Courses and communities

How to build a paid online community: a Skool alternative inside your CRM

Create a free or paid online community with groups, channels, events, courses and leaderboards, connected to your CRM and payments.

By Oceanic Funnels TeamUpdated 7 min read
The short answer

An online community gives your customers, students or members a place to talk, learn and stay engaged. In Oceanic Funnels OS, communities include groups, channels, posts, events with reminders, courses inside the group, and gamification with levels, a leaderboard and rewards. You can run free or paid groups, invite members with roles, and connect everything to your CRM and automations, so it works like Skool but lives next to your funnels, email and payments.

Why build your community here

  • Members, payments, courses and email in one system.
  • Automations can welcome new members, reward activity and win back quiet ones.
  • Your own branding and domain.
  • Unlimited contacts, so you aren't charged more as you grow.

Set up your community

  1. Open Communities and create a new community. Connect a custom domain in the community settings.
  2. In Groups, click Create Group, add a name, description and privacy (public or private), and assign moderators.
  3. Add channels with + Add Channel, such as Announcements, Wins and Questions.
  4. In Learning, click + Add Course to attach a course, visible to everyone, certain levels, or unlocked by time or milestones.
  5. In Events, create one-time or recurring sessions with a meeting link and reminders.
  6. Invite members from Members and set roles: Admin, Contributor or Member.

Make it paid

Connect a paid membership offer so people pay to join, monthly or one-time. Combine with a sales page funnel and checkout.

Keep members engaged

  • Gamification: members earn points for posts, comments and likes, and level up on the leaderboard.
  • Rewards: unlock courses, discounts or roles at certain levels.
  • Weekly rhythm: one live call, one challenge and one win thread every week.
Want this set up for you?On Growth and Done-For-You, our team builds it into your system.
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FAQ

Questions, answered

Can I charge for my community?

Yes. Connect paid membership plans so members pay to join.

Can I add courses inside the community?

Yes. Attach courses in the Learning tab and choose who can see them.

Does it have a leaderboard?

Yes. Members earn points for activity, level up on a leaderboard and can unlock rewards.