Building Web3 Communities in Discord

As a community builder who has been diving into the web3 area three months ago, I want to share some thoughts with others to make this place more human-centered. (I know it won't be the best, but I want to put these ideas to contribute to the collective knowledge)

Projects want to reach out to real people, create belonging, and go to the moon. But in general, they are struggling with bots, fake accounts, and the pressure of reaching enough (a lot) people and NGMI.

Here is my proposal to help project owners with their mission of building a community.

1. Think of Discord Servers as a Funnel, not as a Community Space.

  • Discord servers (in general) are the places where everyone can quickly come and go. It is hard to orientate people, and clicking an emoji for verification doesn't make a person a community member.
  • Creating a different application and onboarding process (forms, step-by-step channels, roles, etc.) can be a solution, but it is not how people adapt. So it can be a bit risky.
  • I think Discord Servers can be a great place to show your project's value, create an audience, and build a path for your community that you'll host on the same server!
  • Build your Discord server like a website where people come to learn your project and how to be part of it.

2. Discord Setup - About

  • Minding that this is where people learn more about the project, you can create some necessary information without exhausting your potential members.
  • Give just the essential parts, keep it simple and visualize the knowledge as much as you can.
  • Use bots like MEE6 Β to keep the channels neat with embedded messages.
  • Share the related links for people who want to dive in and learn more about the project.
  • Show people why they should and how they can be part of the community. Share the value, expectations, instructions, and regular activities.

3. Discord Setup - Regular Hype

  • Most of the projects start with massive hype, but then interested people can't see any new content or activity, and they start leaving or ignoring the notifications.
  • To prevent that, create a content strategy and share things regularly.
  • Give them updates about the project and things they are interested in (think of the shared interests, struggles, etc.)
  • Curate and share the conversations that are happening in the community space.
  • Make it regular and define the time and so that people know when it comes.

4. Discord Setup - Audience to Community Step

  • This will be where you and your community will engage with your audience and create the path for them so that they will get a chance to be part of your community.
  • Make an activity plan. Do regular activities like raffles, invite/meme/fan-art/IRL challenges, AMAs, Discord Parties, Twitter shilling, etc. Anything that makes your audience motivated to share, talk or learn.
  • Discord Party: I think projects can use the voice channels more effectively. Creating some activities around it that fit the members of the community. It can be a Radio, Challenges, Watching smt together, etc
  • Twitter Shilling - Twitter Raids: People come together to share the project on Twitter, replying to some of the influencer's tweets, sharing it on Reddit, etc. Collaboration to spread the word.
  • Create some facilitating questions to learn more about your audience, give them a chance to share their opinions and feedback.
  • Collect some ideas from your community to involve them in the process. Build together!
  • From all these activities, create a path so that people can join your community space. Give people a fantastic role that is related to your project and make them part of your community!

5. Discord Setup - Your True Community!

  • Once people become a part of your community, celebrate it with the community.
  • Create an onboarding process by giving 1-3 instructions so that they know where and how to start collaborating, contributing, and connecting with others.
  • Create an area where people share their opinions to clarify the next move (What kind of channels, content, and activities should be done.) Create regular voting to choose ideas together.
  • Ideas should be defined with why, who, and what. Members should explain the reason, target group, and what will happen in the channel.
  • Clarify what happens if the idea does not attract others even it gets enough votes.
  • Give members ownership for the chosen ideas, and don't forget that a member who takes responsibility should earn something from it too! It can be a free NFT, $coin, etc.
  • Lead the activities and members who own it and pick moderators from your community!
  • Don't just wait for ideas from your members. Before starting your community, create 2-3 channels, activities, and content so that people can find something in the beginning. Don't create too much space and things that confuse your members. Start small, then add features.

6. How to Start?

  • The main problem of web3 projects is that people don't want to start small, don't want to grow with the phase of the community.
  • Before announcing your project to everyone, choose 20-100 people that fit your target group. (Which number can your team manage?)
  • Think of this process as an alpha-phase where you have a chance to show your plans to your early adopters and collect feedback.
  • Create an abstract that explains your project, make a form to choose the first members. Collect any related information from them.
  • Give these people some opportunities like pre-sale, free airdrop, a chance to win a free NFT, etc.
  • Create your community area and welcome each member. Start testing your content and activity calendar. Iterate things via feedback.
  • Pick your first moderators and contributors to launch.
  • Give some reason to your early adopters so that they'll become project ambassadors.
  • After making the iterations, adding different features to your community, and clearing your growth strategy, you are ready to go!

7. Growth

  • It is time to spread the word! In this phase, you'll use the power of your community.
  • Lead your community so that they can share the project with others. They can share it on Twitter, reach out by tagging some influencers, shill it to other servers, etc.
  • Ask your community whether they know some other project owners to collaborate with, trusted influencers that make a real impact, etc.
  • Give them a reason to invite their friends to your project. (Three of your friends who you invited will have the pre-sale opportunity)

8. What's Next?

  • I've tried to share my rough ideas with you so that we can iterate them together!
  • Please share your thoughts, tips, and things that will help web3 communities to have more Human-Centered and successful projects!
  • I am here to talk about communities, DAOs, and anything related to web3 projects.

Thanks for reading!

How can we build better communities?

We are on a quest to learn and explore what makes great communities.

Rosieland

Our Sponsors

View

Testimonials

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to Rosieland.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.