Community launch checklist

Ready to go live with your community and start recruiting? Use this checklist to ensure each aspect of your community is prepared.

Print this topic out and share it with your collaborators. Check off items as you complete them.

Creative collaterals

Whether you're branding your community yourself, or you have marketing and creative teams to help you, ensure you have these items ready before you start. For more information, see Community theme image specifications.

Done Item

Survey header

  • Supported file type: JPG, PNG, and GIF
  • Maximum file size: 2 MB
  • Classic surveys:
    • Recommended height: 100 pixels
    • Recommended width: 987 pixels.
  • Modern surveys:
    • Recommended height: 100 pixels.
    • Recommended width: 400 pixels

Survey header (mobile)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 600 pixels width
  • 100 pixels height
  • 2 MB maximum

Survey footer logo (optional)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 180 pixels width
  • 30 pixels height
  • 2 MB maximum

Forum header (mobile)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 240 pixels width
  • 65 pixels height
  • 2 MB maximum

Forum header (desktop)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 1280 pixels width
  • 100 pixels height
  • 2 MB maximum

Portal and forum header (desktop)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 1280 pixels width
  • 100 pixels height
  • 2 MB maximum

Portal header (mobile)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 750 pixels width
  • 50 pixels height
  • 2 MB maximum

Portal background image

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 1920 pixels width
  • 1080 pixels height
  • 4 MB maximum

Portal widget images (optional)

  • JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • 300 x 300 pixels (minimum)
  • 1000 x 1000 pixels (recommended)
  • 4 MB maximum

Corporate colors

Choose some complementary colors that reflect your organization's branding; you'll need them when you create your community theme.

Community theming

At the very minimum, ensure you have completed these tasks so new members receive a unique branded experience from the start.

Done Task
Create a community theme.
Set a theme as active for a community.
Edit the default email footer.
Edit the hub footer.
Edit the hub sign up/sign in pages.

Recruiting for the first time

Recruitment is one of most important processes in building and managing your community. Good recruiting practices not only set the foundation for your community's later success, they can immediately make participants feel valued and engaged.

For a more detailed breakdown of these tasks, see Recruiting for the first time.

Done Task

Think about the demographic information you want to collect and eventually use as profile variables. Then, add the profile variables to the application:

Understand the participants' experience during the recruitment process.
Build your recruitment survey.

Include End Survey actions with survey logic to remove undesirable participants.

Preview your recruitment survey.

Review the confirmation email.

Perform a soft launch.

Monitor participation.
Analyze the report data from the soft launch.
If necessary, troubleshoot problems in your recruitment survey, and then publish the survey changes.

Create and distribute recruitment links.

Member hub

The member hub is a member-facing website for your community. Members can sign in to learn what's happening, participate in activities, and engage with your community.

Done Item
Header image
  • Image is brand-aligned
  • Includes the hub name
Profiles
  • Collaborators have profile images
  • Collaborators provide a short bio
  • Create a corporate profile for press releases and information about your organization
Content stream
  • Includes 8-10 pieces of content
  • A mixture of original and curated content
  • At least 3 posts include a combination of photos, videos, and social links.
Collections
  • Include 3-5 collections
  • Add secondary navigation
  • Each collection has a minimum of two posts
Social media
  • Connect the hub to your organization's social media accounts to share and curate content