Best form of server marketing?
So I have a server and have been struggling to market it. I don't have much money I can spend on marketing it and I have both a youtube and a tiktok account that I have posted over 30 shorts on. I don't have anyone who can help me or offer advice, so I've pretty much been winging it and have made videos about the various features on my server, but my youtube videos are dead (most views since the first few videos I posted was just over 80 views a couple of days ago) and tiktok the most views I have is around 890 views. I have been looking into ads on server list sites as it seems that is how most server owners acquire players, but I haven't yet found a decent site with a price I can afford as the amount of money I have available is not much.
Not that anyone cares, but this isn't a business I am trying to start for a quick buck. I am disabled so the point of it is to be a necessary income for me and I enjoy managing a server and having players who enjoy playing on my server. I have been doing this for around 2 years now and did make a little bit of money at the start as I took over a name and existing discord from a server I played on years ago that had shut down, but player count died down pretty quickly and I eventually abandoned the server (was economy survival with some qol plugins) and launched a lifesteal server earlier this year with the intention of hopefully marketing it easier.
I still need to make accounts on Instagram, Fb, and X and I am planning on submitting an ad to /r/mcservers hopefully either today or tomorrow, and am planning on posting all my videos to the platforms that allow videos. Tldr; I think server list ads are probably the best way of acquiring players, but I'm not sure as youtube and tiktok will apparently take months if not a year or more to attract new players. I don't know if there are other forms of marketing servers that I am not aware of.
20 Replies
I'd avoid server lists, they're pretty much useless, unless you have a really big budget
That's what I thought as I looked at a few and their bids were up to $3k for a spot. The cheapest I could find was TopG that gives you, I think, 59 credits you can use for an ad for 1 Euro per credit, but I have no idea whether that would be any good.
Is there any other way I can market my server besides just constantly posting videos and hoping I get lucky? Or should I just give up on it?
I really don't like to tell people to just give up, but without the budget to actually eg. get content creators on board etc. you're not gonna be able to compete neither in terms of marketing or server quality, so if your whole goal in doing this is to make money, then yeah probably not gonna get anywhere but of course if you're trying to learn new things and have a good time, by all means, keep going
Well, I have no other way to make any money so I guess I should just give up on everything.
I’d give TikTok a go.
Still seeing massive engagement from it
My best tiktok video has 899 views and I have 32 videos on. Tiktok is better than YouTube, but I'm not getting any comments and very few likes. Engagement is overall terrible with only a few people watching the whole video, and my videos are all 15 seconds long.
How consistently do you post?
Every single day.
Can you send your TikTok please
I’ll see if I can provide any feedback
Sure: https://www.tiktok.com/@playdetoxminecraft
There are a few videos that I posted just to keep the channel active that I didn't expect many views on, such as the one I posted yesterday, but most of them are genuine.
TikTok
Detox Network Minecraft Server on TikTok
@playdetoxminecraft 16 Followers, 0 Following, 163 Likes - Watch awesome short videos created by Detox Network Minecraft Server
Look up #mcserver on TikTok and start taking some inspiration. There's a whole method on how these things work. Watching your videos, I was kind of confused on what was happening. Also you need a strong hook or else people will scroll away. I would just watch what others are doing then put your own spin on it. Seems like a cool server but the videos didn't have me super hooked
It's something I'm still learning and working on always. And I've posted hundreds of videos by now. You just keep learning and keep tweaking things. You can pull it off with AI voice overs or other audios to make memes. Just got to get creative with it
Thank you. I appreciate the suggestion. That's exactly what I was looking for as I have been trying to find other server owners who created content for their servers that I could draw inspiration from, but haven't been able to find any so far.
So i have had a look at your TikTok's.
The Hook in your videos during the first 3 seconds needs to be stronger. Retention is decided during these vital moments right at the start.
The text style you have gone for is fine but the animations on text can be quite jarring - perhaps look for an alternative style.
For example this video: https://www.tiktok.com/@playdetoxminecraft/video/7521442110873079070, Has a good hook. It creates suspense.
Try utilising alternative audio styles as well. Even using trending audio and lowering it so you can still barely hear it (So it doesn't effect your dialogue) can maximise algorithmic boost.
Remember TikTok works on a scoring system. Good Hook you get points, Good retention you get points, Posting consistency, you get points, video quality you get points and so on and so forth.
Nailing this kind of marketing can make advertising a server incredibly easy. It is trial and error. See what others are doing, thing about what is working what isn't working. It could be as simple as, instead of an AI voiceover, do a real voiceover etc.
Thank you for the feedback! I appreciate it immensely. I have been working on improving the text animations, so hopefully that makes a difference. I have tried following youtube's charts for trending music, but I do need to find a different source to help with finding more trending music. I have also been doing research on what a good hook is as that's what I struggle with the most. I honestly still have no idea what a good hook normally would be in terms of minecraft, but it does help that the video you referenced is a good hook. From what I understand after trying to do research on a good hook, a good hook is something that will intrigue people, bring them back and make them want to know what is going to happen next. I'm hopefully going to be able to record more pvp content soon and will then try my best to make better hooks.
Absolutely no problem, happy to help. A good hook in its simplest form is literally just something that makes a viewer want to continue watching. You want them to feel, oooo what’s going to happen next, I’m going to have to stay to find out. There is a way to see trending music on TikTok. I think it’s like the charts on there or something that might help.
When it comes to hooks, it’s practice and trial and error. You could use ChatGPT to help develop some ideas however it can be a bit rubbish at developing hooks which work well with the algorithm
You want a server with a high uptime, high performance server with nice people?
Well you've come to the wrong place, fuck you java Minecraft.
If you're dumb enough to join a new Minecraft server, you're a big enough fuck to play this server.
Bad uptime
Bad players
P2w
If you think you will find a good server here you can kiss my ass.
Its my belief that you're such a stupid mofo you'll fall for this server guaranteed.
If you find a better server, shove it up your ugly ass.
You heard us right, shove it up your ugly ass.
https://youtu.be/twq3SF8Yf-0
Spockitans
YouTube
Big Bill Hell's Cars [SFM]
CHALLENGE PISSING.
Last couple weeks have been dedicated to this. I wasn't the first to do this, but I wanted to anyway.
What?
11/10 marketing
I don't know anyone who wants to hear all that junk like good uptime or good reliability, its likely that something funny or comedy based is much more efficient and effective
Yeah im using this rn 😂
Aaaahhhh lmao. I was very confused there for a second, but you do have a very good point.