This article is for those who do not know how to create and properly design a community on VK. It also discusses the main settings and functions of communities.

Starting with creating a personal profile on VK

Just like on Facebook, you cannot create a public page or group on VK without a personal profile, so let's register:

After registration, go to the "Communities" tab and click on the "Create Community" button. In the desktop version, it is named as such, and in the mobile app, you need to click on "+".

1. Business — a page for publishing current company news, information about provided products or services.

2. Thematic community — suitable for publishing news tailored to a specific topic or media.

3. Brand or organization — for promoting a narrowly focused product, as well as educational institutions or charitable foundations.

4. Interest group — a community for like-minded people. For example, for game fans or Persian cat owners. Groups can be:

• Open — anyone can find it in search and join.
• Closed — can be found in search, but you can only join by invitation or by submitting a request.
• Private — cannot be found through search, and you can only join by invitation from the admin. No one but members and invitees can see this group.

5. Public page — aimed at bloggers, opinion leaders, and well-known personalities.

6. Event — works well to attract people to a training session, music festival, or other event. Event pages can also be open and closed, like groups.

Designing a community on VK

Page name

It should convey the essence of what you are doing. Keep in mind that users will find you by name. Therefore, if you operate in a specific region, be sure to indicate this in the name and do not make it more than 48 characters.

The category list is extensive — start typing a keyword, and the system will suggest matches. If the desired theme is not found, specify one that is close in meaning.

If you want to change the type of page, requalify the group into a public page and vice versa (this does not apply to events). Only the community creator can use this function and only once per month. Changes will appear after confirming the number linked to the creator's page.
In the changed community, members, wall posts on behalf of the community, and some materials (photos, videos, audio recordings, discussions) will be saved.
There is one nuance when converting a group with 10,000 members or more to public pages. Group members will not see the community in their profiles. To have the group appear in their "Interesting Pages" block, members will need to unsubscribe and subscribe again. ### Website link

If you have a website, indicate a link to it — subscribers will see this information on the page. If there is no website, leave the field blank and complete the page creation.

Community description

It is located in the profile header under the cover. The information is visible to everyone, even if the community is closed. This text is treated by search engines as a description tag, which is used to describe web pages and index them in search systems. Therefore, try to use key queries in this text that users can search for you on Yandex or Google.

The button will be shown at the top of the community and simplify interaction with users. Using it, a subscriber can perform a specific action: send an email, call by phone, call in VKontakte, open a website, open a mobile application, open a community application.

Avatar

To upload a profile photo, click on the “Upload photo” button in the upper right corner.

This is the image at the top of the page. The cover can be designed in various ways — there is room for experimentation. Most often, it features the company name and brand message or information about a promotion/event. Cover size is 1590×400 px.

In the mobile version and applications, the cover is not fully displayed, but at a size of 1196 × 400 px. You need to make indents: 85 px from the top and 140 px on the sides for correct display. Place the most important information closer to the center so nothing gets cut off on mobile devices.

Formats: resolution 1080×1920 (vertical), others in 9:16 ratio. For video — mp4 (H.264 AAC codec) 15–60 frames per second. Video duration — up to 30 seconds. Photos and videos must not exceed 20 MB.

Learn more about this and see examples of live covers in the VK for Designers community.

Additional information in settings

Provide all contact details: phone, address, date of company founding. You can also set up post republication in Twitter, give subscribers the opportunity to propose news, and set age restrictions for the group.

All of the listed items, except the avatar, can be changed both from a computer and from the VK mobile app. On a computer, go to "Management" → "Settings". In the VK app, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner and go to the "Information" section.

In the desktop version of VK, you can specify an address. Users will see your location on the map and working hours.

In the menu, you can structure information in the community and set up navigation.

First option: create a menu using wiki markup. This is an alternative to HTML code. Using VK wiki pages, you can create and format articles, add illustrations and videos to them, create landing pages, and also design a community navigation menu. The main advantage of this method is the ability to add links to external sites, not just to VK.

You can learn about how to connect the markup and how to use it on the official VK page.

Add links to articles, albums, products, important records. Limitation to 7 links excluding applications. The menu is displayed on all platforms: in the web version, mobile, and VK application, but it can only be set from a computer. To do this, go to the "Management" → "Menu" section.

In the settings under the "Sections" tab, you choose blocks that subscribers will see on your page, designating the main and secondary among them. The main one will be shown at the very top, and the secondary below.

If you pin a post or set a widget (which we'll talk about later), these blocks move down.

This is where the "Products" feature is activated if making an online store on VK.

Detailed information on the operation of this section can be read here.

When setting up the product section from the mobile application, you choose the currency, contact for communication, and delivery region. Products need to be uploaded from a computer.

• Mailings.
• Tests.
• Donations.
• Applications.
• Questionnaires.
• Product store.
• Order status.
• Quotes.

What does "Verification" mean in settings

Verification is a checkmark next to your profile. It means that there is a real person or organization behind the community. Verified profiles are ranked higher in search results and inspire more confidence in the audience.

• you are the creator of the community;
• login confirmation function is enabled;
• community type — open group or public page;
• the community has a photo and description filled in;
• the community was created more than three months ago;
• it has more than 100 members.

The official VK instruction on how to apply for verification can be read via the link.

Links

With this section in the settings, you can add links that will be displayed in the desktop version on the right side, and in the app — in detailed information.

Notification settings

In the "Messages" section, you enable or disable the ability to write to you. From the computer, you can set up a welcome message that will be sent to everyone who writes to you and enable the message widget.

"Members" block

• Here you choose who will see the list of members — everyone or only managers. If the member list is hidden, then from community members, subscribers will only see their friends and subscriber pages will not show that they are part of your community.
• You can add admins to manage the group. To add other managers, they must subscribe to the community.
• Users violating community rules can be added to the "Blacklist" to block them.

Chats

In the desktop version, you can add chats to the community where members can communicate, ask questions. More about this feature can be found here.