Cultivating a community is an important goal for influencers and marketers alike. Discord, with its 196.2 million active monthly users, facilitates community by providing a forum for discussion and sharing of media. Discord allows an influencer to create a community based on their niche. Discord was originally created to serve as a social platform for gamers to play together from around the world. That’s still Discord’s main function, but plenty more enthusiasts of music, art, sports, or any other niche use the platform now.
Benefits of Discord for influencers
A Discord server is another name for an online chat room. Anyone can create a Discord server for any topic they please.
Many influencers create Discord servers as monetized features that their top fans can join. It can often be part of a YouTube channel membership or Patreon subscription for followers who want even more than is offered on public platforms such as Instagram.
Servers are organized into channels, which are subtopics contained within the overall Discord server. The Twitch chat of a popular streamer can be chaotic; hundreds or even thousands of people are commenting all at once. Discord’s channels – split into categories of text, voice, and video – help break up the conversation into each topic of conversation. Plus, users can message each other directly for more intimate conversations.
Text channels allow for text and images only, similar to a traditional chat room. Voice channels function similarly to real-time podcasts. Press the voice chat icon and say what’s on your mind — anyone tuned into the channel will hear you. Video channels allow for group video chats, similar to Zoom.
Some social platforms contain some of Discord’s features, but few combine all of them in the way that Discord does to promote thriving and active real-time communities.
How top influencers use Discord
Some of the top influencers on social media use Discord to convert their fanbase into a community. A Discord server can give followers a more direct connection to the influencer, and an influencer can gain ideas and inspiration from their community.
One of the most popular influencers using Discord to connect fans is TommyInnit, a British YouTuber with more than 17.4 million subscribers. Tommy is a gamer who often plays Minecraft or Roblox. Tommy’s Discord server provides a place for his followers to chat. It also features a leaderboard for his followers to track where they stand as they play independently.
Non-gaming influencers also use Discord to build a community of followers. TikTok creator WhyDee, with more than 500K followers, invites followers to “CharvaCord,” his own Discord server where followers discuss topics and share photos and videos. WhyDee is an entertainer with large followings on multiple social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitch and YouTube.
A common way influencers use Discord to maximize value is to tie it to a YouTube channel membership or Patreon subscription. A Discord server allows an influencer to promote a notion of exclusivity, with a paid subscription allowing close access to exclusive content or opportunities to interact.
Patreon makes this easy, with the option to integrate Discord into a Patreon site. Server hosts can assign roles in the Discord server in accordance with subscription tiers. This allows any influencers to manage access to the Discord server and easily change how subscribers access it.
Influencers can also monetize directly within Discord with Server Subscriptions. Discord allows server hosts to add monetization features such as paid access to exclusive channels, premium emojis, or exclusive or early access to content.
Setting up your influencer Discord server
First things first — create your server. Once you’re set up, verify your server like on any other social platform.
Next, create your channels. At the start, your community will be quite small, so you don’t want to create too many channels. Each channel should be somewhat active.
From there, add moderation tools to ensure your server functions smoothly, even when you’re not looking at it and moderating it yourself. There are two ways to accomplish this.
- Add a moderation bot. A bot, such as MEE6 can send welcome messages, automatically assign user roles, and set criteria for unwanted content. For example, if you are a family-focused influencer, you likely don’t want users cussing on your channel. If a swear word is detected, a bot like MEE6 can automatically warn or kick the user from the channel. Using bots helps you create an active atmosphere within your channel while keeping things clean at the same time.
- Add individual human moderators. Bots are good, but bad actors know how to circumvent them to post unwanted content. Getting a few moderators from different time zones to help is essential as your server grows. It’s the same as on Twitch — all big streamers have at least one moderator active while streaming. The good news is that dedicated followers are sometimes willing to volunteer as moderators free of charge.
At this point, your Discord server is set up and ready for action.
Harnessing Discord to connect with fans
To populate your Discord server, promote it across your accounts on other social media platforms. We recommend plugging it directly within your content at least once. Also, be sure to include links to it in the bios of your social media profiles and the descriptions of content releases, such as YouTube videos.
Users will start to join. Suddenly, you’ve created a brand new avenue to promote your content. Imagine you release a new YouTube video. On Discord, you can make an announcement telling fans about the video. With this approach, you guarantee more eyeballs on everything you post, leading to more engagement and exposure.
Discord channels shouldn’t be purely promotional, though — take the opportunity to interact with fans directly as well. Pop into your channel to converse in a general sense. Followers are more interested in an influencer’s channel if they see the show’s star is participating. Direct participation increases the value of your community and makes it more likely that followers will check in to see what’s new.
Discord isn’t the same as other social platforms. Its influencer appeal revolves around its community-focused approach. Create a channel, promote it to your existing followers, and watch it grow. As long as you can take the time to properly set up and maintain your server, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.
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