How to create a knowledge hub in your community

In its simplest form, a knowledge hub is a place where people can find answers to their questions. It's a collection of knowledge that is created and maintained by a community or organization. When you are growing a community-driven product, a knowledge hub should be an essential part of your strategy. It allows you to scale your community without having to hire more support staff or community managers.

A knowledge hub can be as simple as an FAQ page or as complex as a wiki. In this article, you will discover a third option: a knowledge hub that is tightly integrated into your community using Pile.

The need for a knowledge hub

The growing flow of questions and answers in a community can be overwhelming. Often, it is the main bottleneck for growth. Hiring more support staff and community managers is not always the best solution. It's expensive, slow, and doesn't scale well.

Instead, you could focus on building a comprehensive knowledge hub. These knowledge hubs are often referred to as " self-service" or "self-help" communities. Self-service communities free up time and space for more interesting discussions. They allow your community to grow more efficiently while also improving the trust of your users in the knowledge you provide.

Problems with traditional knowledge hubs

Traditional knowledge hubs like Stack Overflow and Quora are great for finding answers to generic questions. However, they could have a negative impact on your community.

1. They are stale

Traditional knowledge hubs are often stale. They are filled with outdated information that is no longer relevant. On top of that, they are not controlled by you, which means you can't update them. The best you can do is to add another comment or answer to the question.

A feature, update, or bug fix can drastically change the answer to a question. If the original answer isn't updated, it will become outdated and irrelevant.

2. They are scattered

Traditional knowledge hubs are scattered. The same question can be asked in multiple places, and the answers will be different depending on who answers it. This makes it hard for users to find the answer they are looking for. It also makes it hard for you to keep track of all the questions and answers.

3. They are not searchable

Users have to rely on search engines to find the answers they are looking for. This means that they have to leave your community's conversation to find the answers they are looking for. They might not come back or worse, they might land on the website of your competitor.

Turning your community into a knowledge hub

The solution to these problems is to build a knowledge hub in your community. A knowledge hub that is controlled by you and your community. This knowledge hub is integrated into the platform that your community is built on. Meaning that users can find the answers they are looking for without having to leave their platform of choice.

Since the knowledge hub is in your control, you can update it whenever you want. You can keep track of all the questions and answers in one place. This makes it easier for you to keep the knowledge hub up to date and relevant, which in turn makes it easier for your users to find the answers they are looking for.

How Pile turns your community into a knowledge hub

Pile allows you to automatically save, store and organize all the questions and answers in your community. It allows you to create a knowledge hub that is tightly integrated into your community.

1. SEO friendly

Pile is SEO friendly. It surfaces the most relevant questions and answers in a friendly and public way. This means that the Q&A's in your community can be found by anyone, even if they are not a member of your community.

2. Total control

Pile gives you total control over your knowledge hub. You can update it whenever you want. Any conversation that is saved in Pile can be edited, deleted or moved. This means you can rewrite messages, add new information and remove outdated information.

3. Searchable

Pile is searchable. This means that users can find the answers they are looking for easily. On top of that, Pile's AI can automatically suggest answers to new questions. While users are waiting for an answer, they can browse through past conversations from your community and solve their problem themselves.

Conclusion

Traditional knowledge hubs like Stack Overflow and Quora are no longer the best solution for community-driven products. They are stale, scattered and not searchable.

Instead, you should focus on turning your community into a knowledge hub. Creating a more efficient and scalable way to grow your community.