First Steps to Building Your Salesforce Experience Cloud Site

When it comes to setting up a Salesforce Experience Cloud site, there's one key move you absolutely have to make: you need to enable Digital Experiences! Think of it as laying the foundation for a house; without a solid base, everything else just won’t stand strong. You know what I mean?

Enabled Digital Experiences are essential because they open the door to the wide array of features and functionalities that Experience Cloud offers. This platform is designed for engaging your external audiences—think customers, partners, and community members.

But wait, let's back up a little. Picture this: You’re excited about creating a new community hub to connect your users. You’ve got all these ideas whirling around in your head—maybe it's a place for product feedback, technical support, or even just a social space for clients to interact. But without enabling Digital Experiences, you’re pretty much looking at a blank canvas with no paint in sight. Nothing’s going to happen until you flick that switch, right?

Once Digital Experiences is turned on, that’s when the magic starts. You unlock templates, themes, and those snazzy components that’ll make your site not just functional, but also aesthetically pleasing and engaging for users. Imagine scrolling through a beautifully designed community page where users can interact seamlessly—now that’s what we’re aiming for!

Now, after you’ve activated Digital Experiences, you can move on to additional configurations. You might want to create permission sets—just a fancy way of saying who gets access to what on your site. Or you might consider activating specific features that align with your organization’s needs. Maybe it’s about registering person accounts to create a richer user experience. But remember, all of these options hinge on that first, vital step of enabling Digital Experiences.

So, if you’re on the path to building a successful public sector community or any other type of external engagement site, don’t overlook that important first step. Just like you wouldn’t start painting walls before building a sturdy frame, you don’t want to get too far into your plans without enabling Digital Experiences. It’s where the journey begins, setting you up for long-term success.