What is community content? Strategy, examples, & tips for managers

Community content is the contributions, interactions, and discussions within an online community either posted by a community member or the community manager to spark engagement. It can be a blog post, an event, a how-to guide or video for your product, a survey or poll, user-generated posts and comments, or simply a group message sent to members. Most, if not all, branded communities consist of some type of content to engage members. Some online communities' sole focus is to be a content community.

Community content should be exclusive to the online community, as it incentivizes members to actively participate in the community as they gain access to valuable information that’s unavailable elsewhere. This exclusivity fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty among community members, as they’ll feel special and privileged to be part of a group with unique benefits.

Creating community-focused content is crucial because, without it, engagement levels may decline, potentially leading to a struggling community. Online communities offer opportunities for deeper connections and support, but your content is really what increases and sustains engagement levels. 

Plus, community content serves as a valuable tool for gathering insights and feedback, aiding brands in understanding customer needs, preferences, and pain points more effectively. It also helps to demonstrate expertise, establish thought leadership, and position brands as trusted authorities, which can attract new customers and enhance brand reputation. Over time, community content can also become a self-service knowledge base to answer questions about your products and services.

Creating a community content strategy ensures your community stays active, relevant, and valuable for members. A strong strategy aligns with your brand goals, encourages ongoing engagement, and makes content creation more sustainable over time.

Here’s how to build one:

1. Set clear goals

No matter the type of content you create for your community, you should first establish what you’d like to achieve — whether it’s growing membership, increasing engagement, driving product demo sign-ups, or educating users. Clear goals will guide your content topics and formats, whether that’s blog articles, event invites, polls, videos, or discussion prompts.

2. Get to know your community members

The most effective community content is tailored to your members’ interests, needs, and knowledge level. Take time to understand your audience segments — are they new users looking for basic how-tos or power users interested in advanced tips?

If you’re unsure where to start, ask your community directly. Use built-in analytics, engage in discussions, post surveys, or leverage listening tools to understand the demographics, behaviors, and preferences of your audience. This allows you to craft content that’s timely, relevant, and engaging — whether that’s onboarding resources, product updates, or in-depth discussion threads.

With Khoros community management software, you can instantly surface trending conversations, identify advocates and detractors, and gather the insights you need to prioritize impactful content ideas.

3. Create a content calendar

It’s also important for a community manager to commit to a frequent content cadence. This might look like a weekly question, a monthly event, or a biweekly blog post.

Once you know what to create, stick to a regular schedule so members know when to expect new content and stay engaged. A content calendar helps you plan ahead, balance different content types, and collaborate across teams more effectively.

4. Organize your content strategically

A well-organized community makes it easier for members to discover relevant content and participate in discussions. Group content by topic, user level, or category using clear navigation, tags, or labels. Pin important posts, such as guidelines, FAQs, or key announcements, to keep them visible.

Consider creating resource libraries or themed spaces — like a “Getting Started” section for new users or a “Tips and Tricks” area for advanced users — to help people find the information that matters to them most.

Khoros Communities allows you to create structured knowledge bases and easily manage categories, so your content stays accessible and easy to navigate as your community grows.

5. Choose the right content formats

Not all content works the same way — and not all community members engage with content in the same way. Choosing the right formats for your goals and audience can significantly boost participation.

Start by aligning content types with your objectives:

• To educate new users: Share how-to articles, onboarding guides, or quick tip videos.
  

• To drive conversation: Use open-ended questions, polls, AMAs, or member spotlights.
  

• To showcase product updates or insights: Post feature announcements, release notes, or best practices.
  

• To recognize contributors: Create highlight posts, contributor shoutouts, or recap threads of valuable member discussions.

Consider how your members prefer to consume content:

• Some will gravitate toward visual formats like videos or infographics.
  

• Others may prefer written content like blog-style posts or in-depth tutorials.
  

• Mix formats to engage different learning styles and interaction preferences.

Use your community analytics to identify what formats are performing well and iterate. If short video walkthroughs consistently outperform text tutorials, it may be time to shift your approach.

6. Leverage community-generated content

You don’t have to create all the content yourself. Some of the best-performing content comes directly from your members. As a community manager, you can encourage this by:

• Welcome new members: A simple post to welcome new members and introduce them to the community can help new members feel comfortable participating.

• Foster a positive community culture: A positive community culture can allow members to feel safe interacting with content.

• Reward contributions: Acknowledge and reward your top contributors for their contributions. This could look like a shout-out, badges, points, or even free products and branded merchandise.

• Promote highly engaged users to moderators and brand advocates: Encourage top contributors by giving them special roles. They could create user-generated content or announce challenges and contests.

• Offer subgroups within the community: Subgroups focused on specific topics can be less daunting and lead to more discussions and interaction.

• Host contests: Encourage member participation by hosting contests with prizes for contributions or points-based contests for post interactions and creations.

• Post discussion prompts: Boost interactions by posting discussion prompts, encouraging members to comment and potentially create their own posts.

7. Repurpose old content

Not every post needs to be brand new. Revisit your top-performing community posts, knowledge base articles, or webinars and give them a second life. You can:

• Update popular threads with fresh insights or product updates
  

• Turn a webinar into a blog post or series of short tips
  

• Summarize a multi-comment thread into a quick how-to guide
  

• Create a roundup of FAQs or best community answers
  

Repurposing saves time and extends the value of content that’s already proven to resonate.

8. Plan for moderation and follow up consistently

Publishing content is just the beginning. Make sure you have a plan to monitor responses, follow up on questions, and keep the conversation going. Set up alerts or assign moderators to check in on posts regularly.

Community moderation also includes ensuring discussions remain respectful and on-topic. A well-maintained space encourages participation and builds trust among members.

9. Measure progress and adapt your strategy

The content process doesn’t stop once you hit “post.” It’s essential to measure whether your content is delivering value — both for your business and your members.

One of the most efficient ways to do this is by using community management software equipped with robust analytics — including dashboards, custom reports, and benchmark data. With Khoros, you can track key metrics like content performance, topic popularity, engagement trends, and response rates to see what’s working (and what’s not).

But numbers only tell part of the story. Community success also hinges on how well you're meeting members' needs. Use polls, open-ended feedback, or one-on-one conversations to get a sense of member satisfaction and sentiment.

And if something’s not resonating? Adjust. A strong community content strategy evolves alongside your community — so keep listening, measuring, and iterating.

Here are a couple of brand community examples with excellent content strategies to take inspiration from:

Fortinet, a hi-tech software company, utilizes an online community as a centralized hub for consolidating its support knowledge, enabling customers to access self-service options seamlessly when they require assistance. Within this online community, customers can search or browse for topics within their dedicated knowledge base.

A noteworthy example of this approach is how staff members consistently share technical tips alongside informative articles, as you can see in the above image, which educates community members on various topics. Fortinet's emphasis on educational content has proven highly beneficial, as it empowers its community members to independently address their queries and stay informed about relevant industry developments.

Zoom's online community serves as a comprehensive resource hub where users can easily find the support they require. In addition to promptly addressing user inquiries posted in the forum, Zoom moderators actively engage the community by organizing events like live webinars with interactive Q&A sessions. These virtual events are open to all users at no cost, offering valuable insights into the product and sharing relevant tips within the niche.

Once your strategy is in place, these quick tips can help you keep content creation effective and sustainable:

• Keep your tone consistent: Use a voice that matches your brand but feels approachable and conversational within the community.
  

• Use visuals when possible: Screenshots, GIFs, or short videos can make how-tos and updates more digestible.
  

• Collaborate with internal teams: Tap product, support, and marketing for content ideas or cross-functional campaigns.
  

• Spot seasonal or trending topics: Use analytics or listen to member conversations to create timely, relevant posts.
  

• Create templates: For repeatable content like weekly prompts or monthly highlights, build templates to speed up creation.
  

• Archive and organize older content: Make it easy for members to find past discussions or FAQs by categorizing or tagging effectively.

Even small improvements to your process can make your community content more engaging — and easier to maintain over time.

Effectively managing an online community requires the right tools to ensure both your business goals and members' needs are met. Khoros’ community management software helps you build and maintain a community that lasts. With its comprehensive suite of features — such as robust analytics capabilities, AI-powered moderation, community listening, built-in formats for building content, and content management tools to seamlessly tag, review, edit, and schedule content — you can create a thriving online community.

Trusted by top brands like Zoom, Bell, and Cisco, Khoros can help you foster meaningful connections, enhance user satisfaction, and drive the long-term success of your online community.

Get started by scheduling a demo of our online community management software today.