A member logs in on a Tuesday morning. Same banner at the top of the feed as last month. Same image, same line of copy, same link to a workshop that already happened.
They scroll right past it. They’ve been scrolling past it for weeks.
That’s the Circle welcome banner in most communities: set up once during the build, then left alone. Nice to look at. Doing nothing.
It’s the one spot every returning member sees every time they land in your feed. Here’s how to set yours up, what to put in it, and how to refresh it in about 15 minutes a week so it always tells members what’s happening right now.
What Is a Circle Welcome Banner Actually For?
A Circle welcome banner is the one message every returning member sees when they land in your feed. Used well, it points them to what matters in the community this week.
Most founders treat it as a greeting. I treat it like a billboard every member drives past on the way in. The greeting is fine. The real estate is the point.
What makes it work is the refresh. When the banner changes every week, members learn there’s something new up there, so they actually look. It gives time-sensitive things a place to live, gives your main call to action a permanent home, and means nothing important stays buried for long.
It also helps to know who’s reading it. In my community, a member’s first login doesn’t land in the feed at all. It drops them into my member onboarding workflow, which I set up by automating onboarding with member tags in Circle. Every login after that lands in the feed, with the banner on top.
So the banner isn’t your welcome for brand-new members. That’s the job of your onboarding and a start here space that onboards members. The banner is for the people who’ve been around a while and need a reason to look up.
How Do You Set Up a Welcome Banner in Circle?
Go to your Feed, open the ellipsis menu on the far right, and choose Edit welcome banner. Turn it on for logged-in members, then fill in the media, the title, and the description.
Turn it on for the right members
Circle lets you show a banner to logged-out visitors as well as logged-in members.
What that looks like:
- Toggle on Enable for logged-in members
- Decide whether logged-out visitors need their own banner at all
- Leave the logged-out option alone if your community is private
I’ve never used the logged-out banner for my community type. If your community is open to the public, it may be worth a look.
Add an image or a video
The top of the banner takes either an image or a video.
What that looks like:
- Size images at 1600 by 600 pixels so they display cleanly
- Use a static image most weeks (mine simply says welcome and points to what’s new)
- Switch to a short video when there’s a big announcement or a quick update worth saying out loud
If you’re making a new graphic every time you need one, keep your template in a Notion brand asset template so the banner is one click away.
Keep the title simple
Mine just welcomes people into the community. The title isn’t where you get clever. The description is.
When everything’s filled in, hit Save changes, then Done, and check how it looks at the top of your feed.
What Should Go in the Welcome Banner Description?
Stack it in the same order every week: a line to set the tone, this month’s big push, a few handpicked resources, one must-watch video, and a nudge toward this week’s event.
This is the part I have fun with. Here’s the order I use:
- A line to get people moving. Mine right now is a little mantra: today’s a great day to ditch the overwhelm and make one powerful move forward.
- The big push for the month. Whatever the community is focused on. When I recorded this, it was a challenge, and if you’re planning one, here’s how to run a challenge in Circle.
- Handpicked resources. The ones members are navigating to most right now, so they’re one click away instead of three.
- A must-watch video. Whatever is hot in the community this week.
- This week’s event. A nudge toward one weekly event. For me, that’s usually the coworking session I’m trying to get more people into.
The order stays the same. What changes is what’s in each slot, which is why the update takes minutes instead of a rewrite.
Should Members Be Able to Close the Welcome Banner?
Not if you’re using it as weekly real estate. A banner members can dismiss stops working the first time they close it, and every update after that goes unseen.
Circle gives you the option to let members close the banner. I don’t use it, and I don’t recommend it if you’re treating the banner the way I do.
There’s a reasonable case for it. If you only change your banner quarterly, or you’re running one long promotion, letting people dismiss it can feel more polite.
If you do allow it, reset member close banner preferences every time you put up something new. Otherwise, anyone who closed the old banner never sees the new one, and you’ll wonder why nobody showed up.
What Can You Rotate Through Your Banner Each Week?
Rotate between events, member wins and spotlights, overlooked resources, one clear call to action, new content, milestones, and seasonal offers. Pick whatever matters most that week.
This is the question I get asked most about banners. Here’s what I rotate through:
- Upcoming events or workshops happening in the community
- A community win or a member spotlight
- A valuable resource or area of the community members tend to overlook
- A specific call to action, like joining a challenge or signing up for a workshop
- New content or learning opportunities
- Community milestones and achievements
- Seasonal promotions or limited-time offers
I don’t follow a rigid schedule. I just make sure the banner changes every week, with whatever is most relevant and useful for members at that moment.
Your rhythm can look different. Some founders line banner updates up with their content themes or membership cycles. Others build special banners for launches or big community milestones. Either works, as long as it keeps changing.
Try This Prompt
If you sit down to update your banner and go blank, this gives you a draft to edit instead of a blank box.
“I run a [type of community] on Circle for [who]. Here’s what’s happening this week: [events], [this month’s main focus or offer], [resources members are using most], [a recent video or post worth watching], and [any member wins]. Write my Circle welcome banner description in this order: one short line to set the tone, the month’s big push, three handpicked resources, one must-watch video, and a nudge toward this week’s event. Keep it under 120 words, and give me three options for the opening line.”
It drafts the copy. You decide what earns the spot this week.
A Banner Nobody Changes Becomes Wallpaper
The banner itself was never the problem. Most of them look great. What makes one work isn’t the design, it’s that it keeps changing.
Fifteen minutes a week is enough. Do it consistently and members come to expect that there’s always something new and worth their time at the top of the feed.
That expectation is the whole point. It’s what turns a welcome message into the way your community finds out what’s going on.
Change it on Monday. Watch who clicks.
Watch the Video
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More Like This
Listen: How to Build a Community Onboarding Process That Sticks. What handles a member’s first login, so the banner can focus on everyone after.
Watch: Transform Your “Start Here” Space: Streamline Onboarding for Your Circle Community. The other space members see early, built so it tells them what to do first.
Listen: How to Create a Community Challenge That Works. A monthly push worth putting at the top of your banner.
Watch: How I Hosted a 14 Day Challenge in My Circle Community. The full build behind the kind of challenge a banner promotes.
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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