Social media marketing has been an integral part of the marketing strategy of modern businesses. With consumers having multiple accounts across different social media channels, brands can reach a wider market and connect with potential customers by being visible on those channels. One platform that is opening new possibilities for brands to grow is Discord.
An April 2024 survey revealed that 56% of US survey respondents between ages 18-64 knew about the brand, with 88% saying they’ll continue using it. This rising popularity underscores the need for brands to tap into the platform to reach a new market. The following Discord marketing strategies will give your brand the boost it deserves.
What Is Discord?
Discord is a voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) and digital distribution platform that enables users to interact with each other through video, voice, and text messaging. Initially developed for gamers, it served as a platform for them to link up with other people and form communities with those who have common interests.
However, since its launch in 2015, it has become the next-generation platform for social engagement attracting users from all other industries. It has paved a way for people to form online communities and create a space where they feel a sense of belonging. Today, you’ll see study groups, art communities, and different clubs on the platform. While most of the users are gamers, NFT enthusiasts, and crypto fans, more online creators from other sectors are beginning to use the platform to turn their followers into a community.
Benefits Of Advertising on Discord
From 130 million users in 2018, the Discord community has grown to over 200 million active monthly users in 2024. It now sees 991 million monthly global visits with users spending 280 minutes per month on the app.
For brands, this presents a wide market that’s highly active and organized. It enables you to widen your reach and reach the right set of audiences.
Discord for Community Marketing
With its capacity to expand your reach and have real-time interactions, Discord is a powerful tool for community building. This, in turn, makes it an excellent tool for community marketing. With it, you can connect your brand to a specific community by:
Creating a server that serves as a central hub for all interactions
Segmenting like-minded buyers into different server channels
Engaging server members by constantly monitoring and interacting with them (community management)
Encouraging members to interact with each other
Through Discord, you can share brand-relevant content with your audience and provide timely customer support to drive user engagement and brand loyalty. Building a community on Discord takes time. These recommendations will help you get started:
Develop comprehensive community rules
Regularly interact with your members
Use branding elements to enhance user experience
Automate rules or assign mods to provide support and create better experiences for users
Discord allows you to bridge the gap between your brand and your customers. It allows you to have impactful conversations, offer value-add experiences to members, and effectively connect with your audience.
Discord pushes communication in a very structured way. Each server has three types of channels: text, voice, and video. Different channels and rooms can be created, with each one serving a specific purpose. Users can then access information per category, making it easy to run campaigns where your target audience is already engaged.
Another appeal the platform has for brands is that it is algorithm free. The platform does not filter posts according to likes, comments, or other engagement metrics. Announcements and messages are listed in chronological order, so all information is visible to users. Whatever content you share will be seen by users on the same server.
With Discord’s continued popularity, especially among younger demographics, pursuing effective marketing strategies will ensure your brand gets the exposure it deserves. Here are 9 Discord marketing strategies proven to work this year.
Proven Strategies for Discord Marketing
1. Create a server to build a community where you can nurture relationships with your consumers.
A community in Discord is called a server where members congregate and agree to follow set regulations. Each server has its own themes, media, and dedicated channels. Whatever industry you are in, the first step in Discord marketing is always to create your own server.
A server is more than just a group that you invite users to join. You can maximize your impact on users by making your brand voice and image apparent in the themes and channels. Keep in mind that most Discord users are community-driven. They are on the platform not just for fun and entertainment but more so for belongingness. So, you’d want to create a server where they feel a connection with your brand and with the other members.
Develop personalized channels based on categories that are relevant to your target audience. What are they interested in? What would give them value? What topics or activities would they enjoy? Align these with your marketing goals.
Right from the start, Discord gives you the option to know more about your server members. You can customize questions that they have to answer to gain roles in the community. These questions can be specific to the information you want to learn about them.
For example, OpenAI has a Discord Server for everyone interested in their products. To gauge the member’s familiarity with the brand, they have three profile options.
Chloe Ting, a YouTube fitness influencer, created an exclusive Discord community for her followers. The server has channels where members can introduce themselves, talk about Chloe’s latest challenges, and gain support on various life issues.
She knows that her audience values physical and personal transformation, and there are multiple channels related to diet, transformation, and fitness.
Ex-YouTube and Instagram employee Jon Youshaei is on a mission to help aspiring creators become better at being YouTubers. He created his YouTube channel and Discord community as a platform to carry out this mission.
In his Discord server, you can see channels where members can submit their YouTube videos, thumbnails, and ideas to be roasted. That’s the community’s way of providing constructive feedback to help each other become better.
Jon also encourages member participation by providing gated content, which you can unlock by earning points from engaging in the community.
2. Collaborate and partner with influencers, celebrities, and other communities.
Many popular gamers, movie stars, athletes, tech moguls, and influencers already have established servers. You can leverage their fanbase to kickstart your own Discord community. A brand partnership can help build hype and accelerate the growth of your own community.
You can collaborate with other channels and do game drops. Flipz, a chocolate-covered pretzel brand, did exactly this. It collaborated with a limited pool of servers and used in-server games and activations to engage users. The commissioned games had users battling against a Discord bot. Winners then got a bag of Flipz as a reward.
Aside from game drops, you can join bigger Discord communities where your target audience can be. Engage in conversations and participate in events. Share links to your upcoming events and invite them to check out your server as well. Just be careful not to spam and abide by each server’s regulations lest you get kicked out or even banned from the platform.
When collaborating, think beyond pushing your products or services. Instead, focus on nurturing relationships and providing value to every community you join.
3. Cultivate a close and exclusive relationship that promotes brand loyalty.
With members gaining access to a server only through an invitation link, Discord already gives servers an air of exclusivity. You can make being part of your Discord server feel like being in an exclusive social club where membership grants holders premium services.
Attract new members to your server by offering access to new experiences. These could be events or rewards limited to those who are part of the server. You can also make your server a place to get the latest promotions, learn trade secrets, or have first dibs on new products.
Some brands schedule giveaways to entice users to join their server and keep it active. Others also offer exclusive content like early access to products and behind-the-scenes footage. Doing so encourages users to join a particular server because they feel like they’re getting better value or perks. Entertainment brands like Marvel, for example, partner with NFT marketplaces to release branded NFTs. Musicians like Grimes and Zedd have also used the platform to engage with fans by hosting remix contests, sharing new music, and hosting events.
Genshin Impact frequently engages players with games and interesting events held right within their server. These mini-events reward players with in-game loot and strengthen the bond among members. It also keeps them invested in playing the game.
They also have a dedicated channel to announce the latest in-game events so players know what to look forward to. Although most of these announcements are links to their social media pages, they still increase server engagement.
Strive to make your Discord server a platform where like-minded people can share knowledge, ask for advice, or give recommendations. Make the members feel they are part of a unique community where both brand and consumer feel valued.
4. Leverage Discord bots.
Discord offers you automated ways to manage your server with the help of bots. They can welcome new users, discuss community rules, and send private chats to members. Discord bots can also help you moderate the server by scanning for violations and implementing corresponding penalties, like banning the user.
Chloe Ting maximizes Discord bots by using one to push her latest YouTube videos to her community. The bot also promotes Chloe’s latest social media posts so members can engage with her on these other platforms.
You’d know it’s a bot because there’s an APP label beside the username. Typically, you need a developer to access the Discord API and create bots for your server. Creating a bot and adding it to a server requires coding skills and familiarity with Discord’s development environment.
However, with Discord’s popularity, there are now companies that provide a customizable and easy-to-use Discord bot for a minimal fee. One example is MEE6, which is used by over 21 million servers. It helps you build your own unique Discord bot even without any coding skills.
You can create the standard welcome commands and introduce personalized commands that align with your brand. The bot can also send birthday messages, run a music quiz, send social alerts, and moderate the community.
5. Host interactive events.
Discord has multiple options for you to host various interactive events to entertain your members. This can be gaming tournaments, live watch parties, exclusive product launches, or virtual meetups.
Events have a certain level of excitement and urgency that will encourage members to actively participate and share their experiences. Different activities can cater to various interests, resulting in a dynamic and engaging Discord server.
Creating an event is as easy as providing its details. Just select Create Event by clicking the dropdown arrow under your server’s name, choose where the event will take place, and provide the details. Members will be alerted about the event so they can choose to join.
6. Foster user-generated content.
Discord is a great platform to showcase UGCs, such as fan art, testimonials, reviews, unboxing videos, and more. You can even run special promotions to recognize the creativity of your community. To implement this strategy, you should create a channel dedicated to user-generated content.
Create rules to guide members on what content is acceptable and use bots to moderate submissions. Genshin Impact has a channel dedicated to users who create fan art of their favorite characters. They also have a channel where you can submit photos of your favorite game moments.
Chloe Ting understands that her audience likes to share their transformation progress and feel validated by the community. So, her Discord server contains channels that regularly accept transformation photos. These entries often coincide with the launch of her challenges.
By encouraging members to share content in dedicated channels, you’re creating a culture of collaboration that strengthens the bonds between your members.
7. Host Live Q&A Sessions.
Since Discord is primarily a VOIP platform, you should take advantage of its voice channels. They offer another layer of interactivity within your server and allow members to connect on a deeper level. You can use Discord’s voice channels to host podcasts and virtual hangouts where members can enjoy a personal and immersive experience.
Hosting live Q&A sessions on Discord offers several benefits for brands, including:
Having complete control over your content
Being able to interact with your server members on a more personal level
Allowing members to interact with each other and engage in group discussions
Leveraging real-time interactions
These Q&A sessions allow you to directly interact with your audience. They help drive engagement with consumers, create a sense of community, and nurture brand loyalty. Lastly, through these sessions, you can gain valuable insights into your audience and use that to strengthen your relationship with them. For instance, through Q&A sessions, you can quickly understand your customers’ pain points and gather feedback to improve your products or services.
Planning to use Discord’s voice channels for Q&A sessions? Here are some tips to help you get started:
Schedule your Q&A session in advance. When scheduling Q&A sessions, make sure to choose a schedule that works for both you and your members. This means considering different time zones and even asking your members about their preferred schedules. Then, tag all members and announce the event on your channel.
Use tiers. Consider using Discord tiers. You can hold Q&A sessions for certain tiers and allow users in such tiers to participate in your event.
Consider using Discord Stage Channels. One of Discord’s special capabilities is hosting a stage channel. This is a channel where one or a group of users are talking while the others are listening. It’s a great way to host Q&As or launch exclusive products. It’s also used for live watch parties since you can video/screen share during the event.
To start a stage channel, click Create a Channel and choose Stage Channel. Assign members as stage moderators, and then create the channel.
8. Implement effective moderation.
Building a successful Discord community requires successfully moderating the discussions within your server. First, you must be able to organize the relevant topics into channels so discussions are effectively guided.
Most brands initially create channels to discuss official topics related to their brand. They then assign one or several channels for off-topic discussions where users can discuss topics that don’t fall within pre-set categories.
Monopoly Go!, a sticker trading game based on the popular board game, has a Discord server dedicated to its players. It has several channels for trading, gameplay tutorials, and various chat topics.
There’s no limit to the number of channels you can create, but be mindful that creating too many may spread the conversation and overwhelm your members. You can start with a few relevant channels and then create additional ones as your community grows.
Another crucial factor is moderating the discussions on the server. Discord has several common rules concerning hate speech, violence, sexually explicit content, and the like. Your server must abide by these terms and conditions so all members are also aware of them.
Discord bots are a great help in catching anyone who’s violating these terms. They can ban a member’s posting privileges and kick out a repeat violator.
9. Consider Discord Ads.
Discord is known for its anti-ads stance, but that has changed with its recent introduction of “Sponsored Quests.” Companies can pay for a sponsored quest to encourage players who are watching a friend’s stream to also play the game. Once the quest is complete, the players will receive in-game rewards.
In May 2023, Discord experimented with the format through its collaboration with Epic Games and Lucasfilm Games. Players who shared the Fortnite gameplay with their friends during the stream were able to earn Star Wars-inspired skin after completing the quest.
However, this advertising format is still in its infancy, and there have been initial reports that gamers aren’t keen on the development and may resort to ad-blocking techniques. For brands who are still new on Discord, the best way to grow your server is to cross-advertise it on your other social media platforms.
Discord is pretty well-known, especially among younger demographics, and you can entice them to join your server by letting them know on other platforms like TikTok that your server exists.
Review Analytics and Adjust Your Strategy
To ensure that your Discord campaigns are effective, there are still a few things you need to do.
Monitor Discord Marketing Analytics. Review your Discord marketing data regularly to get insights into your audience and their activity. Make sure that you’re tracking metrics like engagement rate, growth rate, server activity, and content performance. Doing these helps you make data-driven decisions to improve future Discord marketing campaigns.
Maintain Engagement. The work isn’t over even after your marketing campaign has wrapped up. To continue driving engagement, you must still interact with server members by providing them with updates or holding post-campaign activities.
Continue to Track Interactions. Use Discord server insights to monitor member interactions. You can then use these insights to refine your strategies based on aspects like which content type performed best or what types of content your members engage with the most.
Adjust Your Strategy. Use member feedback and data to modify your campaign strategy. Past mistakes also offer insights into how you can improve your next Discord marketing efforts.
How Brands Use Discord
The most popular servers in Discord are those dedicated to games and anime. Leading the pack are Fortnite, Genshin Impact, and Minecraft. Well-known streamers Mr. Beast and TommyInnit are also at the top of the list.
After Discord expanded its features, more non-gaming users joined the app. Many non-gaming brands have also started to leverage the platform. Here are some of the big-name brands building their communities on Discord today.
Samsung US
As part of its metaverse strategy, Samsung launched its US Discord server. Within twelve hours of the server’s debut, more than one hundred thousand new members had already joined the server. Since then, the company has used the server as a place for fans to interact, discover the latest news, and get exclusive access to virtual events.
The brand frequently hosts exclusive events and giveaways to excite members with the latest Samsung releases. One of their latest giveaway contests required members to engage with the Discord server for five days straight before getting an entry to win the latest Samsung monitor. This is a great strategy to keep the server active and reward highly engaged members.
The Discord server also provides Samsung users with a community of like-minded individuals to discuss the best way to optimize their devices. There are channels discussing photography, device setup, games, and more. There’s also a support channel where users can post various device issues and receive support from fellow Samsung users.
Gucci
It may be surprising to see luxury brands from the fashion industry on Discord, but Gucci has placed its footprint on the platform. Created as part of the brand’s NFT strategy, Gucci Vault is reimagining the way fashion brands interact with their consumers. During its launch, Gucci offered special roles and access to NFT-focused channels to the first 20,000 members.
Jack in the Box
The San Diego-based fast-food chain brings its popular extended opening hours online through its Jack’s Late Night Discord server. The server hosts digital after-parties featuring live music and comic artists. It also hosts giveaways, interactive games, and new menu reveals. It records peak activity on weekends when thousands of users share more than 27,000 messages.
To keep audiences engaged, the brand assigns level roles depending on how frequently a member posts in one of the channels. As your level increases, you unlock various server features like voice channels, external emojis, and file attachments.
Chipotle
In 2021, Chipotle became the first brand to launch a virtual career fair on Discord. Over 20,000 applications were received through the platform. Aside from this, the Mexican fast-food chain also holds other activities, including its Race to Rewards Exchange, where users can win discounts and prizes.
The event has ended, and the server is no longer functional, but it remains one of Chipotle’s most successful brand activations.
StockX
StockX, a real-time marketplace for buying and selling virtually any type of item, saw the potential of having a Discord server early on. Since it also catered to consumers interested in electronic products, collectibles, streetwear, and NFTs