Someone downloads your free guide. It lands in their inbox as a PDF. They skim it, maybe, and then it sits in a downloads folder next to forty other freebies.
They never saw your community. You don’t know where they found you. And there’s no clean way to follow up with the people who grabbed that guide specifically.
That’s the gap.
Most people think of the paywall as the only way into a community. Someone buys, they’re in. But Circle invitation links give you a second door, and when they’re set up well, they don’t just let someone in. They give that person the right access, tag them, and send them straight to the right place.
By the end of this post you’ll know how to build one, how to use it to deliver a free resource, the one thing to check before you share it, and how to let members tag themselves.
What Is a Circle Invitation Link?
A Circle invitation link is a join link that sets up a new member automatically: what they can open, how they’re tagged, and which space they see first.
There are three settings that matter, and every good link uses all three:
- Access group: decides what they can open
- Member tag: decides how they’re labeled
- Starting space: decides what they see first
If you’ve already set up access groups and member tags, you have most of what you need. Invitation links are where those two things start working together. If you haven’t, start with Circle access groups explained and Circle member tags explained, because order matters here.
How Do You Create an Invitation Link in Circle?
Go to Audience, then Invite Links, then New Invite Link. Name it, add a tag, choose a starting space, set the access, and create it.
Here’s the build, step by step:
- In your sidebar, open Audience, then Invite Links.
- Click New Invite Link and give it an internal name. Make it something you’ll recognize in six months, not “Test 2.”
- Assign a member tag.
- Set a custom redirect. This is the starting space, where the person lands the moment they join.
- Choose the access. If a paywall is attached, that lives here too.
- Click Create.
Your new link is ready to copy and share. The three dots next to it let you revoke access or delete the link entirely.
Build in this order: access group first, then tag, then the invitation link. If you try to create the link before the access group and tag exist, you end up backing out and starting over.
What Should You Check Before You Share One?
An invitation link gives its access to anyone who has it, not only the person you sent it to. Treat every link like a key to whatever it opens.
If a link opens your paid spaces, send it privately. Don’t post it on social, don’t drop it in show notes, and don’t paste it into a public thread where it can get forwarded around.
When a link has done its job, revoke it. Anyone who already joined keeps their access, and nobody new can use it. That makes revoking low-risk, so you can do it as soon as a link’s purpose is over.
There’s one kind of link built to be shared publicly. It’s the one I want you to build first.
How Do You Deliver a Free Resource With an Invitation Link?
Create an access group that holds only your free resource, then build an invitation link with that access group, a source tag, and the resource as the starting space.
This is the setup I use most. It’s also how my own free resources get delivered.
Build an access group for the resource only
This is what makes the link safe to post anywhere. If the access group holds nothing but the free resource, the worst thing a stranger can do with the link is get your freebie.
What that looks like:
- A single space inside your community
- A website builder page
- A mini course or a short guide
It doesn’t have to be big. It has to be contained.
Create the link with a source tag and a starting space
Use the access group you just built. Add a tag that says where these people came from, like Free Mini Course. Set the resource itself as the starting space, so nobody lands on a generic home page wondering where their download went.
Put it everywhere you show up
Because the link only opens the free resource, you can share it freely:
- Your website
- Your social profiles
- Podcast show notes
- The end of a YouTube description
Why this beats emailing a PDF
They’re inside your community, so they can see what it’s like in there before they ever pay. You know exactly how they found you, because they’re tagged. And that tag means you can follow up with the right people later, with a workflow, a broadcast, or an invitation to your paid membership.
A PDF gives you none of that.
Who Else Should Get Their Own Invitation Link?
Anyone who joins outside your paywall should come in through a dedicated link with the right access group and a tag explaining why they’re there.
That usually means:
- People who bought a program you sold somewhere other than Circle
- A seat you’re gifting to someone
- Each separate free resource you offer
One link per reason. It sounds like extra setup, and it is, for about five minutes. After that, every person in your community arrives already labeled.
Check the joined count on each link from time to time. It tells you which free resource is actually bringing people in, and who you sent a link to that still hasn’t used it.
How Can Members Tag Themselves in Circle?
Create a public member tag for each type of member, then build an invitation link for each tag with no access attached. Members click the one that fits them.
Public member tags show up on profiles, which helps people find the others like them. You don’t have to apply them by hand.
What that looks like:
- Create a public tag for each type of member: coach, course creator, membership founder, whatever fits your community
- Create an invitation link for each tag, with no access group attached, just the tag
- Share those links in your welcome post or your onboarding, and ask members to click the one that describes them
They click, the tag shows up on their profile, and you didn’t tag a single person yourself. The only thing to get right is the wording of each tag, so members can tell in a second which one is theirs.
Try This Prompt
If you have more than one way people join outside your paywall, this will help you map out every link before you build.
“I run a Circle community for [who it’s for]. People currently join through [list every entry point: free resources, programs sold elsewhere, gifted seats, etc.]. For each entry point, help me plan an invitation link: what the access group should include, what the member tag should be called, which space should be the starting space, and whether the link is safe to share publicly or should be sent privately. Give me the result as a table with one row per link.”
Every Door Should Know Who It’s Letting In
Most communities have one well-designed door, the paywall, and a handful of side doors that nobody thought about. Gifted seats with no tag. Program buyers dropped in with the wrong access. A freebie that never led anywhere.
Access groups decide what people can open. Tags tell you who they are. Invitation links put both to work the moment someone joins.
Start with your free resource. Build it once, share it everywhere, and let it do the introducing for you.
If you want every one of these decisions laid out in the right order, that’s what The Membership Architect inside coCreator Society is for.
Watch the Video
New videos go up every Thursday on Your Community Strategist.
Watch This One
Circle Access Groups Explained
More like it on Your Community Strategist, new every Thursday.
More Like This
Watch:Circle Member Tags Explained. The public and private tags your invitation links will add, set up properly first.
Watch:Circle Spaces 101. The building blocks your starting space and free resource live inside.
Listen:Community At Heart. Every episode on building, growing, and monetizing a membership community, in one place.
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.
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