Thinkific community vs. EzyCourse community

As a creator, you know how important it is to have a platform that allows you to share your knowledge with the world. That's where an online course platform like EzyCourse and Thinkific come in. Using which, you can create and sell your own courses online. But what about the community? That's where the one-stop-solution’s community feature comes in. Two of the most popular online course platforms, Thinkific and EzyCourse, offer community features that enable course creators to create a vibrant online community around their courses.

In this article, we will compare the features offered by Thinkific communities and EzyCourse communities, two leading online course platforms. We will explore what a community is in the context of online courses and why it is important for course creators. We will also provide an overview of the community features offered by both platforms and highlight the key differences between them. Both EzyCourse Communities and Thinkific offer a community feature that allows students and instructors to connect, share ideas, and collaborate. However, the quality and functionality of these communities can vary significantly between the two platforms.

As we delve into the comparison of Thinkific communities and EzyCourse communities, we will examine the various factors that impact community building, including community management, engagement tools, content creation, and ease of use. So, whether you are a course creator looking to connect with your audience, or a business owner seeking to streamline your workflow, this article will provide you with a clear understanding of how the communities offered by Thinkific and EzyCourse compare and which platform is better suited for your course creation needs.

With that said, let's dive into the world of online communities and explore how Thinkific and EzyCourse can help you create a thriving online community around your courses.

The importance of community in online course platforms

An online community is a space where your students can connect, engage, and support each other in their learning journeys. It's a place where they can ask questions, share their experiences, and get feedback from other students and instructors. Such communities are essential for creating a positive learning environment and increasing student engagement. One of the key benefits of an online community platform for creators is the ability to generate more organic traffic. When students engage with each other and share their experiences, they are more likely to recommend your course to others. This can lead to more word-of-mouth referrals and higher visibility for your course.

In addition, online communities can help you gather valuable feedback from your students. By listening to their suggestions and addressing their concerns, you can improve your course content and delivery, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates. It also helps you build relationships with your students. When you are actively involved in your community, you can establish yourself as an authority in your field and create a loyal following. This can lead to more repeat business and higher revenue over time.

An online course platform with the added capability of hosting online communities offers a range of features that make it easy for creators to build and manage their courses and communities all in one place. With features such as real-time activity notifications, group and private messaging, all synced with web and mobile apps, creators can foster a sense of community among their students and provide them with the support they need to succeed.

Thinkific community

Creating a new community

Click on “Manage Learning Products” from the left menu bar on your dashboard to expand the different product options available and choose “Communities”.

From here you can now click on the “+ New community” button to create your community.

Enter a name for your community and set access - if you want to keep your communities as standalone products or provide access based on site or any course or group settings, and hit the “Create community” button and your community will be created as a draft, so that you complete other settings and publish it when done.

As the community gets created you can choose to edit the community and configure it as required, add a community image and description, set up a custom landing page URL, set up the community pricing and then publish it.

Add members to your community

Members will be added to your community depending on the access level you set. If you made your community as a standalone product, members will be added upon successfully purchasing the community, and if you make your communities linked to your course then upon course enrolment, members will get added to your community automatically.

Posting in community

Community members can post images, videos, or file links. It looks like this…

Posts appear on the community landing page feed. Community members can like posts, comment on posts, like and reply to comments, follow or unfollow posts. 

EzyCourse community

Whether you want to offer a standalone community or integrate it with your courses, EzyCourse makes it easy to create and manage unlimited Facebook-like communities in real-time. In this section, we'll take a closer look at the EzyCourse community features and how they can help you foster better engagement and support for your members.

Creating a new community

Click on “Products” from the left menu bar on your dashboard to expand the different product options available and choose “Communities”.

From here you can now click on the “Add community” button to create your community.

On clicking the “Add community” button  you’ll be redirected to the community creation page from where you can set up your community.

Give a catchy, relevant name to your community, upload a thumbnail and cover(optional), photos help mold your community’s identity. Then add a brief, to the point description as this will serve as an impression on your audience. 

You can then choose if you want to allow your community members to chat with each other, making use of EzyCourse’s real-time seamless private chats feature, so you and your community members can start private conversations from the community itself. 

Set access to your community. You can choose to make your community public, or make it private or hidden.

If you set your community access to Private, in order to enroll in your community, students will be required to request access from you. While your community offering remains public, access is not granted until the request has been approved by you.

And if you make your community hidden, the community will not be visible on your website and can only be accessed through a direct link to the community landing page, which you’ll be sharing.

If you think you’re all set and want to start right away you can publish your community directly, or save your progress as draft, and publish at a later time.

Set community privacy and visibility. You get to choose who gets to view your communities and limit if anyone or just members can interact in your communities.

Finally, setup pricing for your community. You can roll out communities for free, or set dynamic pricing choosing from a range of options EzyCourse has to offer. Perhaps this is one of the biggest advantages of the EzyCourse Community - the ability to monetize the community as you like.

Note: Communities can be integrated with your courses or other products as an upsell or add on or bonus item or can be offered as a standalone product. 

You can set a one time pricing, which means your community members will pay a certain amount once to access your community.

Or you can choose to set up recurring revenue by providing access to your community on a subscription basis. You can choose your subscription interval from days, monthly or yearly. WIth EzyCourse as a creator you have the freedom to sell communities as standalone products, or with courses or any other products, or choose to give away communities as upsells or bonus items, to make your course offerings more appealing.

All done now just hit the “Create community” button and your community will be ready. From the communities listing on the dashboard you can click on the action columns pop up menu button to reveal options, so from here you can view your community, update any settings or pricing, preview your community’s checkout page and make any changes if needed and even delete your community.

Add members to your community

You can enroll members into your community manually by choosing the “Community members” option from the action popup menu and then clicking on the ”Add member button” on the top right of the page, which will open up another popup from where you can search and enroll members. 

You can enroll members with access up to a specific date, or provide lifetime access by ticking the unlimited option.

Or you can create a custom menu item to link to your communities separately, or if you have multiple communities which you’re selling as standalone products the communities will show up in the All Products page under community product, from where your students will be able to view, join and send requests to join any community.

Upon joining communities, members will be taken to the community page - a vibrant, Facebook-like, super user-friendly interface. 

Exploring community functions

You can create channels for different topics to organize content in your communities, so that your members easily find what they’re looking for, instead of one single cluttered up feed.

EzyCourse communities let you post different types of posts, and share photos, videos and files. Create engaging posts and ask open-ended questions that lead to conversation. 

You can also use polls with simple questions so all members can easily participate.

Be active in your communities to build a sense of connection and support throughout your students. 

You can create a welcome post to greet new members and make them feel like a part of the community from the very beginning, using colorful backgrounds to make the feed feel lively.

Or you can even go live from your communities. Click on the “Live” button, add in a title and description for your stream and click “Configure Stream”. 

You will get a stream server URL and key which you can use in any live streaming solution to start your live stream. You can also choose to simulcast your stream on multiple channels all from one place.

Apart from creating posts you can promote engagement and stay connected by reacting to posts, and encouraging members to react and also comment on posts to share their feedback. Being active helps you create the culture of your community, so try to participate actively. You can also add fun elements in comments such as GIFs or emojis to keep the feed interactive.

Members also have the option to save posts, which will be added to the “Saved Posts” tab from which they’ll be able to checkout those posts anytime later.

If you tick allow community members to chat with each other in your community settings then members will be able to initiate private chats by clicking on the chat icon besides user name on the members list shown in the right side of community page.

EzyCourse offers real-time private chats, synced between web and mobile apps. You’ll get real-time push notifications if you have the mobile apps installed, so you never miss any conversation, no matter where you are. You can send receive files, emojis and GIFs alongside messages in real-time, see typing statuses from the other chat participant.

Comparison of Thinkific and EzyCourse community features

When it comes to building an online community for your course, both Thinkific and EzyCourse offer robust options. However, there are several key factors that are worth considering before making a decision.

Thinkific communities offer only basic features which make it feel more like a discussion forum. While these features can certainly foster engagement and support among students, they lack the advanced features that can truly make a community thrive. In contrast, the EzyCourse Community offers a full Facebook-like feel with features such as background posts, image/video posts, polls, post comments, comments replies, reactions to posts, real-time activity notifications, channels under communities, the ability to follow channels or turn off notifications, and even the option to monetize the community. These advanced features make it easier for students to connect, engage, and learn from one another.

Both Thinkific and EzyCourse offer intuitive interfaces that are easy to navigate. However, the EzyCourse community's interface is designed with a layout and navigation system that feels familiar to users of popular social media platforms. This means that students are less likely to get overwhelmed or confused, and are more likely to engage with the community on a regular basis.

Thinkific communities lack the real-time chat or notification features which hinders engagement and communication among community members and the use of third-party tools add extra complications and expenses. And thus users are required to integrate with third-party tools like PeerBoard or Slack, which can add extra costs and complications.

You can check out The Best Thinkific Alternative in 2023, and if you want an in-depth comparison with Teachable, you can read more on - Thinkific vs Teachable.

Moving on, comes in app maintenance and development cost. For those looking to create a native mobile app to complement their online courses and communities, Thinkific requires users to integrate with a third-party app development platform like AppPresser, which can add significant costs and complexities.

EzyCourse, on the other hand, includes a branded native mobile app as part of the platform, with no additional costs or integrations required. Moreover, the communities are synced with web and mobile apps in real-time. This not only saves users money but also streamlines the workflow by keeping everything in one place. Additionally, EzyCourse offers dedicated support and resources to help you build and manage your community, making it easier to get started and achieve your goals. With EzyCourse you can be limitless. EzyCourse gives you the ability to create unlimited communities, but Thinkific only lets you add up to 3 communities even on their highest priced plan.  

To summarize, while Thinkific offers a basic community feature, EzyCourse provides a more advanced and fully integrated solution for building and monetizing your online community. Compared to Thinkific, the EzyCourse Community provides a more immersive, Facebook-like experience that keeps users engaged and informed without distractions. Hence, overall, EzyCourse stands out as an all-in-one solution that helps course creators build a thriving community while also monetizing their content. With EzyCourse, you can create a dynamic, engaging, and monetizable community that fosters student engagement, builds a sense of belonging, and provides support and accountability. Whether you're a new course creator or an established business looking to scale your online presence, EzyCourse's community features are worth considering as a powerful alternative to Thinkific.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both Thinkific and EzyCourse offer valuable communities for online course creators, but with distinct differences. Thinkific offers a more traditional community experience, with discussion boards, groups, and user profiles. On the other hand, EzyCourse provides a Facebook-like feel, with features such as real-time notifications, channels under communities, and the ability to monetize the community as you like.

When deciding which platform to choose, it's important to consider your specific needs as a course creator or online business. If you're looking for a more traditional community experience with a focus on fostering student engagement, Thinkific may be the better option. However, if you're looking for a more interactive and customizable community that can be monetized, EzyCourse may be the way to go.

We recommend trying out both platforms and their respective communities to see which one works best for your needs. With EzyCourse, you'll have access to the best features and benefits for online course creators, so don't hesitate to give it a try.

Build your community with EzyCourse today and take your online courses to the next level. Start your 14-day free-trial now!