Creating a Community on WhatsApp: A Step-by-Step Guide
Key Notes
- Clearly define the purpose and audience of your WhatsApp community.
- You can add up to 100 groups and 2000 members to a community.
- Only admins can send announcements in the community.
Mastering Community Creation on WhatsApp: Your Step-By-Step Guide
Creating a community on WhatsApp is an innovative way to streamline communication and organize your groups. With this guide, you’ll learn how to easily set up, manage, and utilize features for effective outreach and engagement.
How to Create a Community on WhatsApp
To create a community on WhatsApp, you need to follow these steps:
- Step 1: Getting Started
- Step 2: Create a New Community
- Step 3: Create Topic-Based Groups or Add Existing WhatsApp Groups
- Step 4: Invite Members to the Community
- Step 5: Add a New Community Admin
- Step 6: Use Announcements to Broadcast Messages
Let us see this in detail.
Step 1: Getting Started with WhatsApp Communities
Anyone can create a community on WhatsApp, but it should always be purpose-driven. Before creating a community, clearly define its purpose. Once you know the purpose of the community, think about the audience it will serve and the role of admins in your team. Then decide whether to add existing groups to the community or create new ones. You can use the Announcements Group to communicate important information to all community members at once.
Pro Tip: For example, you can create a community for your organization, where you can add existing groups for each team and create a new group to manage organization-wide events.
Step 2: Create a New Community
To create a new community, launch the WhatsApp app on your device and tap on the Communities tab in the top-left corner. On the Communities screen, tap on the Start your community button.
Next, tap on the Get started button. On the New community screen, enter a name for your community. The name could be up to 100 characters long.
Next, enter your community description. By default, WhatsApp provides a generic description for the community. However, a proper description helps explain the purpose of the community to its members.
Next, tap on the Change photo option to add a community icon. You can take or upload a photo, select an emoji or a sticker, or use web search to add an image. The image you upload should be at least 192 pixels in size.
Next, tap on the right-arrow icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen to proceed with adding members and groups to the community.
Step 3: Create Topic-Based Groups or Add Existing WhatsApp Groups
The entire concept of communities revolves around putting topic-based groups under one roof. So the next step is to add groups to your community.
If your target audience is already connected through WhatsApp groups, you can add those groups to the community. If not, you can create new groups.
To add a group to your community, tap on the Add group button at the bottom of the community screen.
You will see two options. Tap on the Add existing groups option to add existing WhatsApp groups to your community. The next screen will show the groups you’re an admin of. Tap on each group you’d like to select and click on the right arrow icon in the bottom-right corner.
A confirmation popup will appear. Click on OK to add the selected groups to your community.
If your target audience is not part of the existing groups, tap on the Create new group option on the Manage groups screen. You will see the list of people who are already in your community and your contacts on WhatsApp. Select the people you want to add to the new group and click on the right arrow icon in the bottom-right corner.
Select Continue in the confirmation popup that appears. On the New group screen, enter a suitable name for the group and tap the check mark icon at the bottom.
You can add up to 100 groups to a WhatsApp community, including the ‘ Announcements ‘ group that gets automatically created when you create a community. People in your existing and new groups will automatically become part of the Announcements group. You (and other community admins) can use this group to broadcast community rules, important messages, and updates to everyone.
Step 4: Invite Members to the Community
You can also invite individuals to join your community as a member. You can add up to 2, 000 members to the new and existing communities on WhatsApp.
To invite a member, tap on the three dots icon in the top-right corner of the community screen. Select Invite members.
A popup will appear. You can share an invite link on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and other supported apps or tap the Add members option to add your WhatsApp contacts to the community. People you add to the community will appear in your Announcements group.
Step 5: Add a New Community Admin
Admins play a crucial role in maintaining a safe and healthy community for all the members. If you find people who are very active in the community or who share your passion for the community, you can form an admins team. Admins can edit community information (name, community icon, etc.), add or remove groups, make another member a community admin, report or remove abusive accounts, and use other admin tools.
You can add up to 20 admins in your community. To add an admin to the community, tap on your community in WhatsApp and click on the three-dots icon. Select Community info. Scroll down to the list of your community members and tap on the desired member. Select Make admin from the popup and tap on OK in the confirmation popup that appears.
Step 6: Use Announcements to Broadcast Messages
You can use the Announcements group to share community rules, messages, and important updates with all community members. Tap on Announcements, type the desired message, and click the Send icon to broadcast the message.
Only admins can make announcements in the WhatsApp communities. Members can only read those messages or receive notifications for the actions taken by the admins (such as adding a new member).
A Community Creator can anytime deactivate the community if it is no longer required. When a community is deactivated, all the groups will be unlinked from the community and will continue to operate as regular groups in the Chats tab. Announcements groups will also be closed and community info will be deleted.
Please bear in mind that you can’t reactivate a deactivated community under any circumstances.
To deactivate a community, tap on the three dots icon and select Community info. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and select Deactivate community. Select Deactivate in the confirmation popup that appears.
Additional Tips
- Always align your community activities with its defined purpose.
- Engage regularly with community members to keep them active.
- Utilize community polls to gain feedback and insights from your members.
Summary
Creating a community on WhatsApp can dramatically streamline communication and enhance engagement among group members. By understanding the steps for setup, effective group management, and maximizing the Announcements feature, anyone can foster a thriving community that meets its unique needs.
Conclusion
Establishing a community on WhatsApp is a powerful way to enhance communication and organize multiple group discussions within one platform. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create a focused environment that fosters connection and enables efficient information sharing, ultimately benefiting all members involved.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is the difference between a WhatsApp group and a community?
A WhatsApp group can accommodate up to 1, 024 members, whereas a Community Announcements group can host up to 2, 000 members. Communities allow for a maximum of 20 admins at once, in contrast to WhatsApp groups which can have as many admins as desired. Additionally, community members cannot interact with messages or share content but can only respond privately to announcements.
How do I organize my WhatsApp chats?
To keep important chats and messages organized in your WhatsApp Business account, use Labels. To create a label, tap on Chats > three dots icon > Labels. Tap on Add, enter a name for the label, and tap on OK. To apply it, tap and hold the chat, tap on the label icon at the top, select the desired label, and tap Save. If you don’t have a business account, you can simply delete, archive, or mute chats to maintain order.
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