Feature Release Zenler - Communities the Future of Course/Membership sites

David Zenler Author

Aug 22, 2026 |

Learn how Zenler Communities support course and membership sites with discussion, engagement, support and stronger learner connection.

Quick answer: Feature Release Zenler - Communities the Future of Course/Membership sites explains how to zenler brings you the most powerful community and social experience, built into the platform with no more privacy issues or external applications.

Zenler and The NEW Communities Feature

Zenler releases the ALL NEW Community feature to drive traffic and engagement—no more need for Facebook!

Gone are the days when courses or memberships consisted of just videos. Now, engagement is the number one factor in retaining your valued students, you can see our massive article on what you can do to get more engagement in your community and apply it to the new Zenler Communities feature.

Zenler is the only platform that offers a Facebook-like experience directly on your site—a self-contained community where you can host discussions, upload images and videos, and create groups tailored to your needs.

What about the old inline community? Don’t worry, it’s still available and can be used for simple announcements and mini-discussions as usual.

But we're not here to talk about the old feature—NOT NOW! We’re going to dive deep into how the new community will transform your business, making it even easier to announce, inform, and engage with YOUR AUDIENCE!

Let’s get started. One thing is certain: this will change your business forever!

The OLD Way

Most course or membership sites rely on external social platforms like MeWe or Facebook. This creates an additional area to manage, requiring instructors and students to use a separate login and comply with external privacy rules. This naturally forms a barrier between your site and the social platform. Worse, these platforms can block or even ban users, which isn’t ideal for your business!

We've seen a significant increase in people avoiding Facebook due to its control over users, its data-gathering practices, and the prevalence of ads. To Zenler, this is unacceptable. Zenler is committed to being a complete all-in-one solution. With that in mind, let’s explore how Zenler is leading the way forward.

The NEW Way

Imagine a Facebook/Mighty Networks experience, but entirely on your own site! Imagine no more, as we introduce the All NEW Zenler Community!

Self-contained and fully integrated into your site, this community offers everything you’d expect from a true social platform—and more.

Hosted and controlled by you, you can create a public community or one for each course or bundle. The choice is yours. Let users freely engage with each other and with you.

You can post images and videos, making this a pivotal moment for Zenler. After years of development and testing, Zenler now has you covered for all your community needs, powered by cutting-edge technology!

But WHY is The Zenler Community So Important?

Communities build trust and followers having a strong community and getting feedback and questions is part of your role as an instructor, the members chatting among them selves also means you do less and building a great community keeps members with you longer and makes them superfans if you are reactive to your audiences needs you will in turn create better content and grow more followers have a safe private area within your site makes it the ideal.

Old Current Community

While the old community was functional, it lacked some of the features you needed. That’s why we developed a complete system built around your needs!

The old community allowed single threads and had limited features, but many of instructors —including myself—still love it. However, just take a look at the NEW Communities feature now!

Zenler and it's New Social Community

The NEW Community is like nothing you have seen before built from the ground up with the latest technologies, this enterprise-level community is a whole social network but IT IS YOURS!

It is private and secure and you can have it for cohorts or users or even open it to the public as a lead generator, it is truly epic!

This Feature Was Requested by Zenler Instructors

We developed this based on users' feedback and comments from those who did not want to join the Facebook group. As a result, we created the ALL NEW ZENLER COMMUNITY Hub.

Watch as we add more and more features to the Community area.

Zenler's New Community Feature: A Comprehensive Support Guide

Zenler's new Community feature introduces a robust social platform integrated directly into their learning management system. Here are the key features and benefits:

Customisable Community Structure

Categories and Sub-communities

• Create main categories to organise content
• Add multiple sub-communities under each category
• Flexible organisation allows for tailored community structures

Customisation Options

• Set community titles and taglines1
• Upload custom logos and cover photos for each community
• Apply brand colors to maintain consistent aesthetics

Privacy and Access Control

Granular Privacy Settings

• Public: Visible to all, including search engines (great for SEO)1
• Private: Visible to logged-in members only
• Secret: Accessible only to invited users or those added by admins

Course Integration

• Ability to link communities to specific courses
• Automatic access granted to students upon course enrollment

Content Creation and Management

Rich Post Creation

• Add text, images, emojis, and links to posts1
• Format text with headers (H1, H2) for improved readability and SEO
• Create featured posts for highlighting important content

Post Management

• Edit, delete, or pin posts to featured sections
• Like and comment functionality for engagement

The Experience

Intuitive Interface

• Clean, modern design similar to popular social networks
• Easy navigation between communities and feeds

Responsive Design

• Works across various devices, ensuring accessibility

Administrative Tools

Member Management

• Add or remove members from communities
• View member lists for each community

Notification System

• Admins receive notifications for new posts and interactions
• Helps in monitoring community activity efficiently

SEO Benefits

Indexable Content

• Public communities and posts can be indexed by search engines
• Unique URL slugs for each community improve discoverability

Future Enhancements

Planned Features

• Embed, media, and community enhancements continue to evolve as part of Zenler's product development
• Continuous development and feature additions

Benefits

1. Increased Engagement: Creates a social learning environment, fostering student interaction and collaboration.
2. Brand Consistency: Customization options ensure the community aligns with your brand identity.
3. Flexibility: Multiple privacy levels and course integration allow for versatile community setups.
4. Improved SEO: Public communities can boost online visibility and attract new students.
5. Centralized Platform: Eliminates the need for external community tools, keeping everything within Zenler.
6. Enhanced Course Value: Adding private communities to courses can increase perceived value and student satisfaction.
7. Easy Administration: Intuitive tools for managing content and members streamline community oversight.
8. Scalability: The ability to create multiple communities supports growth and diversification of offerings.

Zenler's new Community feature provides a comprehensive solution for course creators to build, manage, and grow engaged learning communities directly within their platform.

Zenler has introduced an exciting new community feature that rivals platforms like Facebook and Mighty Networks. This game-changing addition allows you to create a private, Facebook-like experience for your users directly on your site. Let's explore the key features and setup process.

Setting Up Your Community - Quick Guide

Accessing the Community Dashboard

1. Log in to your Zenler dashboard
2. Navigate to the "Communities" section
3. Click "Go to Community" to open the new community area in a new tab

Configuring Basic Settings

1. Go to "Settings" in the community dashboard
2. Set your community title and upload a logo
3. Choose privacy settings (public, private, or secret)
4. Set your primary branding color

Creating Categories and Communities

1. Click the "+" button to create a category
2. Add a category name and tagline
3. Create additional categories as needed
4. Use the "+" button again to add communities within categories

Customizing Your Community

1. Choose an icon for each community
2. Set privacy levels (public, private, or secret) for individual communities
3. Add cover photos to categories and communities
4. Create and format posts using the built-in editor

Key Features

Post Creation and Formatting

• Add titles, body text, and emojis to posts
• Format text with headings (H1, H2) for better SEO
• Insert images and links into posts
• Pin important posts as "featured" content

Member Management

• View and manage members within each community
• Add new members directly or through course enrollment

Feed and Notifications

• Access a main feed showing activity across all communities
• Receive notifications for new posts and replies

Adding Communities to Courses

1. Go to your course settings
2. Under pricing options, select "Add to Community"
3. Choose the appropriate community (private or secret) from the dropdown

Student Experience

• Students can access public communities without logging in
• Login is required to post or comment
• Students enrolled in courses gain access to associated private communities

Admin Features

• Monitor community activity through the main feed
• Receive notifications for new posts and interactions
• Easily manage multiple communities from a central dashboard

SEO Benefits

• Public communities have unique URL slugs, making them indexable by search engines
• Properly formatted posts (with H1 and H2 tags) can improve search engine visibility

Zenler's new community feature offers a powerful way to engage your audience, foster discussions, and create a vibrant learning environment. As with all Zenler features, expect continuous improvements and additional functionality in future updates.

Find out how you should be running your community with our Blog produced from our workshops.

FAQ

What are Zenler Communities?

Zenler Communities are spaces where creators can bring students or members together for discussion, support, engagement and shared learning around courses or memberships.

How can communities help course and membership sites?

Communities can improve connection, accountability, feedback, member retention and student support beyond static course lessons.

Should every course have a community?

Not every course needs a community, but community is useful when learners benefit from questions, feedback, peer support or ongoing accountability.

Categories: : Zenler Product Updates