Discord channels are a powerful way to organise and segment Discord communities. With channels, you provides spaces for members to communicate based on their interests, expertise, language or even product usage!
Having a well-defined channel strategy is a key component to building an engaged Discord community.
Types of Discord channels:
Text - send text messages, images, GIFS, and emojis. The most commonly used Discord channel, it provides the perfect space for asynchronous communication. Discord members can chat openly, or reply to specific messages in a thread to go deeper on specific topics.
Voice - allows users to hang out in live chat rooms, where they can share voice, video and screen share. These channels are very popular for gamers, hanging out in Discord and playing online games.
Forum - a Reddit-like experience to create a space for organised discussion. It stops people from talking over each other, allowing you to focus conversations on specific topics.
Announcement - a channel for server owners to share important updates. These channels are typically kept read-only, where only server owners can post updates.
Stage - a channel to host events, panels and Q&As for an audience. It creates a Clubhouse-like experience where their is a virtual stage and audience. You can bring audience members up to the stage and create a real event experience. Very popular with brands and celebrity Discords.
Private vs public channels
Discord channels can be either public or private. As you might guess, public channels are open to everyone on the server, whereas private channels can be restricted to specific members or members with certain Discord roles.
Private channels can be a really useful tool in your server, here are some ways they are used to improve Discord servers:
Forcing users to go through verification: verification of people who join your server is an important step to boost security and intimacy in Discord. A popular tactic to get users to verify, is to make all channels private, only viewable by verified members. Then when someone joins, you tell them in order to see everything in the server, you must verify. We do this in our Bind Discord Server, if you want to see how that works.
Creating intimate spaces for customers, fans and partners: Private channels allow you to create private spaces for select groups to communicate. You can make a channel accessible to only people who hold certain roles. For example, using Bind, you can give a role to customers and create a special channel where only verified customers can communicate.
Private staff, moderator or support groups: in Discord, you probably don’t want your internal staff, or moderator conversations visible for everyone in the server. Use private channels for these groups and keep it safe from preying eyes.
Channels ideas for Discord
Here are some ideas for channels to help you bring your server to the next level.
Channel ideas for Discords run by companies:
Companies are increasingly adopting Discord as a place to build community. Discord, is a powerful tool to connect with customers, receive feedback and drive loyalty. With the following channels, you can bring your company Discord to the next level.
#verified-customers ✅ - give customers of your product a channel in Discord to communicate. But, you are probably thinking, how do I know who my customers are? This is where the power of Bind comes into play. Read how Bind enables this here!
#feedback 🤝- give customers a space for them to provide feedback on your product or service. By providing this space you can stay close to the voice of your customer and keep learning.
#showcase 🪄- a space for users to showcase how they are using your product. For example, a website they built using your software or an office desk set up using your standing desk. Let the community show off how they are using your product, free marketing!
#beta 🧪- a channel for beta users of your product. These is especially useful for early-stage companies who are testing new features and want beta users to test and provide feedback. This allows the community to drive your product success, read our deep dive into community led product development.
#company-tips 💡- a space for users to provide advice and guidance to other users of your product. This enables peers-to-peer learning and is especially useful for products of a technical or complex nature.
resources 📖 - a place for you to link to your website, social media or documentation. When users are in Discord, sometimes it can be hard to find links that link to your actual website, product or service. Just make a channel to hold all that information!
#promos 💰 - share exclusive promotions and deals to your Discord community. This is a way of providing value back to your community and makes them feel special.
Channel ideas for community engagement:
Community engagement and growth is a common goal for Discord server owners. The right channel strategy is a key component to keeping Discord members engaged and active.
#language 🇪🇸🇻🇳 🇫🇷- the default language of most Discord servers is English. However, if you know that many of your members come from non-English speaking countries, it is important to provide a space for them to chat.
#polls❓- a nice way to engage Discord, while collecting additional data about your members.
#voice-hangouts 🗣 - an open voice channel for members in your server to hangout and chat. This is very flexible and can be used in different ways, such as co-working areas, reaction chats to product launches
#contests 🎮 - host games within this channel, to drive engagement and to get users to take certain actions. For example, referral contests (powered by Invite Tracker Bot) or contests driven by actions on your product (powered by Bind).
#introduce-yourself 👋 - get users to introduce themselves as they enter your server. This is a common channel as it gets members to post early and hopefully create connections with other members.
#memes 😎- space for both server owners and server members to post memes. People love memes so why not create a dedicated space for it? You might even get some cool memes you can use on your social media!
Channel ideas for admin and moderation:
#verification ✅ - adding a verification channel to your Discord boosts security and intimacy. It forces users to verify that they are human, keeping your server a space for real people, and not malicious bots. There are many verification options, which you can read about in our article 'How to add verification to Discord'.
#admins 😃 - a space for just admins of the server to communicate and make decisions.
#community-moderation 👮♀️- this channel can be made up of admins, moderators, and trusted users in the server. It is a space to report potential breaches of server rules and discuss the appropriate action. An essential duty to keep a large Discord server operating well!
