Best Online Community Management Software 2023 • Online Community Management Softwares Reviews

What is an Online Community Management Software?

Community management is the targeted organization of an online community in order to be able to act as a company with customers. Community managers are responsible for communicating directly with customers and responding to questions, praise and criticism.

With certain softwares, online community management is more efficient. In general, online community management softwares are available via subscription. Some softwares also offer free trials to test compatibility with one’s device beforehand. Few software like PeerBoard, Higher Logic and Tribe can be used in a limited version for free.

All online community software is supported on the web. There is often no information about the support of IOS and Android devices. Sometimes IOS is not compatible with the software.

Most online community softwares are suitable for small to medium-sized businesses, startups and agencies. For large companies, however, there is also a wide selection. Here, attention should be paid to the functions that are needed depending on the size of the company. Important functions include the assignment of authorizations, such as access controls and group management, forums, membership management and other management functions. These are for example the content management, event management and feedback management, which can be found in many online community management software. Other important software functions include website management, document management and live chat.

Most software is suitable for companies, clubs and associations that have many members or customers. The softwares are used for interaction between members and customers. Many softwares are also used for planning events, which can be organized and managed more easily with the solutions. Most online community management softwares have similar features and can therefore be easily compared with each other. However, there are some exceptions that are specialized in certain sub-areas. These include the Influitive software, for example, where points are awarded to members for tasks that bring an advantage to the company.

With the points, users can earn benefits and perks from the company. These softwares are mainly about maintaining communication between users so that companies can get information about their target audiences and improve their own products. Top online community management softwares include Ning, Plush Forums, Wild Apricot, Hoopla, Community Cloud, Khoros Community, vBulletin Cloud, Higher Logic, Vanilla Question Pro, Brilliant Directories and many more.

Leading Online Community Management Softwares

In the following product descriptions you will gain more insights into the introduced Online Community Management softwares.

Peerboard

PeerBoard is a community software without programming effort with clear extensible infrastructure. The powerful software can help drive engagement and interactions in a community. The solution offers categorized newsfeed, visual customization, rich user profiles and multi-level comments. Open source SDK can be used for specific requirements or WordPress integration for quick and seamless installation.

User list management and granting/restricting access are possible from a single location. PeerBoard updates forum pages in real-time so users can enjoy a deeper level of discussion. PeerBoard is a perfect solution for all types of private and public communities, small and medium-sized businesses or individuals.

Higherlogic

Higher Logic software is best suited for large and medium-sized businesses and for associations to communicate between members and with customers. Higher Logic’s online community platform gives a company the tools to engage with clientele for better customer service, natural customer advocacy, and increased customer retention. With Higher Logic, companies can provide tools for customers to collaborate, share ideas, and become loyal customers.

With integrated email campaigns, members get a sense of ownership through personalized and targeted communications. Higher Logic has been used by more than 50 million people over the past 15 years. The platform is supported by 350 employees from different countries.

Insided

Founded in 2010, inSided’s online community platform is specifically designed to help customers effortlessly find answers to their questions. This helps scale customer care, increase customer success, and improve customer self-service, retention, product adoption, and advocacy. With InSided, Untetrnehmen can help their customers help others. By providing them with the tools to effectively help themselves and learn. In doing so, the company engages with customers and product insights are gained. So, in summary, with InSided, companies can promote customer loyalty, increase customer self-service, communicate releases, as well as increase customer advocacy on the platform.

Tribe

Founded in 2018, Tribe is a cloud-based platform that supports the new generation of online communities. By integrating with Messenger and social media, a company can improve the atmosphere by creating content for it and its customers. Users can follow topics or people in the community. In this way, Tribe populates users’ feeds and notifications based on their interests.

On Tribe, the layout can be customized with various options. Community users can be tracked via Google Analytics and behavior can be analyzed. Multiple spaces can be created on the platform to create a robust structure among communities and categorize content. The platform can also be used as an app on a smartphone to cover a wider audience.

Centercode

Centercode is the leading customer validation solution that collects and prioritizes customer insights to help teams deliver market-dominant products. Used by the world’s top-performing companies, including Amazon, Apple, and Fitbit, Centercode is designed primarily for companies that want to bring the customer’s opinion to every stage of product development.

Enterprise and high-growth technology companies use the platform’s centralized community, project, feedback and reporting capabilities to scale their customer testing efforts and make informed product decisions. There are several Centercode solutions for each phase of a product. These include product launch, product growth, Customer Zero, which gathers employee feedback, and the Competitive Advantage solution to win customers from competitors.

Socio

Socio software is suitable for all organizations and companies that hold events, conferences and trade fairs. The software is particularly suitable for interactive, virtual events. Socio makes it easy to create event apps for conferences, trade fairs and events, which can be customized by the company according to its brand. Using the app is easy for attendees.

Your app is a one-stop store that helps attendees get the most out of your event. Attendees can select and create their own agenda to effortlessly navigate through the event. Powerful social networking tools improve engagement between attendees, sponsors and all other contributors. Socio delivers an exceptional event experience. Integrated live streaming and native interaction features such as session chat, polling, and moderated Q&A bring virtual and in-person audiences together for a truly unified experience.

Ning

NING is a platform that allows companies to build an online presence. The software has already helped many users create their own social networks to stay connected with the world. With it, companies don’t need any technical or design skills to build their social website. With the help of NING, companies can effectively promote any network. This will include all kinds of communities, such as political, music, religion, art communities or other types of online communities. You can also monetize your blog, website and a conduct fundraising. With the advanced content management, blogs and articles can be published, discussions can be held in forums, polls can be created, events can be organized, photos, videos and audio content can be shared and member groups can be established.

Wildapricot

Wild Apricot is a web-based software for small associations and non-profit charitable organizations to manage memberships, website, events and other activities of an association. The software is powerful, user-friendly and affordable. Wild Apricot helps organizations spend less time on administrative tasks. These include processing payments and updating Excel files.

This then gives clubs and businesses more time to grow their membership base. The software is designed for volunteers and organizations with few employees with a user-friendly back-end, so there is no need to be technically savvy to move the organization forward. In addition, there is access to a community of colleagues and experts who share knowledge and best practices

Brilliant Directories

The company supports online membership communities looking for a streamlined solution to easily manage their website, members, payments and more. Brilliant Directories has been providing a cost-effective, all-in-one membership management solution to streamline all aspects of a membership website or association since 2008. It provides a complete solution with fast setup and free, unlimited support from real people.

The software includes website design, online payment processing, multi-level memberships, overdue monitoring and premium content for premium members only. Brilliant Directories thus serves as a perfect starting point for website design. With simple tools, members can manage and control their own accounts. Besides, it includes the best payment processing tools to manage subscriptions, refunds, invoices and forecasts.

Influitive

Influitive’s clientele includes some of the fastest growing B2B companies, including Cisco, Oracle, Box and HubSpot. With Influitive, a company can build a community and invite stakeholders to provide recommendations and product reviews, as well as write social media posts about the company. These tasks can be directed to groups or individuals. As individuals complete these tasks, they can earn points, awards and levels. They can then use these points to redeem perks and privileges.

All completed activities can be entered and integrated into the CRM to engage stakeholders in every step of the process as they serve as referral people. This process can be used to build strong customer loyalty.