If You Build it, They will Come
Imagine if Terence Mann was talking about motorcycles in Field of Dreams.
"These [roads], this [sport], is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."
Communities have the power to bring people together and to provide valuable information about local routes from those who actually ride them. With REVER, you can take control of those routes and inspire your friends or a much larger audience. We're not just using our imaginations. We use REVER Communities to share routes for several events including Get On Adventure Fest in the Mojave Desert and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
We know that crowdsourcing rides is not going to replace the need to add more content. While Butler Maps Road Recommendations, BDR routes, and other curated rides in Discover include some of the best places to ride on a global perspective, Communities are the key to unlocking the best places enjoyed by locals wherever you find yourself. Here’s how you can get started.
Join a Community
In the App
1. Go to the Participate tab
2. Scroll down to the map
3. Click the display preferences icon to the right
4. Toggle Communities and select Display to save settings
5. Click Display and zoom out on the map until you find Communities near you.
6. You can also find Recommended Communities below the map. Click View All to search for a community by name >
7. Locate a community and click the thumbnail
8. Click Join Community
On the Website
1. Go to Communities at the top
2. Search for a Community by name
3. Select Join to become a member of a Community. If it is private, you will need to Request Access and an admin will need to approve you on their side
4. Once you’ve joined a Community you can see Featured Rides, which are the rides added by the Community Administrator(s)
5. Below that, you will also find Recent Rides tracked by other members as well as Info including a leaderboard, members and community events
6. If you go to the Members tab you can see who else has joined and request to be friends - the leaderboard is helpful if you want to see who is most active
7. Community Events are a great way to help promote them and they are searchable in the Participate tab in the app
Create a Community
Creating your own Community can only be done on the website.
- Select Communities from the top of the page
- Hit the Create New button on the upper right
- Fill out the name, description, and all necessary fields. Your avatar should be a square image and the banner will be a wide image.
Pro Tips:
- If you have regularly scheduled meetups, set your meeting spot as your location and put the details in your description. You can also link to a website to provide more information.
- If you host bike meetups that are more spontaneous, Community Events are a great way to help promote them and they are searchable in the Participate tab in the app.
Get by with a little help from your friends
If the thought of sourcing rides for your community is overwhelming, we suggest you lean on your friends. You can add them as admins on your community page so they may upload rides, or they can send you rides to be saved and edited to suit your community need.
That's exactly what I did with some folks you may know. With the help of RevZilla's talented media hosts Ari, Jen, Lance, Spurgeon and Zack we created Common Tread: The Rides. You can now experience the rides you read about on the Common Tread Blog.
Promote Your Community
Once you’ve created the community, spread the word. You can invite people via REVER, Facebook, or email. You can also share a deeplink from your website or send it in a text message. From the community page in the upper left box select the vertical ellipse or Invite Friends to This Community > then select how you want to share your invite.
Simple, yet Effective
We are always imagining how to improve communities and have some updates in progress, but in their current form communities are a simple idea with a potential to reach a large audience or just provide a canon of rides for your private group. Your community can be set up to suit your goals. Reach out to us at support@rever.co with any questions.
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