Is Discord an appropriate platform for B2B marketing?
Discord, the platform that once catered exclusively to gamers, has evolved into a versatile hub supporting diverse communities. For B2B digital marketers, this transformation presents both exciting opportunities and unique challenges. Let’s explore Discord’s potential for business use, its audience demographics, advertising options, and suitable applications for B2B companies.
TLDR – While intriguing, Discord currently resides in the “not yet for B2B” pile. Read on to discover why.
What is Discord?
At its core, Discord is a community-driven platform where users create custom “servers” tailored to specific groups or topics. It boasts features like multimedia sharing, bot integrations, and role-based access controls, making it a robust tool for engagement, brand building, and even hosting webinars. Although rooted in gaming culture, some brands like Samsung have dipped their toes into Discord to connect with niche audiences – albeit with more B2C-oriented campaigns.
Who uses Discord?
Discord’s largest demographic is users aged 25–34, with a strong presence in the US and Brazil. This audience skews towards younger professionals and enthusiasts rather than senior decision-makers. As such, Discord’s B2B potential lies more in long-term relationship building than immediate sales impact. Businesses currently using Discord tend to be smaller, agile firms with fewer than 50 employees and revenues below $50 million, reflecting its appeal to community-focused organizations.
Advertising on Discord
Unlike traditional social media platforms, Discord lacks a native advertising platform. Instead, it relies on content-driven engagement strategies. Brands must focus on creating interactive and valuable experiences within their servers, such as:
- Hosting Q&A sessions or webinars.
- Sharing exclusive content.
- Facilitating user-generated discussions around their products or services.
Discord recently introduced Quests, a gamified way for businesses to engage users. These interactive experiences allow users to complete tasks and unlock rewards, such as exclusive roles or content. While creative and engaging, Quests are currently more suited to gaming companies and are predominantly leveraged by that industry.
The absence of traditional ads on Discord can be seen as both a limitation and an opportunity – it encourages authentic, community-first interactions rather than interruptive advertising.
Which B2B companies should consider Discord?
Discord is best suited for B2B companies that prioritize community building and direct engagement with niche audiences. Sectors like technology, gaming, and developer services are natural fits, but primarily for targeting those early in their careers.
For example, companies like Roblox effectively use Discord to support their developer communities, providing tutorials, updates, and collaboration opportunities.
Challenges for B2B brands on Discord
Despite its potential, Discord presents notable limitations for corporate brands:
- Data analytics: Limited audience insights hinder campaign measurement.
- Moderation effort: Dedicated resources are required to manage spam and maintain standards.
- Discoverability: Organic growth is challenging due to its decentralized structure.
- Brand risks: Open forums may lead to off-brand conversations.
Conclusion
For B2B marketers, Discord offers a unique space to engage with tech-savvy, community-focused audiences. While it requires a resource-intensive, content-first approach, it holds potential for companies willing to invest in authentic, long-term relationship building.
However, our conclusion is that Discord does not currently provide a viable route to reach B2B audiences for most sectors. As the workforce on Discord matures, its relevance in the B2B space may grow. Until then, it’s one to watch – but perhaps not to jump into just yet.
