What is Heartbeat Groups?
Heartbeat groups allow you to customize levels of access within your community across channels, docs, events, and more. This powerful feature lets you establish sub-communities, affinity groups, and badges within your main community, enabling closer connections and tailored experiences for your members.
Video Overview
How to create a group
Go to Settings > Manage Groups to create your first Heartbeat group.
The create group modal will have a variety of settings for you to make the group work for your specific needs. Below, you'll find explanations of each setting for creating a new group:
Title
Give your group a name.
Description
Describe the purpose of this group. Members will see this description below the group name when they are considering joining.
Group Color
Choosing a color for your group will clearly separate one group from another. It will also help make the group look and feel like your brand. Choose a default color or select your own custom color.
Group Membership
You can choose how members gain access to the group.
Admin-Controlled:
Only admins can add and remove members to this group. Members cannot join the group without an admin adding them manually.Joinable:
Members can join or leave the group on their own. If this is a paid group, members will need to pass the paywall before joining the group.Automated:
Members are automatically added and removed from this group based on a set of filter criteria set by the admin. Learn more about Automated Membership filters here.
Visibility
You can choose to make your group visibility default, a badge, or hidden.
Default:
Everyone in the community is able to see this group. The group is visible on member profiles.
Badge:
Everyone in the community is able to see this group. The group appears as a badge next to a member's name in threads, comments, and messages.Hidden:
Only admins can see this group. The group is not visible on member profiles.
Isolated
If turned on, members of this group will only be able to see administrators, moderators & other members of this group across Heartbeat. This affects areas such as the Online Users section, direct messages, the user directory and @ mentions. Administrators & moderators are unaffected by this setting. Learn more here.
Creating a Subgroup
To create a subgroup, click on the 3 dots to the right of the group name and then click on Create Subgroup.
Manage Groups
Once you create your group, you can manage it by going to Settings > Manage groups anytime. Read more about managing groups here.
Editing a Group
To make changes to the group name, description, color, etc., click on the 3 dots to the right and then Edit.
Note: For Parent Groups, there will be a Single Select toggle option. If it is toggled on, then members are only allowed to be part of one subgroup. They will not be able to join multiple subgroups.
Moving a Group
To add an existing group as a subgroup, click on the 3 dots to the right and then Move. From there, choose the parent group.
Deleting a Group
To delete a group, click on the 3 dots to right and then Delete. A prompt will popup confirming that you'd like to delete the group. Click Delete to confirm.
Note: If a group is associated with a course, then it can't be deleted. The course will need to be deleted first in order for the group to be deleted.
Managing Members of a Group
To add, delete, or view a list of members, click on the 3 dots to the right of the group name, and the Manage Members.
To add members to the group, click on the Search for users, and then scroll through the list or type in their name.
To delete members from the group, click on the x to the right of their name.
After you've made changes, click Save.
Promoting the Group
Create Post in Threads
You can create a post in threads that will allow members to join the group. Type in $join and then select the group name or type in the group name.
Invitation Links
You can create an invitation link for the group. Non-members can use the link to sign up for your community and will automatically be added to the group. Existing members can use the link to join the group.
Check out this article to learn more: https://help.heartbeat.chat/en/articles/7016906-invitation-links
Join through My Groups
Members can join any joinable groups through Settings > My Groups.
Setting Up Groups in Onboarding
When signing up for your community, a member can select a group to join.
Check out the article here to learn more: https://help.heartbeat.chat/en/articles/5905906-customize-your-onboarding
Manually Add Members to Groups
Admins can add manually add members to a group from Settings > Manage Groups.
Click on the 3 dots to the right of the group name to Manage Members.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I add subgroups?
How can I add subgroups?
To add a subgroup, go to Settings > Manage Groups. Find the group you want to add a subgroup to, and then click on the 3 dots to the right to Create Subgroup.
You can also make an existing group a subgroup by clicking on the 3 dots to the right of the group name, and then Move.