A member opens your resource space looking for one template. What they get is forty posts in the order you published them. The onboarding checklist from launch week sits under last month’s workshop replay, which sits under a case study, which sits under a swipe file.
They scroll for a minute. Then they message you to ask where it is.
The content isn’t the problem. The space has no signposts.
Circle topics fix that. By the end of this, you’ll know how to set them up, how to name them so members actually use them, and how many a space can hold before they stop helping.
What Are Topics in Circle?
Topics are categories inside a single Circle space. Members tap one at the top of the space and see only the posts filed under it, like the labeled sections of a well-organized bookstore.
Think of them as folders for a space. The space is the room. Topics are the shelves inside it.
They work in any space where posts pile up: a resource library, an event space, anywhere a member is likely to arrive looking for something specific rather than browsing.
It’s one of the simplest features in Circle, and one of the quickest ways to make a community feel professionally put together. Members notice when a space is easy to move around in. They notice faster when it isn’t.
How Do You Add Topics to a Circle Space?
Open the space, click the three dots at the top, choose Customize, and scroll to Topic navigation. Type a topic name, press Enter or click Create topic, then drag topics into order.
There are a few ways in, and which one you use depends on whether a topic lives in one space or several.
Create topics inside the space
This is the fastest route when you’re building one space at a time.
What that looks like:
- Open the space and click the three dots at the top
- Choose Customize and scroll down to Topic navigation
- Type a topic name and press Enter, or click Create topic
- Drag and drop the topics into the order you want members to see them
Each topic you create shows up at the top of the space right away.
Manage every topic from one place
There’s also a central topics area that shows every topic in your community. You can reach it from the manage button inside Topic navigation, or from your home feed: open the dropdown, go to Posts, then Topics.
This is where you’ll end up any time a topic needs to live in more than one space.
Reuse a topic across spaces
Here’s the part that trips people up. If you try to create a topic in a second space with the same name as one that already exists, Circle won’t just add it. It sends you to the central topics area instead.
What that looks like:
- Find the existing topic, click the three dots next to it, and choose Edit
- Select every space where the topic should appear
- For a brand new shared topic, click New topic, name it, and pick its spaces in one go
Say you have a Canva topic in one space and want it in another. One topic, two spaces, edited from one place. That keeps your names consistent, which matters more than it sounds.
Once topics are set, members filter by choosing a topic at the top of the space. There’s nothing for them to learn.
How Should You Organize Topics in a Resource Library or Event Space?
Organize topics around what a member is looking for when they arrive. Sort a resource library by where members are in their journey. Sort an event space by whether something is coming up or already happened.
The setup takes minutes. The thinking behind it is where topics earn their place. Dumping every resource into one space and hoping members scroll is where most communities start, and it’s the habit worth breaking.
Resource library
Sort by stage and format, so a new member and a seasoned one can each find their starting point.
A set that works:
- Getting Started
- Advanced Strategies
- Templates
- Case Studies
A new member taps Getting Started and ignores the rest for now. Someone six months in skips straight to Advanced Strategies. Same space, two different doors.
If you’re building the library from scratch, organizing a Circle resource library covers the space group and space structure your topics sit inside, along with the free Notion template I use to plan it.
Event space
Sort by timing and format, so members can find what’s next or catch up on what they missed.
A set that works:
- Upcoming Events
- Past Recordings
- Live Workshops
- Monthly Meetups
The member who missed the last workshop goes straight to Past Recordings. The one planning their month checks Upcoming Events. Neither has to scroll past the other’s posts to get there.
How Should You Name Circle Topics?
Keep topic names to one or two words, clear and consistent across spaces. “Marketing Templates” works. “Various Marketing Materials and Templates” doesn’t. Topics are navigation, not descriptions.
A topic name sits in a row at the top of the space, next to every other topic. Members scan that row in a second or two. A long name slows the scan down and crowds out everything next to it.
A few habits that keep names working:
- Name the thing, not a description of it. Templates, not Template Resources and Downloads.
- Use the same name everywhere. If it’s Templates in one space, it’s Templates in all of them. That’s what shared topics are for.
- Add an emoji as a visual cue if it suits your community. A small icon in front of Getting Started or your event calendar topic helps members spot it before they’ve read a word.
The same thinking applies inside courses, where the first words members see shape how they move through the content. Customizing course labels in Circle is the course-space version of this decision.
How Many Topics Should a Circle Space Have?
Five to seven topics per space. Fewer than that and they don’t organize much. More than that and the row of topics becomes one more thing members have to read and sort through.
It’s the question I get most about topics, and the answer comes back to what topics are for. They exist to reduce the thinking a member has to do to find something. Every topic you add is one more option to weigh.
With too few, most posts land in the same one or two buckets and the filter barely filters. With too many, the navigation needs its own navigation.
Then put them in order on purpose:
- Most-used first. The topics members open most go at the top of the list.
- Or in sequence. If members move through your content in a set order, arrange the topics to match it.
If a space genuinely needs more than seven, it’s usually two spaces sharing one name.
Try This Prompt
If your space already has a pile of posts and no topics, this gets you a first draft of the structure.
“I run a [type of community] on Circle for [who]. I have a [resource library / event space / other] space with these posts in it: [paste post titles, one per line]. Propose five to seven Circle topics for this space, each one or two words long, organized around what a member is looking for when they open it. Assign every post to one topic, and suggest the order the topics should appear in. Give me the output as a table with post title and topic, followed by the topic list in order.”
Then check the names against how your members actually talk. You make the final call.
Organization Is How Members Feel Looked After
Topics look like a small setting. What they really do is answer the question every member walks in with: where do I find what I need?
When a new member opens a space and sees a short, clear row of topics, they feel like someone thought about them before they arrived. When they see an unsorted feed, they feel like they’re on their own. And a member who feels lost early rarely says so, which is a big part of why new members leave your community without a word.
You already made the content. Topics are how members get to it.
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More Like This
Watch: Circle Spaces 101. Pick the right space type before you start filing posts into topics.
Listen: Why Your New Members Are Secretly Planning Their Exit. What a hard-to-navigate first week costs you.
Watch: How to Create a Distraction Free Resource Library in Circle. The finishing layer once your topics are sorted.
Listen: How to Build a Community Onboarding Process That Sticks. Where clear navigation fits into a new member’s first week.
Keep Going
coCreator Society is where community builders and membership founders work through this together, with the templates, the walkthroughs, and people who are one step ahead of you. Join coCreator Society
If you would rather not do this part alone, Rachel and the team build, migrate, and run communities for founders who need it done properly the first time. Talk to the team
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