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Part 3 of my series about using Discord for your business.
So, you started a Discord server for your brand. Congrats! Now you need to get members to join your server! In this article, we will discuss a few ways to get people to join your server by utilizing Discord Marketing techniques.
Before we get started, for those who haven’t read my first or second article, Discord servers are private communities that can only be joined if you receive the link. There is a way to make them public and list them as a “Community Server” if you agree to follow the Discord Community Guidelines. Business owners most of the time will want a community server unless they are using it for team collaboration or something similar. Want to know more? Check out my other articles here.
So, how do you promote your company’s Discord server?
Tell Your Existing Clients and Followers
This might be an obvious one, but it’s incredibly effective so it was important to discuss. Most businesses already have some way of communicating or marketing with their clients, right? Whether it’s through snail mail, a newsletter, a blog, social media, or carrier pigeon- you are marketing some way or another.
Use Your Existing Channels.
Don’t just post one Instagram reel saying “We did a thing. Please join.” Be loud about it. Here are some ideas about how you can tell your existing customers:
- Have a newsletter? Send an email about how they can benefit from joining the server.
- Create FOMO through Instagram posts and reels by showing them all the fun things that are currently happening on the server.
- Create a tutorial on how to open a support ticket for people who are new to the platform.
- Run exclusive giveaways and contests on your server and tell your newsletter list or Instagram followers.
- Do a competition to see who can invite the most people.
- Host a virtual event and only have it accessible through Discord, but announce it on all of your channels.
Have a server you want to share? Or are you looking for some fun new Discord Servers to join? Use hashtag #DiscoverOnDiscord when sharing your community on social media.
Place Permanent Invitation Links Everywhere.
By default, invitation links expire after 7 days. Before sharing your link, change the expiration to “Never” and add it to your channels. It should be on your #linkinbio page, website, email signature, etc. Anywhere that you have any of your social media page links, add the Discord Invitation Link.
Remember: People can’t join your server if they can’t find it. Make it easy for them to find.
Get your server in front of like-minded individuals. Drop your servers Permanent Invite Link in the comments of this post!
Add Your Server to Third-Party Server Listing Websites.
There are a few websites out there for classified listings of Discord Servers that are useful when people are looking for new communities to join. Servers featured on these sites are not automatically added when they are marked as community, you do have to request for your server to be featured. The most well-known sites for server listings are Top.gg and Discadia. Best Part? It’s free to add your server to both sites for basic listing and voting or you can pay for a membership for upgraded features.
To list your server on Discadia, you log in to their site through your Discord account and go to your account dashboard. From there, you should find an “add server” or “manage listings” button. Once you start the process, the website will pull in all servers that you own or have admin rights on. Select the server you want to list, add tags, and then submit the listing.
Top.gg is a bit more complicated as you need to add their Discord Bot onto the server before you can list it. However, their site also allows you to bid on advertisement spots to promote your server. Unfortunately, I was not able to complete the registration process on this one due to technical errors after I added the bot so I can’t tell you much more.
With both listing sites, there is a catch to being ranked. Aside from using SEO tactics the most common way to rank high is through voting or bumping your server. To bump the server, you need to run the /bump command on the server for Discadia or the /vote command for the Top.gg bot. They can also be voted/bumped on their corresponding website.
Word of Mouth
If you have a fun, engaging community- people are going to talk about it. They will invite their friends who will invite more friends. It is the quickest way for you to grow your server.
Ways to keep your community engaged:
- Rewards for Engagement
- Contests
- Competitions
- Games
- Virtual Events
- Interactive Bots
- Daily Question/Quote/Poll
The benefit of Discord is it’s more of an informal style of conversation and people can stay completely anonymous if they want to. This helps a lot with getting people involved in the conversation. It’s not as nerve-wracking. People are more inclined to join. Just don’t forget to listen to your users on the things that they like or don’t like! They are the key to increasing engagement!
Discord’s Promotional Features
The last ones I want to touch on are Discord’s built-in features to help you grow your server. The first one is the Discovery feature through Discord. This feature is only for community servers that have reached 1000 users. Once they reach 1k, you can apply to have your server listed on their website to be discovered. This is an alright feature, but it can be difficult for your server to be found. Discord’s listing page doesn’t offer many filters and there are a lot of servers listed.
The last one is the Promo Page. If you turn on Server Subscriptions for your server, you can get a Discord Promo Page which is a one-page website where you can explain the benefits of purchasing a server subscription. However, the only way to find these is if you have the link. They are not listed on Discord’s website anywhere that I can find.
Find What Works Best For You
To grow your Discord server, the best thing is to make people aware that it exists. If you already have followers, get the link in front of them often and get them involved in the community. Choose whatever method you prefer and is easiest for you. Remember you are monitoring a community now so you don’t want to spend all of your time marketing, you need to engage on your new server!
Again, congrats on your new server. Discord is a ton of fun! For those of you who haven’t built your community yet, what are you waiting for? Get started building your server for free today!
P.S. Discord is giving everyone 2 free weeks of Discord Nitro until November 13th! Experience all of Discords features for free by starting today!
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Don’t want to deal with learning the ins and out of Discord, but want your community started ASAP? Or have a Discord related question? Let me help! With over 2 years experience creating and managing Discord Communities I can create a website that is tailored specifically to your community’s needs. Email me today or add me on Discord (username: reddington2995) and let’s chat about your server.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only. The author is not affiliated with Discord or any of the specific bots mentioned. Any views, opinions, or endorsements expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of Discord or the developers of the mentioned bots. Users are encouraged to conduct their own research and exercise discretion when using any third-party applications or services, including Discord and all Discord bots. The author disclaims any responsibility for the actions or experiences of individuals using Discord or the mentioned bots.
