Discord Servers and Facebook Groups are both great platforms to build communities on. But they have different features and are more suited to certain demographics over the other.
So, which one you should select for your products depends entirely on your target audience.
This is where I come in!
In this post, I’ll compare Discord vs Facebook groups on factors like setup, management, and attracting members.
Comparing Discord and Facebook Groups
The main difference between Discord and Facebook groups is that Discord has a lot more features and offers more flexibility and customization.
But getting people to join is hard.
Facebook groups are simpler, but it gets shown to people as suggested and appears in organic search bringing in more members.
Let’s take a look at some of these in detail:
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Who Is It For?
Discord is used for communication mostly by gamers. In fact, only a VERY specific community has joined with discord, they’re mostly youngsters like
- Gamers
- Coders
- IT guys
- Startup Founders
- Traders And Other Crypto People
It has HARDLY ever reached the older community.
Facebook on the other hand has a broader and much more diverse user base including older generations. There are interested people on Facebook for every niche there is!
So before you decide, you MUST consider which platform your potential customers are more familiar with and which one they use the most.
Setting It Up
When it comes to setting up your Discord server or Facebook groups to build a community, you will find that it’s pretty easy with BOTH platforms.
However, Facebook is much easier.
In Discord you just have to create a discord account and create a server. Within a server, you could make channels as you wish and invite your community to join via an invite link.
But the terminology and features in Discord are a bit different from what we use regularly, the server acts as your organization, and channels act as similar as a group chat.
If you are not familiar with discord servers already, there is a steep learning curve.
Facebook groups on the other hand, is simple and you can get a hang of its features as you go.
Getting People To Join
On Discord and Facebook groups, you will need some effort initially to make people join your community.
When it comes to Discord, people can join your community with an invite link or (if your channel is public) through search.
Creating a profile on Discord, and it’s pretty straightforward and all people have to do is sign up and join the channel. However this is an extra step if they don’t already have discord.
Plus, you might have a tough time connecting to certain audiences – especially people above 40, who RARELY use platforms like Discord and are unfamiliar with its architecture.
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When it comes to Facebook, you can easily get into people’s DMs, get them to join your community, and they can join quickly as well since they already have Facebook accounts.
Plus, Facebook groups are likely to be suggested to people with similar interests organically.
And unlike Discord, you will have a bigger audience since most people have Facebook accounts these days, even the older generation.
So the niche communities you can advertise to, is much bigger compared to Discord!
Advertising in social media, forums, email marketing campaigns, and lead magnets will be your ideal sources to find members.
Engaging With People And Marketing Your Product
When maintaining the connection with people, you will find that both Discord and Facebook can become clunky. This can affect your overall experience.
On Discord, you will also find it a bit difficult to reach out to your community and talk to them one-on-one, because most Discord users will mute their notifications – which is NOT something you will see with Facebook users.
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But anything you put on the server will be delivered and everyone can see it.
On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that content delivered through a Facebook group will definitely appear in members’ newsfeeds.
This makes the delivery of your message uncertain and has a high chance of going unnoticed.
Along with that con, there comes a pro – if a member of the group shares your message you get a free bit of advertising.
It takes your marketing beyond your group which is not happening in Discord.
Events
You will be able to schedule events directly on Discord, and on Facebook, you will have a BUILT-IN events management option as well.
So both platforms are suited to creating events in your communities.
But unlike Discord, you will have to follow the strict rules on Facebook, and even if you mistakenly break one of them, there’s the risk of getting your communities deleted.
Take a good look at the policies on Facebook and make sure none of them get broken or violated in the group.
Here is the video walk through;
Conclusion
If your target community is youngsters, gamers, or individuals with a high interest in your business the best platform would be Discord.
This is because your group posts are guaranteed to be delivered to everyone.
But if you are mainly looking to advertise and market your services to an older audience or wider audience, Facebook will be the best place for the job.
Either way, it is important to figure out what your audience is, and the community you want to create BEFORE you pick a platform, and then make the right choice!
