So you created a new Discord server, well done! It will be exciting to see new members sliding into channels, initiating their first conversations, jumping into voice calls, and possibly even streaming interesting live content. Unfortunately, it might also feel slow and/or overwhelming as you attempt to scale and grow your community to a meaningful size.
If you’re wondering how to grow a Discord server and attract more members, we created the following guide. To assist new owners and admins like you, we put together 5 steps to help increase your server activity and engagement from the get-go, while sustainably growing your member count.
First, some important advice regarding your initial setup.
Write a Compelling Server Description, Clear Rules
If you created a server there had to be a reason. A clearly-communicated purpose will help users understand why they should want to engage with your server and check in with your community. While it may seem unimportant, writing a compelling server description and creating clear rules can have a significant impact on future engagement.
Your server description should live in its official description box, but could also live in a dedicated welcome channel, or in a welcome screen. A good server description might be punchy and descriptive, such as: “A community for users who love indie games“, or explain benefits of membership, such as: “Get access to expert discussions, exclusive resources, hands-on projects, and a supportive network of like-minded innovators.” Either way, your description should lead to a call to action, such as “Join now and start optimizing your real-world applications!“
How to add a server description:
- Official description box: Server Settings > Community > Overview
- Adding a welcome screen:
- Go to Server Settings > Onboarding & Default Channels.
- Under Welcome Screen, click Edit.
- Add a short description about your server.
- Select a channel for newcomers to start in.
- Click Save Changes.
Creating and publishing clear server rules will also facilitate a better user experience. Adding rules is as simple as designating a rules channel and posting (and pinning). Good Discord server rules typically involve the following points:
- Reminding users to be kind, respectful
- Reminding users what types of content are appropriate
- Reminding users to follow Discord community guidelines
- Detailing the consequences of not following rules
Create Inviting Branding
Next, some notes about branding. Your server’s branding, including its name, icons, and banners, should be clear and inviting.
A good server name should be short, unique, and relevant to the purpose of the server–punchy, again! For example, if you wanted to name a server dedicated to indie games, you might write something like: “The Indie Arcade – A vibrant space for indie game lovers,” in this example we see the server name in bold, with a tagline following could be included within your server description.
Icons and banners should be consistent in style and color, no matter where they live in the server. If you have not already, pick a thematic style and a distinct color palette/scheme that matches your server mood. Utilize tools such as http://colormind.io or https://paletton.com/. Next, in server settings > overview, pick a distinct icon that easily indicates your server’s purpose or band. Finally, don’t forget to load a server banner background image and a server invite background, just scroll down further in overview–although these features need to be unlocked.
Optimize Your Channels & Offer Roles
Well-organized channels will keep your members engaged, make navigation easy, and reduce their confusion. Here’s how you might set up your Discord roles and channels for better engagement:
- Organize channels logically (e.g., welcome, announcements, general chat, topics).
- Don’t create more channels than you need–too much choice can be overwhelming for your community members.
- Add emojis and icons to channel names, with distinct visual cues and features
- For example, some servers use a 👶(baby) icon for new member channels
- Paste emojis from https://emojicopy.com/ when editing the channel.
- Group channels by priority. Arrange channels into functional groups that make sense.
Next, establish roles to encourage deeper participation by members. Roles are commonly used to give different rights and access to certain members and can be used to organize certain efforts, give access to certain channels, or as a reward to certain users. Roles can be created manually, or via a bot such as MEE6, found at https://mee6.xyz/. You might also allow users to assign their own roles on your server and customize their sense of identity.
How to assign roles manually:
- First, create the role in server settings
- Either go to Server Settings > Members, click the “⋮” (three dots) next to a user’s name and select the role and check it; OR, right-click on a user, select Roles and click
Engage With Members Early & Consistently
So far we have discussed “getting started” steps that allow users to have a good experience, which would keep them coming back to your server. Now we will more-directly address keeping users engaged via an active admin (you).There are several key ways you can activate your members and keep your server from getting stale or inactive.
Some ideas:
- Start discussions daily with engaging prompts–these could be automated
- Welcome every new member personally or with a bot
- Host events, polls, or giveaways to boost interaction.
- Interact with your key, most-active members–get to know them and ask questions
- Plug: identify these “Hot” members via the “Members” tab on ServerLens
- Keep on top of salient announcements–don’t miss a chance to deliver important news
How to automate discussion prompts:
Utilize Discord bots such as MEE6 (hello again), Dyno Bot, Zapier Webhooks, or even AI-bots like Carl-bot.
If you are using MEE6, the process is fairly straightforward:
- Invite MEE6 → MEE6 Website
- Go to the Dashboard and select your server.
- Enable “Timers” under the “Moderator” plugin.
- Set Up a Timer:
- Choose a channel (e.g., #daily-discussion).
- Add your discussion prompts (e.g., “What’s your favorite tech gadget?”).
- Set a schedule (daily, weekly, etc.).
- Click Save.
How to automate welcoming new members:
Using MEE6:
- Go to MEE6 Website > select your server
- Scroll down to “Welcome & Goodbye”
- Make sure it is “Active”
- Enable “Send a message when a user joins the server”
- Specify a channel and type the message
- Send a welcome card, if you choose
How to create events or polls:
Via MEE6:
- Go to MEE6 website > select your server
- Scroll down to Utilities > Polls
- Fill out prompts (behind paywall)
In the end, the above ideas were just suggestions. Come up with your own thoughtful ways to reach out to your community–that’s why you started your server!
Promote Your Server, Smartly
Leverage social media, collaborate with similar servers, and utilize Discord listing sites to get your server “out there” and raise awareness.
Social media can be leveraged in several ways:
- On X/Twitter, engage in relevant discussions with popular users.
- On Reddit, describe your server and share your server link with relevant subreddits.
- Promote your server on subreddits such as: r/discordservers, r/discord_community, and r/discordapp
- Find other subreddits that your community engages with, interact with them and be helpful.
Smart ways to collaborate with other servers might include cross-promotions and call-outs of other similar servers–reach out to those servers and offer to highlight their brand to your members. Some cross-promotion tactics might include: mentioning their server in a dedicated channel, featuring each other’s servers in announcements, inviting their members to a shared event such as a game night, promoting either other’s servers on social media.
Finally, make sure you make your discord app as searchable as possible by utilizing Discord listing sites. Some of the best-known sites currently include: Disboard, Discord.me, and DiscordServers.com.
Final Thoughts
Everyone needs help getting started–and managing a new Discord server successfully takes true dedication. We hope you find this article helpful as you build a meaningful Discord community. If you want to track your server’s user engagement, you might try our free app: https://app.serverlens.co/.
Finally, for more ideas regarding growing your server, see our Boost Your Discord Server Checklist.