The platform’s latest feature enables a higher degree of personalisation and professionalism across applications. Now, customers have the option to offer their intranet or community on their own subdomain. This feature allows the web app version of the community to integrate seamlessly into an existing online presence, providing a consistent brand experience while adding a range of specific benefits.
Why your own domain?
Running your community on your own domain offers a number of benefits beyond personalization. Here are some of the key reasons why this feature can be beneficial for businesses, media, creators and brands:
1. Strengthening brand identity
By using their own domain, customers create a consistent, authentic user journey from the main website to the community. This links the content directly to their brand and users experience the community as a natural part of the brand universe.
2. Trust and credibility
Having your own domain conveys professionalism and increases trust among community members, especially when they are in an environment that is fully customized to the company’s branding.
3. SEO benefits
By integrating the community on their own domain, customers benefit from SEO effects that arise from content and user engagement. Google likes original, new content and user-generated content in particular is becoming increasingly important (see also the importance of Reddit in search results). More activity and relevant content on a domain can help improve the ranking in search engines in the long term.
4. Flexibility and control
With their own domain, customers can customize the community and expand it with targeted channels (e.g. for events) so that it is better tailored to specific business goals and target groups. This gives them control over how the community grows and develops. All under their own domain.
Simple technical implementation for seamless integration
The technical implementation is straightforward and quick to implement. Customers only need to make a CNAME entry in their DNS settings that points to our platform. It is important that the customer or contact person has technical access to these settings. If this is guaranteed, such an entry can be completed in just a few minutes.
In addition, a corresponding wildcard SSL certificate is required, which guarantees a secure connection and ensures that the subdomain is also appropriately protected. This approach allows any number of channels to be set up under the selected domain, which enables maximum flexibility and scalability. This makes the setup not only simple, but also future-proof for the dynamic needs of our customers.
In any case, we will of course help our customers with the integration if necessary. However, the necessary things are usually set up and “live” within a day.
Advantages for different use cases
Our goal is to make your intranet or community work optimally on every device and platform. With this new feature, the platform is accessible not only on the web, but also in mobile apps (e.g. via the customer’s own app store account) – all under the customer’s domain. This ensures a consistent user experience, regardless of whether users interact on the web or in the app.
For companies
A modern social intranet promotes engagement among customers and employees. Employees can network, exchange ideas and work together on projects. Using your own domain promotes trust and simply appears more professional.
For publishers and media
Your own news website can easily be expanded to include your own community on your own domain in order to achieve more user engagement and loyalty. The combination of SSO and the use of positive SEO effects is particularly interesting.
For creators
Whether you’re an influencer, blogger or artist – your own domain for a community can help you establish a loyal follower base on your own platform and get in direct contact with fans (without always being dependent on third parties). Your own domain is always part of your own digital brand.
For educational platforms and online courses
The ability to build communities on your own domain provides learners with a focused environment where they can access their courses, ask questions, and work in groups.
Future prospects: How this feature promotes growth
By using their own community (and also their own chat!) on their own domain, we give our customers a powerful tool to further increase the engagement, loyalty and visibility of the brand. And in doing so, they also gain other positive effects, for example in the area of SEO.
This additional freedom helps them tailor the community experience to their specific needs and build a strong, sustainable bond with their target audience over the long term.
