community can engage on the go.

No more "I'll check it when I'm at my computer" excuses. The interface is clean, intuitive, and doesn't try to dazzle you with bells and whistles you don't need.

Let's dive deep into the features that have really made a difference for our community. No fluff, just the good stuff that's worth your time and attention.

Spaces and groups, easy organisation

The Spaces feature in Circle is like having a well-organized house party where every room has its own vibe. Here's how we've put it to use:

• Main Feed: This is our living room, where general discussions happen and important announcements are made.
• Course-Specific Spaces: We've created dedicated spaces for each of our courses. Members can discuss lessons, share their progress, and help each other out.
• Q&A Space: A designated area for members to ask questions and get answers from us or other community members.
• Wins and Celebrations: Our "brag board" where members share their successes, big or small. It's a great motivator and really boosts community morale.
• Resource Library: A curated space where we share valuable resources, tools, and articles.

The beauty of Spaces is the flexibility. You can make them public, private, or even secret. You can also nest spaces within spaces, which helps keep things organized as your community grows.

What we love most is how this structure encourages more focused discussions. Instead of one overwhelming feed, members can easily find and contribute to conversations that interest them most.

Live events

Having live events built into the platform is a bit of a game-changer.

Not because there aren't any other tools available for this, but because having it all-in-one feels like a slicker experience for us, and for our members.

• Easy Setup: Creating an event is as simple as filling out a form. You can set the date, time, duration, and even create recurring events.
• Multiple Event Types: Whether it's a webinar, Q&A session, or workshop, you can customize the event format to suit your needs.
• Native Live Streaming: No need for external tools. You can stream directly within Circle, which means members don't have to leave the platform.
• Automatic Recordings: Miss the live event? No problem. Recordings are automatically saved and can be made available to members.
• Engagement Tools: During live events, you can use features like polls, Q&A sessions, and chat to keep members engaged.
• Notifications and Reminders: This is so important to running live events, you need to keep in touch with your RSVPs! Using Circle's own streaming feature means that your members can see automated reminders leading right up to the big day.

We use events for Q&As, guest lecture sessions, and even informal meetups and "watch-me-work" sessions. Compared to pre-recorded content, the engagement we see during these live events is vibrant and you can feel the energy carry on into the community for days and weeks later.

New to Circle is the ability to charge for your events. These can be part of your membership or individually ticketed. Neat!

Courses and drip sequences

While Circle's course features aren't as advanced as dedicated learning management systems, they're more than sufficient for most creators. Here's what we've found valuable:

• Seamless Integration: Course content lives right alongside community discussions, creating a more cohesive learning experience.
• Structured Content: You can organize your course into sections and lessons, making it easy for members to navigate.
• Multimedia Support: You can embed videos, audio, and PDFs directly into your lessons.
• Progress Tracking: Members can see their progress through the course, which helps with motivation and completion rates.
• Discussion Integration: Each lesson can have its own discussion thread, encouraging members to engage with the material and each other.

We've used this to create everything from quick mini-courses to more comprehensive programs. The ability to have discussions right next to the course content has significantly increased engagement and completion rates.

One limitation to note: there's no built-in quiz or assessment feature. If that's crucial for your courses, you might need to use an external tool. We recommend Typeform, which you can embed on Circle posts.

Integrations with other tools

Circle's integration capabilities have allowed us to create a seamless ecosystem for our community. Here are some of the ways we've put this to use:

• Zapier: This is the Swiss Army knife of integrations. We use it to connect Circle with our email marketing tool, automatically adding new members to our email list.
• Stripe: For handling payments, Stripe integration makes it easy to set up and manage paid memberships.
• Gumroad: Another option for selling products and community together, we use Gumroad to sell our books. There's a nifty integration which allows you to add customers to a private Circle space.
• Slack: For our team, we've set up notifications in Slack for important community activities, helping us stay on top of things without constantly checking Circle.

One of our favourite workflows is using Zapier to send a personalized welcome email from our regular email tool whenever someone joins the community. It adds a nice touch and helps with deliverability.

Automation and Workflows

One of Circle's newer features that's made a significant impact on our community management is their automation and workflow tools. It's essentially like having a virtual assistant that helps keep your community running smoothly, even when you're not actively managing it.

These tools allow you to set up automated sequences of actions triggered by specific events or conditions. For example:

• When a new member joins, you can automatically send them a welcome message, provide them with a getting started guide, and prompt them to introduce themselves.
• You can set up congratulatory messages to be sent when a member completes a course or achieves a certain milestone.
• The system can automatically tag members based on their activity or engagement levels, making it easier to segment your community.
• You can create reminders or check-in messages for members who haven't been active for a while.

What's particularly useful is the ability to move members between different spaces based on their progress or engagement. This allows for a more dynamic community structure that adapts to member behavior.

The interface for setting up these workflows is surprisingly user-friendly. You don't need any coding knowledge – it's all done through a visual interface that lets you create quite complex automation sequences with relative ease.

We've used this feature to create a comprehensive onboarding journey for new members, which has significantly improved our new member engagement rates. It's also freed up a lot of our time that we previously spent on repetitive administrative tasks.

While it might take a bit of time to set up initially, the long-term benefits in terms of time saved and improved community engagement are substantial. It's definitely a feature worth exploring if you're looking to scale your community management more efficiently.

By leveraging these features and integrations, we've been able to create a community that feels alive and responsive, without burning ourselves out on management tasks. It's not perfect – no platform is – but for creators looking to build an engaged community, Circle provides a robust set of tools to work with.

The not-so-great bits

Alright, let's take off the rose-tinted glasses for a sec. Circle's not perfect (shocker, I know). Here's where it could do better:

Course Management

If you're running a full-blown online school, Circle might feel a bit basic. There's no sophisticated quiz system or fancy progress tracking. It's more "here's the content, now go discuss it" than "let's gamify your entire learning experience."

Customization

While you can add your logo and play with colors, you're not going to be able to turn Circle into a pixel-perfect replica of your website. If you're a control freak about design (no judgment, we've all been there), this might bug you.

Marketing Tools

If you're looking for complex sales funnels or email sequences, you'll need to integrate with other tools. Circle's about community, not turning into the next ClickFunnels.

Circle's pricing is pretty straightforward

• Basic Plan: $49/month (community only - no courses, live streams or anything fancy)
• Professional Plan: $99/month (most bells and whistles you'll ever need)
• Business Plan: $219/month (fancy stuff - workflows, custom profile fields)

Is it the cheapest option out there? Nope.

Is it worth it? That depends on your situation.

Free-to-join community: Is it part of your funnel? Are you expecting to generate more revenue from your content by building a stronger community? Or is it just a place to hang out? $49 may be a bit steep unless you have a plan to earn.

Membership community: If you're planning on monetising with memberships, then circle is a no-brainer. Better yet, you can easily upsell courses and other digital products to your members.

No community, only courses: If you're just looking for somewhere easy to chuck up some courses and ebooks, I wouldn't recommend Circle. It'll do it, but it's a round peg in a square hole.

Here's the thing - Circle isn't for everyone. If you're just looking for a place to dump your course content and never interact with your students, save your money.

If you're after a complex marketing machine that'll also make you breakfast, look elsewhere. Possibly HubSpot, if you're a millionaire.

But if you're a creator who genuinely wants to build a thriving, engaged community? If you want a platform that puts interaction first and doesn't require a PhD in computer science to use? Circle might just be your new best friend.

For us, it's been a game-changer. Our engagement rates have gone through the roof, our members are actually excited to log in and participate, and we're not spending half our lives trying to wrangle tech anymore.

So, my fellow creator, if you're tired of feeling like you're shouting into the void and want to create a space where your audience genuinely connects - with you and with each other - give Circle a whirl. Just don't blame me when you become addicted to checking your community at 3am because someone's just posted the most incredible breakthrough in your "wins" space.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a community to check on. Those notification numbers aren't going to clear themselves, are they?