Whether you’re looking to migrate your existing social network or set one up for the first time, odds are you’ve heard of Discord. The platform is usually right up there at the top of most people’s lists when they’re looking for a place to host their community — and for a good reason.
Discord is free and easy to use, and since it’s been around for a while now, most people have at least heard of it. But, before we get into the basics of building a discord community, we need to understand what the platform is and what it offers users.
That latter point is important because while Discord is great for creators looking to build a community, it was created for gamers, so it might not contain all of the features you’re looking for in a social network.
What Is Discord?
If we were to describe Discord simply, we could call it a chat app, similar to Slack. However, that’s just an oversimplification, and there are plenty of ways Discord sets itself apart from the competition.
Firstly, Discord was designed to be as efficient as possible. That’s because it was created to give people an easy way to communicate with friends and organize large groups while gaming.
Like Slack, Discord allows users to host their own servers (basically chat rooms) with customizable rules and options. These servers are also easily searchable. That means whether you’re looking for people playing the same game as you or people who are just into the same topics, it’s all accessible. While these topics were limited mainly to gaming shortly after the platform first launched, you can now find a server and community dedicated to just about anything.
Lastly, one of Discord’s biggest draws is its communication flexibility. Hosts can divide servers into channels — similar to Slack — users can communicate using text, voice, or video. All of this is also totally free.
There are a couple of additional features explained in the next section. However, to sum it all up, many people choose to host their social network on Discord because it’s completely free and gives creators multiple ways to interact with their followers.
Why Use Discord For Your Social Network?
Now that we’ve explained what Discord is, it all sounds pretty great, right? Well, there are some other things to consider before building your community on the platform. These mainly relate to your brand’s goals and what kind of community you plan on building.
The service makes organizing and creating channels on your server easy. Hosts can assign moderators or community managers, reward members, and assign other roles. They can create text, audio, and video-only channels. They can set community rules and a Discord app allows users to access the community from anywhere.
Discord’s biggest draws are its ease of use, communication options, and cost. It does all of these very well. However, the platform bills itself more like a place for friends to hang out than a community for professionals.
For example, there is no built-in monetization option for hosts. And despite its popularity with non-gamers, the platform is still heavily tied to gaming. Many of its voice chat features are specifically designed to allow for more informal conversations, which can be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for.
That said, it all comes down to what you’re trying to do. Do you want a place to interact with followers? A place to build brand loyalty? What about a community sharing tips and job leads? All of these are possible, but some will inherently require more work on Discord because of the inability to offer recurring payments through the platform.
Discord users also tend to be a bit younger, so knowing your audience and if they are willing to join a Discord server is also important. We’ve broken down the pros and cons as follows:
Discord Pros
- Servers and channels are easy to set up and use
- Multiple communication options, including text, audio, and visual
- Hosts can assign roles and moderators
- Discord offers an app
- Free to use
Discord Cons
- Discord has a reputation as a more informal platform
- There are no built-in monetization options
- The user base tends to be narrower than other platforms
Monetization Tools for Discord
Discord is home to people of different passions and some of it comes with an opportunity to sell. However, Discord is just for communication with no option for selling or offering your services.
You can integrate free platforms like Nas.io to solve that. It has a built-in payment processing feature and native online course hosting.
Connect your Discord Community to Nas.io
Here are the steps to connect your Discord community to Nas.io:
1. Go to Nas.io and sign up for a community
2. In your portal, go to “Settings”
3. Under “Chat” choose to connect your “Discord”
4. Add your Discord server and authorize Nas Bot as administrator
5. You will be directed back to Nas.io portal to set up member verification
6. Click “Set up now”
7. Create your Discord role and lock it
After adding your Discord community server, you now have an option to charge membership fees. Members can join and pay through your Nas.io landing page before they hop on the server.
Create Your Discord Community for Free
How to Monetize your Discord Community with Nas.io
Here are other ways to monetize on Nas.io:
- Digital products – you can upload your templates, recipes, cheat sheets, or other resources to the platform and link them to to members who’d like to purchase.
- Online courses – like digital products, you can upload your online courses to Nas.io and organize them into digestible modules. Unlike traditional online courses, Nas.io gives more options to revamp the courses to maximize their potential revenue
- Paid events – create and sell tickets to your members and execute virtual events by integrating Zoom to Nas.io.
- Newsletters – launch newsletter subscription campaigns that you can send from Nas.io using Magic Reach. It’s AI-powered that shows you open rates so you can continue to optimize and send the right messaging to your target.
- 1:1 coaching sessions – members and clients can book straight from your Nas.io landing page where they can find your available time and rates.
To keep track, Nas.io has analytics tools where you can review engagements and earnings from all these offerings. You can see your best-selling products that you can convert into high-ticket sales.
Start Earning From Your Discord Community Today
Building A Discord Community
Now comes the easy part, building a Discord community. Starting your own server is pretty effortless, but remember to include your business name and your logo, so your server will be easy for others to find.
Create a server
To create a server, simply click on the plus symbol on the left side of your screen. Discord will then give you the option to make a blank server or use a template. This part isn’t too important since you will have access to create whatever you like if you choose to go with a blank slate.
Discord will then ask you what you plan on using your server for. You can choose to answer “community” or skip the section.
Next, you’ll have the option to name your server and upload a photo. Remember to incorporate your business name and logo since you’ve already worked so hard figuring out both.
Create channels
Now it’s time to create channels. These act like Slack channels. You can set up a channel for questions, resources, or community discussions.
Discord will also give you the option to limit channels to either text, or audio and video. This is great for making sure people aren’t flooding a channel with audio recordings. On the other hand, you could make an audio and video-only channel for things like introductions. You could also make channels for announcements, contests, or goals.
We should also mention that once your channels are set up, you can go into your settings and enable the community server option. This will give you access to more features.
Create rules
If you enable the community server option, Discord will allow you to create rules for your community. Think of these as simple statements or a small list of rules every member must read and abide by before joining a server.
No matter what kind of community you plan on setting up, you’ll probably want to utilize this feature. It’ll help reassure members that they’re going into a moderated space that doesn’t tolerate things like harassment. You can always go back in later and modify or change rules after getting feedback, but make sure to let your members know when you make changes.
Next, you’ll want to assign roles. You can create roles as you need them, but these basically decide things like channel access, permissions, and the color a moderator’s name appears on the server.
This is where you’ll want to assign community moderators or managers to make sure members have everything they need to get started. If your community is a bit larger, you might also want your community moderator to facilitate conversations, ask for feedback, or manage subscribers for paid communities.
Find like-minded members
Lastly, you’ll want to find like-minded members to join your community. You can advertise your community through things like newsletters or your personal social media accounts.
However, you’ll want to make sure that the people who are signing up for your community are excited to be a part of it. You want people who will start conversations, ask questions, or who are just genuinely excited to be a part of whatever it is you’re building. This is the best way to ensure your community has a strong foundation to build upon.
Conclusion
Building a Discord community is the easiest part of starting your own social network. The hard part is nurturing that community. Don’t be afraid to interact with members through seemingly simple conversations. Your members are there because they enjoy hearing what you have to say and interacting with you.
Ask for feedback, what kind of channel members would prefer, or just share something you found interesting that day.
Remember that Discord is just a platform. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to provide your community with value. You can do this by giving members things like resources, fostering interesting conversations, and meeting one-on-one with members.
Find this article helpful? You can also explore our post for The Ultimate Guide to Managing a Discord Community for more tips.
