How to implement Salesforce Communities

Salesforce Communities is now considered as an important requirement that helps businesses to establish connection with their customers, partners as well as employees. Specific communities are created within the Salesforce communities that are tailored to satisfy the varying requirement of the customers and thus help in easier sharing of the information.

Companies can significantly reduce the costs with Salesforce communities at the same time also helps in increasing customer engagement by listening to the customers who are the driving force behind the growth of businesses.

This article explains the steps that companies have to follow in the successful implementation of Salesforce communities.

Enable the Salesforce Communities

This is the first step in achieving a successful implementation of Salesforce communities. Before enabling, check whether your company has the Communities License which can be identified by navigating to the Setup tab and clicking Company Profile>Company Information. Go through the Licenses listed at the bottom of the page. If you have the Communities license, then navigate to Customize>Communities>Settings and click the option denoted as ‘Enable Communities’. Create a unique domain name and a unique URL for the Salesforce Communities by checking on the availability for whether the same name is used by any other businesses.

Community Creation

This is the second step in sdfc communities implementation in which a Salesforce community is created. Enter the name of the community within the name column and then enter a description within the description space. Once done, the customized URL then has to be entered next to the URL option. Choose the ‘Create’ tab once the above-mentioned details are filled. You will now be able to view the Preview page of the Salesforce Community and can be viewed only by the administrators. You can also make any edits while in the preview mode.

Addition of Members

Select the profiles of the members you wish to add in the Salesforce Communities. The permission sets will then have to be defined for allowing certain employee categories to have access towards each community.

Addition of Content

Select the ideal tab that is relevant to the community from the menu other than the Chatter tab which would be the landing page automatically if no other tabs are selected.

Include branding to the community page

Companies can upload the logo, tag line in to header and footer tabs followed by colour selection and thereby extend the company’s branding to the community page.

Login Page Customization

The login options in the sdfc communities page can be customized by allowing customers to make use of Facebook or self-registration, which will allow them to easily sign-in.

Email Configuration

The footer of the email message can be added with the generic email address, company address and branding elements and thus allowing companies to easily customize the email setup for their Salesforce Communities. With this, the basic procedure of setting up a community page can be said to have completed.

Preview

Click on the option that would help switch to Salesforce Communities page from community setup page and check whether the elements are available as the companies wanted it to be.

Feedback

Share the preview with managers as well as executives within the company and get their feed backs before publishing it.

Publish

Take into consideration feedbacks if any and then implement those necessary changes. Once done, click on ‘Publish’ and the Salesforce Communities are said to have been successfully implemented.

Reference - https://www.mindstick.com/Articles/44624/how-to-implement-salesforce-communities