Getting your Raptive Community set up is the first step toward creating a dedicated space where your audience can go deeper, contribute more, and feel closer to the brand they already love.
Before your Community opens to the public, we’ll help you build a welcoming space that feels unmistakably yours and guide you through a few simple setup steps that help you build momentum.
- Step 1: Setting up your Raptive Dashboard account and accepting the service agreement
- Step 2: Updating your site branding
- Step 3: Creating a strong welcome moment
Step 1: Preparing your account
Once your application is accepted, we’ll send you a one-time login URL to quickly set up your Raptive Community Dashboard and add your bank and tax information. You’ll use a Gmail or Google Apps email address to create the account, but if you don’t have one, you can use these simple instructions for using a non-Gmail address.
After you set up your Dashboard, you’ll need to review and accept the Community Service Agreement. Once that’s done, you’re good to go! In a few days, we’ll send you a unique preview link for you to use to create your special creator account and access your Community for the first time. But remember: it’s not public just yet!
Step 2: Branding your new community
Your Raptive Community should feel like a natural extension of your brand. To help make it feel welcoming, you can add your own branding elements directly in the Customize Community tab of your Community Management view. Your community will start with template branding and messaging that you can customize by selecting Community Management → Community Customization. Here’s what you’ll need:
- A primary logo at 512 × 512 px and a secondary logo at 600 × 80 px. These logos will appear throughout your Community space and across Raptive surfaces to promote your Community.
- A hex color. This is a six-digit code that starts with #, such as #6B65FF. This color is used in your branding across your Community and should help the space to feel aligned with your brand. If you don’t have a hex color yet, that’s okay. You can keep the default option.
- Revise your Community Descriptions and Welcome Message to reflect your brand and the kind of connection you want to create within your community in a succinct way. These should help people understand what they’ll find in your Community, why it feels different from your other channels, and how they can participate meaningfully. A clear Community Description gives your audience a reason to join, engage, and keep coming back.
Step 3: Create a Memorable Member Welcome Moment
Crafting a welcoming experience helps new members feel invited, builds trust, and gets them active quickly. Your Raptive Community new member experience combines your community description with a welcome video, a featured question, and even a welcome post from you to turn logged-out visitors into sign-ups. Each element is customized by you in your Community Customization tab. Use this “first impression” to share why you created your Community, what members can expect, and how they can be part of it. This clear direction makes your Community feel like a personal invitation to connect more deeply with you and other members, too.
Your Raptive Community includes a few special features that help create a strong welcome experience for new members:
- Welcome video: Film a short welcome video for new members to see before they even join the space. The best welcome videos feel personal, direct, and genuinely exciting. Use yours to explain why your Community exists, what members will get there that they won’t get elsewhere, how they can participate, and what kind of tone you want the space to have. You can upload your Welcome Video at Community Management → Community Customization. Here are some great examples of welcome videos:
- Featured Question: Using our Community Answers tool, you can add a welcome prompt that new members receive when they join. This helps members get active quickly and turns viewers into participants. We’ll have some questions preloaded for you to choose from. To select your featured question and schedule your own Community Answers prompts, go to Community Management → Community Answers.
Once you’ve added these setup customizations to your community, we’ll set it to public, and you're ready to start inviting your audience to the community, and you can start inviting your top fans to join!