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Want to use Beam.gg but unsure about where to start? There are a few things we recommend you set up first before you start onboarding members and posting content. Take a look at our curated list below!

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Step 1: Create an account on your community

The first and most important step you need to take is to create an account on your community. Since the Beam Dashboard (app.beam.gg) and your community site are two different websites, you'll need to have separate credentials for each. Create a new account on your community and use the same email address from your Beam account. Doing so will automatically sync both accounts and give you owner access to your community.

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Step 2: Customize your community branding

One of the perks of hosting your community on Beam.gg is that you get to completely customize the look of your community. You can select your own cover photo and community icon, choose an accent color, and even upload custom reactions! You can do all this and more by going to the Beam Dashboard > Platform Settings.

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Here are some articles might help:

• Community customization features
• Community branding assets guide
• Uploading custom reactions
• Setting up your custom domain

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Step 3: Create Subforums and Post Categories

Subforums and Post Categories act as filters that separate different types of content. Subforums let you create separate post feeds for specific topics and groups, while Post Categories give you more control over what you wish to see and allow you to quickly sort through the feed.
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Once you add new Subforums and Post Categories on the Beam Dashboard, they will instantly be reflected on your community upon saving. You can disable them or edit them, but you will not be able to permanently delete them from your dashboard settings.

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Step 4: Adjust your privacy and moderation settings

‍We know how important privacy is for online communities. And as part of our commitment to keep communities safe, we want to make sure you’re aware of the privacy options available to you.
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• Platform Visibility
  ‍Choose between having a public or private view for your community. On Public Communities, anyone can view content but only registered members can interact. On Private Communities, content is blocked to anyone who is not signed in.

• Member Approval
  ‍Have you always wanted to keep your community exclusive? Enable restricted registrations, and choose which members to accept or decline. Restricting registrations will allow you to moderate the people who sign-up and have access to your community. You can do this regardless if you have a private or a public community.
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• Content Approval
  ‍All posts from your members appear in the community feed by default, unless you enable restricted registrations on your platform settings. When you do this, admins and moderators can review all pending posts within the community and must approve them before they appear on the feed.
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• Word Filter
  ‍Our Word Filter tool is designed to censor certain keywords from posts and comments within the community site to protect members from explicit language and profanity. You can also add custom terms by simply entering the keywords that you want to be removed from user content. Our program will automatically replace those words with asterisks in a sentence. (ex. Do you know what a ***** is?)

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Step 5: Enable Member Subscriptions

Paid Member Subscriptions gives owners a way to earn from their platform through the support of their community. And in return, members will receive special access to exclusive subscriber perks that help make their community experience more fun and engaging.

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We’ve rolled out Member Subscriptions with the following capabilities to get you started:

• Accept payments internationally
• Set your own monthly pricing and currency
• Offer built-in and custom supporter perks
• Monitor subscriber and payment analytics
• Configure your checkout page, invoice templates, etc.
• Choose your preferred payout schedule
• Issue automated emails for payments and refunds
• Set up your own custom email domain

To learn more about Member Subscriptions, check out our Help Center articles:

• Setting up Community Monetization
• Tips for getting started with Monetization
• Monetization FAQs

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Step 6: Add editors and community managers

Community Editors can access and manage some settings within the Beam Dashboard. They can also manage all community member roles, excluding the owner. Editors cannot make changes to the community's subscription or unpublish the community. You can add editors on the Beam Dashboard.
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Community Managers, on the other hand, are comprised of admins and moderators who keep the community safe and active. They manage the day-to-day activities of the community and  maintaining the feed by engaging members. You can add admins and moderators on the Community Manager.

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