How to be good at Discord.
What’s the best discord community? No. Seriously. I'm asking.
As I watch GQ build out a Discord community I’m struck by what a neat idea it is. Arguably, trad media, particularly the glossies owned by Conde Nast et al, didn’t do as well of a job with social media as, say, they could have. And you can see why. Giving up control of your audience and monetization to, say, Facebook/Meta, is a bit scary.
But in hindsight, they had a lot to lose. Influencers on “the gram” are essentially today’s glossy magazines. They do content creation, editorial voices, paid advertising, and, thanks to the joys of affiliate marketing, basically one click (but kind of not, wtf LIKEtoKNOW.it) your influenced buying. I would say 30% of my purchases in the last year were directly influenced by @courtneygrow. Much much much more fun than reading Vogue.
Vogue’s own content, by the by, is still curated via a glossy, centralized group POV, far from the one:”one” voices we now expect. And with the ascendance of TikTok, a supposedly more real/less curated platform, (though that seems hardly to be the case now after MomTok blew up), I don’t think consumers will abide by a monolithic editorial POV for much longer.
Back to GQ and their Discord. It’s a great way to do what magazines do. Surface ideas, trends, and imagery, to their fans. But as expected in a postWeb2 world (or what others have called Web2.5), it’s community-first. There’s a monolithic voice but there are also individual editors shilling their POVs to their “frens” (just learned this term is offensive? Is that widely known?)
Beyond GQ which is obviously a content creator first and foremost, most people are in Web3 to make money. Gucci is, widely and not without reason, lauded for their Web3 efforts, and their Discord is mostly asking when can we get the next drop. Cool that they are keen but community it ain’t. Maybe I shouldn’t have been asking what makes a good Discord and should've asked what is “community?” Too late now.
So anyway, I’m no degen but, as you all know, I’m a marketer. And I’ve heard about a billion Web3 “experts” say building a real community is absolutely key to your project. But I’ve never understood exactly what they meant. Is it well-moderated? Full of quality content from the project? Quality content from the members? Does it lead to IRL interactions? Or virtual interactions? And I wondered if other marketers also wondered this….
So some of my base knowledge is below. Some unofficial polling has led to very limited responses. Either people don’t like me or there’s not much consensus.
Keep it social, stupid. Approach Discord like it’s social media meets Slack and define your goals as such. It’s social media because brands can own a branded channel, share news, and connect with consumers. But it’s also very much like Slack and a continuous feed of mostly nonsense. There’s also unique, fun functionality, like streaming gaming channels and communal radio.
Keep your channels tight. Enough channels to be useful not too many. Discord is already pretty overwhelming, even on desktop, and scrolling all around contributes to this. Not to mention, it spreads conversation too thin. Additional channels should be driven by demand, not supply.
To Drive is an action verb. Like social media, you’ve got to drive engagement conscientiously, not by some summer intern who has no KPIs or experience. You want a good mix between UGC and brand content. Run giveaways and prizes. Test and learn which content themes are interesting for people.
Figure out your purpose. Why should people want to be there, both from you and from their friends. Make this clear and desirable. If it’s neither, don’t make a Discord.
Assign moderators. Disclosure, I copied this from someone else’s guide and at first I was like, Um. Ok. Duh. But You have to be as much in as Instagram or Twitter. It’s a 24hr a day direct line.
Be thoughtful with your rules. Playboy’s rules, as you’d expect, are very robust but also give you a sense of the brand. Number one is Don’t be an a$$h*le. Good life advice. People won’t really read the rules though, so you want to set the tone, but quickly get to the point on your most important requirements.
Give opportunities to play with your brand. Playboy has #derabbitives where people attempt to make funny memes with the bunny. Gucci and the 10KTF project gave a new utility, Guccifying your PFP. Decentralization meets creativity.
Appeal to people’s vanity. GQ has a channel called #fit-check. Gq share your style. People flexing their “lewks” and their watches. But back to number 3, this is where editors come in. The fans love great street style. But, not everyone has great style. Finding that balance between legitimately good content and openness is key.
I am still soliciting people’s opinions on the best discord channels and why. Hit me up.
Or share this newsletter with all your friends and colleagues and maybe they'll hit me up with their preferred channels. A girl’s gotta dream!
(image h/t Christian Reza)