We have already talked about how to create a VKontakte group, now you need to correctly arrange it. First impressions cannot be made twice, and that is what the community design is responsible for.

In this article, we will show you how to style the group header, add basic information, customize the menu and other sections that will increase the page performance.

Read also: How to promote a VKontakte group from scratch

How to beautifully and correctly arrange a VKontakte group

Dimensions of the main elements for decoration

The VKontakte platform for business is developing and is constantly releasing add-ons for groups. If earlier it took a few minutes to create a group – I came up with a name, typed in a description, put a link to the site and uploaded a couple of pictures, now everything is much more complicated. The design of the entire community as a whole needs to be done very carefully so that it fulfills its main goal. In particular, for business, this is sales, for thematic publics – the interest of advertisers.

Next, we list recommendations for the size and format, the main elements that can be used when designing a community in VK:

• community name – any text in any language, no longer than 48 characters, you can use emoji;
• group description – no more than 4000 characters (when ranking a group in search engines, it is taken into account as a description);
• avatar – the minimum size is 200×200 pixels, the maximum size is no more than 7000 pixels on each side. You can use JPG, GIF or PNG images;
• cover – the minimum size is 200 pixels in height and 795 in width. The recommended image size is 400 × 1590 pixels. Formats – JPG, GIF or PNG;
• community live cover (for mobile) – videos or pictures with a resolution of 1080 × 1920. Duration no more than 30 seconds, file size up to 30 MB.
• group menu;
• action button;
• Contact Information;
• pinned message – any post with video, photo, poll, gif, etc.
• other sections and elements as desired;
• applications and widgets.

Community Description

Description is the text that users see immediately when they visit the group. Its purpose is to interest. It is necessary to correctly and interestingly describe what the group is. In the design of the text, you need to pay special attention to the facts about the group, than it is useful for a person. As an enhancement of the effect, it is better to separate the information using emoji…

Also, in the description, you can specify links to your sites, social networks or other VKontakte groups.

How to add or change a description

In the side menu of the group, go to the “Management” section.

We fill in the section “Community Description”. If you later need to edit the description, follow the same algorithm.

Avatar

Avatar – picture, photo of the group. This is the first thing that catches your eye. Ava is seen by people on the top left of the post in the feed and when visiting the community page. It is better to make an avatar in such a way that even in a reduced form it is distinguishable and recognizable. Like Colonel Sanders, for example.

There are many online services and applications now that can create a beautiful group avatar for you.

• AvaMaster – upload a photo (or company logo), choose from the options presented.
• Vk Profi – allows you to create all the basic graphic elements for the design of communities and public pages.

How to set or change an avatar

To put or replace a group photo, you need to go to the community page, hover over the current avatar and select “Update photo” in the menu that appears.

A window will open in which you need to click “Select file” and upload the desired image from your computer.

Cover for the VKontakte group

Community home cover

Cover a relatively young element in the design of communities. It allows you to replace ordinary avatars, makes it possible to dream up with the design. The group becomes brighter and more attractive.

To put a cover, go to the community management and click “Add” opposite the corresponding item and upload a picture.

For example, it may look like this:

Try to place the most important information in the center, so that when viewing a group from different devices, the information on the cover is not cut off. Also, you can add additional text tips: “Join the group” or “Go to the site.”

More on the topic: How to create a beautiful cover for a group in VK

Community Live Cover

Also, you can make a cover that will only be visible to group visitors from mobile devices and mobile application users. Such a cover is called “Community Live Cover” or dynamic.

To make a live cover, you need in the same section where we set up a regular cover, scroll a little lower and add vertical images or videos.

Such a cover will allow you to work more effectively with an audience that prefers to watch social networks from smartphones.

More details: How to make a live cover in a group in VK

Pinned post

After the appearance editor of articles in VK, no need to worry about wiki page markup – make cool stuff and pin it to the very top of the page.

To pin the desired material, click on the three rounds in the upper right corner of the post plate and select “Pin”.

Group menu

In the group menu, you can put links to applications that are tied to the group, as well as to any other pages within the social network. It is prohibited to post links to third-party sites and social networks. If you have a thematic community, then in the menu you can make buttons for subscribing to a newsletter, test, community chat or competition. Check out how the menu at Snob magazine is designed.

In the case of a commercial group, in the design of the menu it is better to use links to sections that can be useful to potential customers. The Vkontakte for Business community offers to go straight to business pages or launch an advertisement from the menu.

To customize the group menu, go to the control section, then “Settings – Menu” and add the necessary links.

To create beautiful icons for the menu, use the free service VKmenu or SMMBullet.

Installing and configuring the welcome widget

Personal greeting. Next, let’s figure out how to set up a greeting, for each visitor a group by name. For this we need an application SpykatWidgets… After going to the widget page, click on “Connect Community”.

Next, select the community to which we want to connect the widget.

Now we need to configure the display of a welcome message, for this we return to our group and in the right column, click on the icon of the newly installed widget.

A window will open where we click to create a widget and proceed to select a greeting option. There are currently 3 variations available:

• text;
• personal – with an avatar;
• and on the cover of the community.

We recommend staying on the 2nd option, since the first is less noticeable, and the last one can also go unnoticed, because it looks, simply, like part of the picture.

In the end, it only remains to fill in the name of the widget, the text on the button, etc., as well as save and enable the created widget. If one widget is not enough for you, then see our selection of 10 most useful and interesting widgets for a group in VK…

Secrets of the design of selling communities in VK

As a bonus, we share the secrets of the design of the VK group and our experience, which will allow us to make the design at an advanced level. For example, you can customize a beautiful block from various applications that will increase engagement.

Free Apps. Go to Community Management and go to Applications to edit your settings.

Here you can choose to add an application that will add to the functionality of the group. For example, as in our group, there is a button “Support the community”, by clicking which you can donate for the benefit of the community any amount from 100 rubles. It can also be a product store, a questionnaire, tests, online chat, newsletter subscription, and more.

Other useful widgets and apps:

• questionnaires;
• tests;
• registration for services;
• chat;
• sending messages;
• store of goods;
• etc.

Community links. Links are located in the right column relative to the community wall. Here you can put links to sections of the site or to certain services, indicating the price and call to action.

Action button. In the group settings, configure the action button, this will help motivate users to take the desired action. Using this button, you can direct visitors to the site, to the application and to a quick call to the phone or via VK. You can configure it in the first window, after switching to community management.

Additional design elementswhich can be used:

• Article section – the block in which your latest articles are shown;
• Address and opening hours – mandatory for commercial communities;
• Community QR codes – can be used offline;
• Podcasts, discussions, photo albums, videos, events.

Conclusion

If you want to successfully promote a group in VK, then be sure to take time for its correct and beautiful design. The more thoroughly you approach this issue and think over all the scenarios of user behavior after going to the group page, the higher the conversion to a subscription, and later to a purchase.