Managing Members in Community Groups

Overview of Member Management

Effectively managing the members of your Community Groups is essential for maintaining an organized, secure, and dynamic environment. This involves understanding different member roles, controlling who can join, and taking action on members as needed. Proper management ensures your community remains a valuable resource for its participants.

Understanding Member Roles and Permissions

Each member is assigned a role that defines their abilities within the group. Using the correct role for each person helps delegate tasks and protect your community's integrity.

The available roles are:

• Owner: Has complete control over the group, including the ability to deactivate it, edit all settings, and manage every aspect of members and content.
• Admin: Can manage members and moderate content, including inviting, approving, and removing members, as well as changing their roles.
• Channel Manager: Has moderation capabilities, but these are limited to a specific channel within the group.
• Contributor: A standard member who can participate in discussions according to the group's privacy settings.

How to Invite Members to a Group

You can grow your community by inviting new members through a shareable link or direct email invitations.

Invite Using a Link

1. Navigate to Memberships > Communities > Groups.
2. Select your desired group.
3. Click on Invite Members.
4. Copy the provided Invite Link and share it via email, text message, or any other communication method.

Invite via Email

1. Navigate to Memberships > Communities > Groups.
2. Select your desired group.
3. Click on Invite Members.
4. In the Email Invite section, enter the recipient's name and email address.
5. Toggle the Administrative Privileges switch on if you want to grant admin rights, or leave it off for a standard contributor role.
6. Click Send Invite. The recipient will receive an email with instructions to join the group.

Group Privacy and the Join Process

The privacy setting of your group determines how people can find it and become members.

• Public Groups: The group, its posts, and member list are visible to anyone. Individuals can join immediately without requiring approval.
• Private Groups: Content and the member list are only visible to existing members. Every request to join, even with an invite link, must be manually approved by a group admin or owner. To review requests, go to Members > Requested, click the three dots (…) next to a person's name, and select Approve or Decline.

Changing a Member's Role

You can update a member's role to reflect their changing responsibilities or level of trust within the community.

1. Go to the Members section of your group.
2. Find the member whose role you wish to change.
3. Click the three dots (…) next to their name.
4. Select the new role from the available options, such as Admin or Contributor.

Removing or Banning a Member

If a member needs to be removed from the group, you have two options with different consequences.

• Remove from Group: This action removes the member, but they are able to request to join the group again in the future.
• Ban: This action permanently blocks the member from rejoining the group.

To perform either action:

1. Go to the Members section of your group.
2. Locate the member you wish to action.
3. Click the three dots (…) next to their name.
4. Select either Ban or Remove from Group.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I invite a large list of contacts at once?

Yes. You can send a bulk email or SMS campaign that includes the group's invite link, allowing many potential members to join easily.

Can regular members invite others to the group?

This depends on a group setting. The group owner can go to Settings and toggle the Allow members to invite new members option on or off. When this is enabled, members will see an invite button; when disabled, the button is hidden, and only admins and owners can send invitations.

Can I resend an invitation if someone hasn't joined?

Yes. If an invitation has been missed or ignored, you can simply resend the group URL or the original invitation email.