This may be a strange idea but, years ago I've promoted my forums on certain Discord channels as long as I have the permission of the channel owner. When I did this, this did help drive more traffic from the channel's active users and even got a fair share of members from them too.
So I wonder... would Discord be an appropriate platform to promote? And does anybody here know if some Discord channels where I can freely promote my forum in them?
Good question. I wonder if some channels allow it anymore, but I'd love to know if any do. They're probably all niche related or might even allow for reciprocal advertising if you have a Discord channel?
It's really a lost effort. The audience on Discord is generally not interested in forums. You may be able to convert a select few, but don't have any high hopes.
I guess it doesn’t take a huge amount of time or effort to advertise on Discord and even if it only gains you a few people or some more site traffic, that’s still potentially something you wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t promoted on Discord?
I've only promoted one of my forums on a discord server that was dedicated to Zetaboards users to communicate prior to the Tapatalk buyout. I didn't get any members to join. You just never know though, you could potentially get new members this way but I wouldn't count on it unfortunately. Unless the Discord server was shutting down in favor of a forum, I just don't see the activity moving from Discord to the forum.
Not sure if many people on Discord would want to visit forums advertised there. I feel like the large majority of users there are gamers and only there for that reason.
I don't think it would hurt as long as you're following the guidelines of that server and not just dropping links to your forum willy nilly. I think just randomly DMing people from the server too would also not go over well. Gotta go about it the right way or it could give you and your forum a bad rep.
All that said, I'm not sure how helpful it would necessarily be. I think most people on Discord like the convenience of being able to have their conversations there versus on a forum. It's not a bad idea if done in the right way, but it may not be the most beneficial way of advertising your forum to try and get new members to join (and also hopefully stick around). If I were running a forum and the opportunity to advertise it on Discord presented itself, I certainly wouldn't say no since at the very least, it'd get the word out about my community, but I also wouldn't expect much from it either.
If your pushing your forum as an alternative way to communicate, then of course users will not be interested. Most prefer Discord for it's real-time messaging.
If your presenting your forum as an information source where people can learn about a topic or gain access to a resource then it's possible to drive traffic this way.
I’ve actually done this before with permission from server owners, and it did help bring in traffic and a few active members too. Discord can definitely work for promotion if you target communities related to your forum and don’t just spam links everywhere.
Your best bet is finding servers that allow self-promo channels or community advertising. A lot of gaming, tech, hobby, and creator servers have them. Just make sure you ask first or check their rules.
