Communities on Hotmart are ecosystems created to promote continuous engagement, facilitate direct communication with students, and generate discussions around the content they consume. By integrating interaction tools into a single environment, the platform allows you to customize the space to meet your digital business's strategic needs.
In this article, you will understand how each community model works, as well as how to create, price, and manage your communities.
What is a community in the Members Area and how does it work?
Hotmart offers four community models, each with a specific access format:The community is the centralized space where students and Creators interact through posts, comments, thematic channels, direct messages (DMs), and live streams. All interactions feature built-in gamification, a weekly engagement ranking, achievements, and notifications.
Hotmart offers four community models, each with a specific access type:
Open communities: available to all buyers of at least one of your products linked to a Hotmart Members Area.
Paid communities: Function as independent products, and access is exclusive to those who purchase the community product via a one-time payment or subscription.
Linked communities: available only to buyers of specific courses or products related to the community.
Public communities: available to some Creators, access to this community is granted to anyone who has the link or is part of the members area, regardless of whether they have purchased other products from you.
You can link the same community to multiple products in your account. However, each individual product can only be linked to one community at a time
How do you create your community?
The creation of all community modalities has been centralized into two flows on the platform.
During the process, Hotmart AI acts as a facilitator, automatically generating the environment's description and offering name suggestions based on your audience's information.
In the side menu, click Products and then Membership Area, and access the desired membership area.
Click Comunidades in the side menu and then click the button +Create community.
You can also create communities by accessing:
Products in the side menu and then click on My Products.
Then click the button +Create Product and choose the Community format.
❯ Adding information to your product
After starting the creation process, you'll be redirected to a new page. Complete the following fields:
About: describe the community’s topic and purpose in as much detail as possible.
Audience: describe the community audience.
After entering this information, Hotmart AI will generate a description for your community based on the details provided.
Once you confirm the description, complete the following:
Name: define a name for the community. Hotmart AI will suggest three possible options.
Image: select an image for your community.
Access: define the community type and which membership areas and cohorts will have access to the community associated with the selected products.
Your students will be able to access the community in the Hotmart app by selecting the Communities section within the Members Area menu. Your paid community will also appear alongside other community models but will display a dollar sign ($) to differentiate it.
❯ Pricing your community
If you choose a paid community, the next section allows you to define its financial settings:
Billing model:
One-time payment
Recurring payment
Price: define the currency, amount, and billing frequency (if it is recurring).
Advanced options: define additional pricing details by clicking the gear icon:
Installment fees: passed on to the buyer or absorbed by you.
Trial period: offer a trial period to buyers in one of two ways:
Free trial: the first community charge occurs after the trial period you define, and the buyer does not pay during the trial. Subsequent recurring payments will always occur on the date of the first payment made after the free trial period.
Test drive: the first charge occurs after the period you define; however, future recurring charges will be billed on the date the test drive was purchased, not on the date of the first payment.
Guarantee: define the guarantee period during which buyers can request a refund (7, 15, 21, or 30 days).
Recurring payment: Define how charges will be made—whether they continue until the customer cancels or whether you want to set a maximum number of charges (for example, if you set 8 charges as the maximum in a weekly subscription, the buyer will be charged 8 times, once per week). Learn more by clicking here.
VAT settings: for international sales, define whether tax will be included in the final product price (the amount buyers see) or whether you prefer to show the product price and tax amount separately on the checkout page.
Important: For recurring-payment products (subscriptions), the selected guarantee period applies only to the first subscription charge and does not apply to automatic renewals. In other words, subscription refunds are only available for the initial purchase transaction, provided it is still within the guarantee period.
After completing this information, click Next.
❯ Creating discussion channels
You can create discussion channels within the community and define who can create posts and comments in each channel.
How do you customize a community?
To customize a community, it needs to be linked to a Members Area. In customization, you can add a cover and change your community's icon, in addition to previewing how the community looks inside the members area.
Customizing paid communities, however, is different from the other available communities, as you can also customize elements of your showcase. Below, we explain how to customize each type of community:
❯ How to customize your paid community
To customize storefront elements:
Access the membership area linked to your community.
Select the paid community you want to customize.
In the Customization tab, you can define:
Storefront image: add a dynamic banner displayed on the membership area's homepage, ideal for highlighting announcements, offers, or important messages.
Main image: expand this section and click the redirect button to customize your community's basic information, such as the main image, name, description, and language.
To learn more about storefront customization, see this article. And to customize your paid community cover, follow the steps below:
After clicking Communities in the left-side menu of your membership area, locate the community you want to customize.
Click the three-dot menu and select Student View.
On the community page, click Add New Image on the right side of the screen.
You'll be able to define:
Cover image: use the recommended dimensions of 2048x1024 pixels.
Accessible description: add descriptive text to make your community more inclusive for people with visual impairments.
❯ How to customize your public, open, or exclusive community
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Communities in the left-side menu.
Select the community you want to customize and click the Customize tab.
In the new tab, define:
Cover image: use the recommended dimensions of 2048x1024 pixels.
Accessible description: add descriptive text to make your community more inclusive for people with visual impairments.
If you want to change the community name or other information, click the blue Settings button in the upper-right corner.
❯ How to manage communication channels in communities
After creating your communities, you can organize them into different groups within your members area. You can manage them directly from your members area by following the steps below:
Log in to your Hotmart account.
In the left side menu, click Products and then Members Area.
Access the members area where your community is linked and go to Communities.
Enter the desired Community and click the Settings button located in the upper right corner of the screen.
Go to the Channels option to edit and create communication channels.
If you choose to change the community's name or other information, click the Settings button located in the upper right corner of the page.
How to add moderators to a community?
One of the available features in a Members Area community is the ability to grant permissions so certain members become moderators. Moderators help manage the community and can delete posts, moderate comments, and ban members. To assign the moderator role:
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview, located in the upper-right corner of the page.
Within your Members Area, click the left-side menu and locate the community you want to configure.
Click the three-dot menu next to the community name and select Settings.
In the new screen, click the Members and Moderation tab to access the member list.
Find the user whose permissions you want to change and select Moderator under Assign Role.
Once assigned as a moderator, the user will no longer appear under the Members tab and will instead appear under the Moderation tab. To remove moderation permissions, follow the same steps and select Member.
How do you manage posts in a community?
Posts help keep your community active and engaged. You can create posts with text, images, or videos, and members can interact through comments, emojis, and reactions. You can also schedule live streams to interact with members in real time.
Below, we list different options of management that you can perform on your community content:
❯ How to create and schedule posts:
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview.
Locate the community where you want to create a post.
Click the field Start a new topic or share something.
Add a title and your content using text, images, or videos.
If you want to schedule the post, click the calendar icon and select a date and time. Then click Save.
Important: If you'd rather publish immediately, proceed to the next step.
Click Create Post.
After creating the post, use the three-dot menu to edit, delete, pin it to the top, or disable comments.
❯ How to define who can post in your community:
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview.
Locate the community you want to configure.
Click the three-dot menu next to the community name and select Settings.
In the General tab, locate the Permissions section.
Select Limit Posts so only administrators and moderators can publish content.
Click Save.
❯ How to create live streams within a community:
Access the Members Area where your community is linked, go to the Calendar tab, and then click Live.
You can also create a Live directly in the community. Just:
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview.
Locate the community where you want to create a live stream.
Click Start a new topic or share something, then click Live.
Choose the streaming method (YouTube or Vimeo) and add the stream link.
Add the title, description, date, and time.
Click Create Live. Your live stream will be scheduled for the selected time and can last up to 6 hours.
Your live stream will be scheduled for the set time and can have a maximum duration of up to 6 hours. For more configuration details, check this article
❯ How to manage comments in your community:
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview.
Locate the community you want to manage.
Find the post containing the comment you want to manage.
Click the three-dot menu to the right of the comment to delete it or ban the member who wrote it.
Additionally:
To reply to a comment, click Reply below the comment.
To view all replies and reactions to a post, simply select it. Once opened, you can like and reply to comments.
How do you customize an assistant?
When creating a community, you can configure an assistant to help create posts by defining expressions you want to use to standardize the tone of voice.
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview (eye icon), located in the upper-right corner of the page.
Within your Members Area, click the star icon to configure your Assistant with custom expressions, or create a post directly with Hotmart AI by clicking the lightbulb icon.
Clicking Use your Hotmart AI Assistant takes you to the post creation screen.
You can specify what you want to communicate, whether to use emojis, the tone of voice, and whether to use saved expressions. Hotmart AI will generate the post according to your guidelines.
How to configure gamification in the community?
You can activate gamification features to encourage students' active participation in the community and content consumption. Students accumulate points by making posts, commenting, receiving reactions, and completing lessons. To activate gamification:
In your Members Area menu, click Gamification.
In the top bar, you can enable or disable gamification.
On the Game rules tab, you can define how many points each action taken in the Community and Courses is worth, and what the game levels are!
On the Recognition tab, you can configure exclusive titles to grant to your students.
And on the Rewards tab, you can register prizes that will be released automatically when the student reaches the required score (such as free access to a product or the release of an exclusive link).
Students will be able to view their scores and ranking positions by clicking the trophy icon, located at the top of the Members Area in the Hotmart App, and in the Points and Ranking tab in the web version. For more details on Gamification, check this article.
How do direct messages (DMs) work?
By separating public interactions from private conversations, the platform provides a dynamic environment for collective engagement while also offering a private channel for personalized support.
To send direct messages to members of your community:
Open the desired membership area and click the Communities option in the side menu.
Click Direct Messages to send messages directly to community members.
How do you track community metrics?
When you add communities to a membership area, you can access reports containing results and key indicators to support business decisions. To access your community report:
Open the membership area linked to the community you want to analyze and click Insights in the left-side menu.
Click the Communities tab and use filters to search by community or specific periods.
After applying filters, you can track the number of members, views, engagement data, and moderation metrics.
Frequently Asked Questions
❯ How do I ban a member from my community?
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview.
Within your Members Area, click the left-side menu and locate the community you want to configure.
Click the three-dot menu next to the community name and select Settings.
Click the Members and Moderation tab to access the member list.
0 Locate the user you want to ban and click the trash can icon under Remove.
A confirmation message will appear. Click OK, Remove.
Important: This action removes the user's access to the community. However, they will remain in your membership area and will retain access to any other products and/or communities they have access to.
❯ How do I delete a post created by a community member?
Access the membership area linked to your community and click Preview.
Locate the community you want to manage.
Find the post you want to manage and click the three-dot menu to the right of the publication.
Select Delete Post.
❯ Can I change the community access type after creating it?
Yes. However, once the community has been created, you can only change the community type from Open to Exclusive and vice versa.
To do this, simply go to the Community Settings within the Members Area. Then, under the Access tab, you can make the change.
❯ Can I link more than one course to an exclusive community?
Yes. Up to 10 courses can be linked to a single exclusive community.
❯ Is it possible to have a membership area with only communities?
Yes. You can add paid communities to a membership area and create new public and open communities. However, you cannot add exclusive communities because this type of community must be linked to courses hosted within the membership area.
❯ How does payment work for a paid community?
Payments for paid communities are processed through recurring charges, just like subscription products. To better understand how a community subscription works from a buyer’s perspective, see this article.
❯ Can communities be added to a bundle?
No. However, you can create an exclusive community and link it to a product sold within a bundle. For more information about bundles, see this article.
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