Launching a new paid Discord server is an exciting business venture for entrepreneurs looking to turn their passion into a side hustle that generates steady revenue. While LaunchPass makes it extremely easy to start charging for access to your server, it may take a little leg work to promote your new server and start growing your audience.

For some of our clients, growing their audience has been the most challenging part of launching their subscription-based Discord server. So, this post is focused on helping our clients and potential clients on how to promote your Discord server. By following some of the methods we’ve outlined in this post, you should be able to grow your audience rapidly.

Make use of bump bots

Bumping is one of the most effective server promotion methods on Discord and is exceptionally straightforward. To use the bumping method effectively, you will first need to install a bump bot. ServerMate, Disboard, and Discord.me are amongst the most popular. Once correctly installed with correct permissions, these bots will enable you to promote your server to other servers using the same bump bot. So, for example, you could bump your server with the command “!bump,” and a personalized message that you create along with a link to your server will be displayed to all of the other servers using the same bump bot in a specific “bump” channel.

Get listed on server directories

There are directories for just about everything online; top software development companies, top marketing agencies, and even top Discord servers. It’s a good idea to begin submitting your server to these directory websites as soon as possible, as potential users often use these lists to discover new Discord servers of varying genres. Not only do these lists appear to a broad audience, but they are also optimized for search engines such as Google, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex, making your server that much easier to find.

Some server lists to take a look at include:

• Discord.me
• Disboard
• Discord Expert
• Discordservers.me
• Top.gg Discord Server List
• Discordservers.com

Make use of affiliate marketing

A great way to attract new subscribers is through affiliate marketing. This can be as simple as striking up a mutual agreement with another server to promote each other’s servers in a partnership channel; or offer a more robust referral rewards program. For the latter, you’ll need to dedicate more resources as the affiliate you choose to partner with will receive a commission for advertising your server to their audience, based on the number of new subscribers they generate.

Be unique

The key to running a thriving paid Discord community is to make sure it stands out from the crowd. With 6.7 million active servers on Discord, you must offer something that other servers don’t and give people a reason to choose your server over others. If you have the budget, we also recommend offering giveaways or discounts as a way to try and persuade more people to join your server.

Engage with your server

Another important thing is to engage with your server. Strike up a conversation with other members to encourage participation within the server. A simple way to accomplish this is to have a general chat channel. As you talk, new members will see that this is an active server and will be more inclined to stay: whether it’s just to lurk or participate in the conversation itself. The more active your channel is, the better.

Final Takeaways

Using the methods listed above will give you a good foundation on how to promote your Discord server. However, it is essential to remember that you must ensure that everything is correctly set up before your start promoting your server. Ensure you have a smooth layout for your channels, make use of the Discord categories feature, have rules in place, and a team of active moderators to moderate your chat. Lastly, make sure you correctly install the LaunchPass bot to ensure a seamless payment process. If these fundamentals aren’t in place, promoting your channel will only result in disappointed subscribers.

If you have any questions about LaunchPass or about launching your own paid membership community, feel free to email us at [email protected]. We’ve helped with the successful launch and configuration of thousands of Discord servers and are happy to help you start and scale your Discord community!