Discord for Brands

While plenty of companies these days are trying to figure out the best TikTok or Clubhouse strategies to connect with their target audiences, one of the leading digital communications apps in the last few months has actually been Discord.

While the platform was exclusively used by gamers up until a year ago, over the last year Discord has boomed in popularity with the pandemic changing consumer media habits. This is especially true with the youngest generation of consumers more than any other group.

The platform now has about 140 million monthly active users, yet aside from brands in the gaming industry, few others have made their way on the app. However, that’s going to be changing soon, with many companies becoming more adept at shifting to new platforms that are attractive and popular with their audiences.

Although gamers are still the main group of users on the platform, these days, Discord boasts big communities around many other subjects, such as music, fashion, beauty, coding, and more.

Initially, Discord was launched as a platform that allows gamers to communicate with each other via audio while playing games and streaming. However, it evolved into a space where people can convene in groups to discuss topics of interest.

It has a similar feature to Slack’s Channels, where users can create different servers and channels around different topics. The platform also recently launched its own Clubhouse-like feature, where users can tune into different audio conversations and chat.

Although Discord hasn’t started selling ads yet, brands have plenty of potential benefits because of the platform’s focus on building and nurturing tightly knit communities.

The platform is all about people coming together around similar interests, and for companies that means many people that support a brand can join in and hang out with other people that also support the same brand.

A number of companies have already started testing out Discord organically, with the coding company Kano, creating its own public Discord server. The server started as a place where users could ask questions and get answers from the company, but it quickly evolved into a space where kids, teachers, and parents who use Kano’s products communicate with each other too.

A number of other brands have also joined in on testing out the platform for their own communication strategies by joining some of the existing public servers. Additionally, a number of companies have already hosted thought leadership conversations and worked with influencers to drive conversions within specific communities.

When it comes to these types of strategies, the key is for brands to not sound like brands.

The best way to go about doing that is to first join the platform to listen to other people–more specifically, to consumers and what they’re saying about a company. Then, those conversations and insights can be used to guide a company’s own server creation strategy. After that, companies can create their own servers, get moderators, and invite consumers to join in, hang out and discuss the business or its products and services.