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I’ve been administering the Team South Africa Discord group for quite some time now and let me tell you, it’s not quite as simple as creating a group and getting people to join.
Apart from administering TSA I’m part of various other groups as well so I will try to give you the best information possible from my side. Please note this post is not created to promote any groups but rather to give you some advice from my personal experience.
There are many factors you need to take into consideration before running with such an idea and in this post I will give you some guidelines as well as some realities behind running a Discord group for Steemit.
To get right into it here goes:
1- What will the primary focus of the group be?
There are a few questions you need to ask yourself here. Is it to create communal support for fellow members? Is it to help build idea’s relating to Steemit? Is it to assist minnows with growing on the Steemit platform? Is it to improve curation? Is it to get assistance from whales?
There are literally thousands of different questions that may be asked. It will all depend on what you’d like to accomplish and how you plan on accomplishing it. So to give you some examples I will use 3 different groups here.
In short;
Teamsouthafrica is a group that is primarily based on bringing fellow South Africans together to provide support amongst one another.
Promo Mentors provides assistance with improving on content creation as well as to find curatable content.
Steemiteducation is a group that focuses on educational content therefore it focuses on teachers and educators.
The three examples above is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these groups. This is just an absolute basic mention about who they are. Kind of like your starting point when you want to start a group. What do you want to do?
2- Is there a similar group?
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This is an important question as well. What you’ll need to ascertain is whether there is actually a gap in the market you’re looking into. It doesn’t help creating a group that already has a system that supports that market, unless you can offer something that will supersede the other or have something a little different to offer. In that case, you need to think carefully about whether or not it is better to create your own derivative or if your ideas can’t slot in with the existing group.
3- What appeal does your group have?
This is also a widely cast net type question. When we talk about appeal there needs to be some reason people would like to become members of your group, whether it be learning something, networking with fellow members, receiving better votes on your content, having similar interests etc. There needs to be something that you can offer the potential members.
I, for example, won’t be joining a group that focuses on hairdressing since I have no real interest in that. I would however join a gaming group since I enjoy gaming.
4- Who will be running the group?
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This is an extremely important question to take into consideration. Running a Discord group is a permanent commitment that will take up some of your personal time. You will more than likely require assistance from others and will need to think of the following factors.
4.1- What channels will the group have?
This depends entirely on the goal and structure of the group. Will you have a channel where people can drop post links? Do you want a general chat channel where members can interact? Do you want a channel where members can ask for assistance? Yet again, the channel selection is an endless choice depending on what you’d like to achieve and how you would like the group to be structured. With group channels it’s also important to add pinned messages that members can refer to so they know what the channels purposes are.
4.2- Who will be responsible for which aspects of the group?
As I mentioned you will more than likely require assistance from other members and as such you need to decide who will be responsible for which aspects of the group. Whether it is creating pinned messages on selected channels, warning members if they transgress on any rules you’ve created, looking out for posts that need to be highlighted etc. This can be blanketed where all members assist all round or divided into separate duties. When using the blanket approach, be sure to have some form of communication or structure involved where admin/mods don’t overlap on the workload. That will just be counterproductive.
4.3- Which terms will be applicable for members to join?
The criteria here will vary depending on your group. It may be based on reputation level, location, interaction, interests etc. I do believe that most groups should have certain criteria in place as it will assist in managing spam and reduce the amount of group management that needs to take place. Unless you’re starting a Spammers Group ;)
5- What about managing the group?
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You need to remember that a Discord group will require constant management, unless it’s a free for all environment where members can do as they please. You’ll constantly have members that try to push the limits or are not aware of certain protocols. In some cases, you might even have to make a call whereby a member needs to be banned or booted from the group due to consistently stepping out of line. Therefore, if you have certain rules within the group and it’s not being adhered to make sure you step in as soon as possible.
Aside from the people there is also the group itself. Whether you (or your members) feel that certain channels need to be added or removed, pinned messages need to be adjusted or certain rules need to be changed, it all falls under managing the group and is a must to keep yourself and the members happy.
6- Will you be using bots?
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There are a few different bots with different functions available which can be of great help when setting up a Discord group. I’m sure many of you have seen these bots around already so I’m not going to go into much detail about them. All I’ll say is that they can come in handy and I didn’t create them myself so it’s a little out of my league. It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure that out though if you want them around as well.
In conclusion let me just add that being part of these Discord groups can be fun. Sure, it has its challenges and can be time consuming however if you manage your time and the group well it can be a great experience. You’ll learn plenty from running the group itself, have a chance to meet new people and increase your reach outside of the Steemit platform.
That’s it, short and sweet, lol. If there is anything you’d like to add or feel I’ve missed please let me know :)
Next time around I’ll add some tips and advice on things that can help your Discord group i.e. How to reduce post dumping, keeping it fun etc.
Thanks for reading and I hope I was able to assist you in one way or another.
Cheers!!
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