What Are the Best Facebook Alternatives? Facebook vs. Mighty Networks

Facebook has been a common option for creating an online community, specifically through Facebook groups. But if you're tired of all the ads, noise, distractions and algorithms, I want to tell you about the best alternative, one that'll help you build a business around your community. It's called Mighty Networks, and it's a cultural software platform that allows you to create your own digital community away from the noise and clutter of social media. In this video, we'll be comparing Facebook Groups versus Mighty Networks to help you figure out where to build your digital community. Let's get started. First, can a network on Mighty do everything that a Facebook group can do? Let's start with the basics. A network on Mighty should look familiar to you and your members. There's a navigation bar on the left and then a content column on the right. You can also create all of the same kinds of content that you can in a Facebook group. Posts can be text, images, videos, files, interactive polls and questions, gifs. And you can create longer form content like blog posts and articles. For each post. Members can tag other members, cheer a post, and have threaded discussions. Members can also save posts so that they can view them again later. Hosts can live stream natively to their Mighty network via desktop Browser or the iOS and Android apps. You can also enable Member Directory where each member can fill out a profile with a bio, pictures and external links. Direct messaging between members and group messaging is also built in. You can also schedule and collect RSVPs to events both in person and online. When it comes to finding your Mighty network, you could set the privacy to public, private, secret or paid. If a Mighty network is set to private, you can also set up a request to join form where people would have to answer questions and be approved before they can join your community. And as I mentioned earlier, Mighty has a fully featured iOS and Android app, so checking in, saying hi, and getting push notifications is easy and convenient. So so as you can see, Mighty Networks has a lot of the same functionality as Facebook Groups, but it also takes things a step further. Having a network on Mighty is like having your own Facebook, not just Facebook group. And because Mighty's focus is on culture and community, it can help you do so much more. To design a network on Mighty, you create spaces which can be organized into collections. Each space you create can be customized with eight different features. So rather than having one Facebook group with a single feed or a single member directory, you you can create an unlimited number of spaces for things like subgroups or private groups, and each of these would have their own feeds and member directories within your Mighty Network. Here are all the features that each space can have. First, you can have a feed, which is where you and your members can create the content I mentioned earlier. This feed would only be accessible to the members who are a part of this space. You can also enable the Discovery feature, which allows you to curate and highlight content so that members could always find what's important. Each space can also have its own member directory, which is really helpful if you're creating groups within your Mighty Network. You and your members can also talk in real time through the chat feature and share images, attachments and links. Next, you can have a single event, which is great if you want to create a space around a signature event or an event series where members can browse an RSVP to multiple upcoming events. If you're on the business plan, you can enable the Table of Contents feature, which is Mighty Network's course feature. This allows you to offer and sell a course, create lessons, have a course curriculum, and upload all kinds of content for each lesson. Lastly, you can enable a standalone webpage, which is great if you'd like to include something like an introduction page, a page describing a new offering you want to sell, or anything that's more about delivering a single piece of content. And spaces can be whatever you want. For example, this Mighty Network is a community for artists looking to build their businesses. There's a space that acts as the main feed where members can post content and then there's also a chat where members can pop in and start interacting right away. But there's also courses like the Artist's Business Toolkit or how to price your artwork. The course space would have a curriculum, but you could also turn on a member directory which would allow the students of this course to connect with each other. Or maybe you want to create something around a big signature event coming up, like a summit. You can create a collection of spaces like a website space with more info and a schedule of events. Or you can create one space and enable multiple features so that everything is in the same place. You can create an unlimited number of spaces within your Mighty Network. So the possibilities really are endless. Now let's talk about charging for access. You can charge for access to your Mighty Network right from the get go. Compared to Facebook group subscriptions, where you need to meet certain eligibility requirements like having at least 10,000 followers on your page, you could charge for access to your entire network and a specific space or a bundle of spaces. Gates can be payments or token based. If you token gate a space. This will require an NFT or tokens in a connected wallet for your member to access your Mighty network or a part of it. For payments, you can choose to charge a subscription or one time fee and you'll also be able to charge in 135 different currencies. Now let's talk about branding and customization when it comes to spaces and the features within them. To you can rename everything. So if you want to call the discovery feature a dashboard, you can do that. You can also reorganize everything and set which feature that members will see first when they enter a space. So if you want to have the events front and center, you could do that or the feed. Same thing. All you have to do is drag and drop. Now, when it comes to branding, there are a lot of options to help you design a look that's cohesive, consistent and fun. You can change the colors and icons and add imagery for your entire Mighty network. And and for each space that you create, you can also add custom links to the navigation bar. So for example, you can link to an e commerce store, a website or your podcast. Also, Mighty Networks integrates with Google Analytics, slack, and through Zapier, you can connect and automate tasks with over 2,000 other applications like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Flodesk and HubSpot. Lastly, you can create a welcome Checklist which is a customizable way to introduce members to your community. The welcome Checklist allows you to easily curate content and features for your members to explore. Now that I've shown you what Mighty Networks looks like, let's talk about two other major benefits to using Mighty over Facebook. First, in a Mighty Network, there are no ads, no algorithms, no distractions, no competition, and no noise. You have full control over the content that is created, shared and seen by your members. So whenever a member logs into your community, they'll only see content that's relevant, inspiring, supportive and real. You're bringing people together who are on the same path towards results and transformation. And with Mighty, you'll be able to design a digital community that helps your members achieve progress. Also, you own your member data. If you're on the business plan, you'll be able to export your members email addresses and sync them with something like an email service provider. There's no data sharing with other companies or having to compete with other mighty networks that are about a similar topic. And lastly, let's talk about pricing. Even though Facebook is free to use, you and your members are paying in different ways like being served ads or having to see random and irrelevant content. Mighty has three paid plans when billed annually. There's the community plan at $33 a month and the business plan at $99 a month. There's also Mighty Pro, which allows you to white label the whole experience so you can have your own app in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. All of Mighty's plans come with unlimited spaces, hosts or admins and members. If you want to be able to create and sell courses, you have to be on the business plan. But from there you'll be able to have an unlimited number of students, courses instructors, moderators and dedicated course communities. So should you choose Facebook Groups or Mighty Networks? A few years ago, Facebook groups seemed like one of the most popular community options. But recently it seems like a lot of people are leaving Facebook and unscheduled outages have prompted community hosts to find alternatives. Even though building on Facebook is free and it's a platform that a lot of people know, the noise and clutter of Facebook always seems to be an interruption. Content that you have no control over is constantly getting in the way between you and your members. This makes it really hard for a group to stay focused, especially when you have no idea what your members are going to see when they're in the process of checking into your Facebook group. And now there's Mighty Networks, which allows you to create something that feels like your own social media platform, but where you're in charge of the whole experience. With Mighty, you can post content to inspire your members. You can also build courses to help your members apply these ideas in their lives. Fully featured iOS and Android apps make it super easy to share updates, watch live streams, participate in chat, and send messages. All of the built in features allow you and your members to share their motivations, perspectives, experiences and daily practices as they work towards their goals. So if you're bringing people together who are on the same path towards results and transformation, like becoming more physically fit, making more money as a business owner, or being more productive, Mighty will help you design a community that's purposeful, productive, motivating and fun. And if you want to learn more about building on Mighty, you can check out this video next. Thanks for watching.