Even if you’ve heard of Discord by reputation, the title of this article may still be wildly confusing if you’re reading as a business owner and not a gamer. Following its launch in 2015, Discord has quickly become one of the most important community platforms in the world. With functionality for relevant utility, brands are starting to catch the hype. The purpose of this blog is not only to define what it is and how it works, but also to relay the benefits of Discord for business.
What is Discord?
Discord is a social chat, voice and video platform that can be used to its fullest potential on both desktop and mobile devices. Aesthetically, it delights its users with clever UI, funky stickers and a variety of custom emojis. But what really sets Discord apart is its channel capacities. Discord is a place where information can be shared neatly, conversations can be moderated easily and everything has its place, negating the need for unnecessary spam.
Discord for business
Despite Discord’s initial strategy to swoop in to save gamers from more old-school and limited platforms, like Teamspeak, it is growing exponentially as a strategically important platform for business. Why? There are just too many benefits to be ignored.
- A new era of community has dawned – The decentralised world of cryptocurrency and NFTs has taken the world by storm. With a need to manage community, it was natural to turn to Discord. Within this rise, every kind of business owner and brand has noticed how much success is possible with a community-focused strategy in place. Companies that are more in time with their clients and customers are outperforming the ones that aren’t. Currently, Discord both builds and creates a community like no other platform available. Interestingly enough, it was the platform’s early focus on the gaming community that moulded it into the beast of success it is today. The teams behind Discord have learned to turn disjointed chaos into seamless unity by specifically designing and optimising it to unite people who already share common goals and ideas. Discord is good at what it does because what it still does has been at the core of its philosophy since its outset.
- Customer service – Discord allows for a more personal and hands-on customer-service experience that doesn’t have to rely on getting someone on the phone, while still being able to provide jobs. Not only can customers log tickets in this platform, they can also ask questions, receive your news and engage with you directly. In turn, you will be engaged and in tune with them. Plus, the risks of online negativity are best mitigated by a more personal customer service approach.
- Your own ecosystem – This basically equates to being in tune with your clients and customers. Through the strategic use of features like emoji reactions, brands can get the best sense of how potential customers feel about new products, projects and services right from the get-go. Many Discord communities are actively involved in product developments, activations and campaigns. Community managers can quickly and easily capture emotions and opinions through polls and general discussions.
- Relaying information and fixating hype – Once your Discord community has been established, creating hype is one of the most effective ways to retain involvement and capture attention. Dedicated communication channels labeled ‘announcements’, ‘giveaways’, ‘news’, etc are perfect for directing your community’s attention to something specific. It gives them the freedom to decide which pieces of content THEY want to see and engage with, a tactic that seems counterintuitive, but is actually something that people love. All of this together builds a huge amount of trust.
- You can @everyone – Being able to tag every single person in a Discord channel is a very, very powerful tool, if you can use it wisely and with discretion. If done properly, it guarantees incredible engagement. But if it’s used for spam, be prepared to face the wrath of the community’s quick exit.
In conclusion
The world may be changing faster than ever before, but it’s doing so with more regularity than ever before, allowing us to make certain long-term predictions. Knowing when to adapt to a certain change and when to ride it out until something that suits you better comes along, can make or break the future of your business. In our time of connection and instant gratification, your strategy should be focusing on building a community, and ways in which your community can more easily communicate with you. Discord can give you both, as a vessel that will take your business from successful to future proof.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This is an African proverb that has taught us that some things never. One of those things is that the world will change, but it will never be able to out-run the sheer benefit of unity. The very fabric of what makes us human is our deep need for community.
If you are convinced that Discord is the right platform for the future of your brand, contact us to find out more about our Discord community management services.
READ MORE: 5 tips for effective social listening