Introduction
Good afternoon… or evening… or day! Whatever timezone you are in, I'd like to thank you for reading my guide on how to correctly and efficiently (in terms of money and time) commence marketing for your network. In this guide, I will describe the tactics you may use to expand, as well as how to advertise your website, social media, and revenue. I'll also go through the do-s and don't-s of marketing, as well as how to evaluate YouTube channels and read statistics. A large component of marketing is also the monetisation of a certain network, which I shall discuss as well.Chapter 1
What exactly is marketing in the context of Minecraft? The term 'marketing' refers to the actions that a server engages in to advertise the network. Marketing may be done to improve the number of players on your network, revenue, or player retention time. You have a number of ways for increasing your player count. The first and most straightforward method of generating traction is to limit yourself to a maximum of four, and only four Minecraft Server Lists (A simple google search will tell you the best sites). Posting your network on this site will be extremely beneficial in the future when you have your players vote. You must, and I emphasise this, reward the top voters or those who vote every day. (It may be a crate key, a gift card, or something that provides them a little edge that is available to everyone.) To attract more people, make sure you prepare your description on our site in the best way possible. After that, you can go to the next stage. If you have a large budget for your server, you should absolutely consider sponsoring youtubers and broadcasters. To help you select which gamemodes are most suitable for certain types of creators, I've provided a graph below that shows which gamemodes are best suited for which types of creators.| YouTuber | Streamer | |
| Prison |  |  |
| Skyblock | | |
| Survival | | |
| Factions | | |
| Other |  | |
The question marks I've added are there to demonstrate that if your mode isn't specified, you'll have to think about it logically (or contact me, I'll be pleased to help). Finding the perfect niche of content creator for your server is extremely tough, and you should be prepared to fail if you don't get what you're looking for. The problem presently is that most creators are branded for Hypixel (excellent for Prison servers and Minigame servers), and they are not suitable for any other servers (Unless you have something like Wynncraft). I'm afraid I won't be able to help you discover a creator in this paper, and you'll have to undertake your own research. You may do it by searching for your gamemode on Twitter or YouTube and looking at the creators who appear. If you want to locate streamers, I recommend going to Twitch and searching for them. You want to locate creators that have active viewership on anything other than "Hypixel Open Party", "Hypixel Skywars with Viewers", and so on. You get my point, look for a creator with a dedicated viewership, this is someone with an active chat, and someone who is playing "Modded Minecraft", "Speedrun", or "Hardcore Minecraft" as it appears they have the most dedicated audience, which means if you hire them for an hour stream, you have a much greater chance of growing your playercount than someone who only has 20 viewers because of their Hypixel Open party stream.
If, like many server owners, you don't have a large budget (over $1,000/pounds) available at the moment, that option may not be suitable for you. The second step is to make a tiktok. The trend nowadays is short videos; if you can make engaging, hilarious, or challenging videos in 60 seconds or less, your chances of success are quite high. There isn't much to know about the TikTok algorithm; simply make sure your material is fast-paced (search up Minecraft Server Shorts to see trends). The advantage of using TikTok is that you will get a committed following who may be willing to pay you. The disadvantage of utilising TikTok (or YouTube shorts, or both) is that your audience may be young, so be cautious with the material of your business and avoid advertising a community that is not appropriate for the younger age. I'll offer a breakdown of what is and isn't typically appropriate for children.
| Suitable | Unsuitable | |
| Prison | | |
| Skyblock | | |
| Survival | | |
| Factions | | |
| Other | | |
If you're still struggling after attempting both the YouTube and TikTok/Shorts routes, you should try to figure out why. There are a couple possibilities: it might be a lack of creativity on your part, or it could be because your server is too pay to win. Recently, it has become clear that players give not for the extra privileges (though they are a good bonus), but rather to aid the server they favour. This indicates you must transition from the old pay to win, island top rewards audience to a more current, newest version, child-friendly audience; doing so will undoubtedly increase your network at an exponential pace just via word of mouth. If the problem isn't with your network content, it could be possible you haven’t designed your network correctly. It's conceivable that you didn't design your network appropriately. Creating a network is a massive UI task, and you must come up with the most attractive and modern manner of displaying your material (Scoreboards, GUI's, Ranks). Especially now that 1.16 has added the possibility to use the complete RGB spectrum.
Chapter 2
I will now cover how to gain clicks on your website, store, or social media, utilising your Minecraft server. There are numerous ways to gain SEO performance on your site, this could be by adding redirected voting links (Instead of minecraftlist.com/servername, it would become mc.servername.net/voting1). If you are not doing this, you’re not missing much, but it could help performance, or clicks. Another way of gaining clicks, votes, or any other requirements you want to post, could be by adding a free rank that users can claim after completing their tasks (this could be for a limited time, or it could be permanent, make sure you don’t give a high rank). This works particularly well on Skyblock and Prison servers, as it can incentivise the users to purchase the rank permanently once they’ve had a taste for it. Another excellent innovation is the usage of creator codes. If you're sponsoring creators, this is a wonderful approach to encourage them to promote your network and business since they'll earn more money in return. You may do so by visiting a website such as Tebex. Giveaways that provide rankings on Twitter are a terrific way to increase your platform, but only if you already have a following. You must not misuse freebies; instead, restrict yourself to one per month, otherwise your sales may suffer as consumers feel they will win giveaways. Hiring a social media manager, or having one of your admin staff members, or even yourself, handle your social media accounts, might be a valuable investment. Don't overuse emojis; having a particular "format" for visuals that you supply with your message will likely increase impressions, but keep it basic and uncomplicated overall.Chapter 3
In this chapter, I'll explain how to determine whether a YouTube channel is "worth the money." I'll go over regular rates as well as the best approach to see interactions. To begin, if a youtuber offers to record on your network for a modest fee, be sure to run their account via SocialBlade and examine their subscriber count over the previous few weeks/months; this will allow you to determine whether or not a user has a botted youtube channel.If you've identified a creator that fits your niche, here is how you determine if they're genuinely worth contacting. Go to their most recent 5 videos and add the numbers together, then check their average viewings (this will give you an idea of how much you have to negotiate for), and last, check the likes on the YouTube video, which is also a wonderful technique to determine whether they're botting their videos. If everything seems fine, examine the comment area; if you notice amusing remarks related to the video, it'll be a valuable investment; you basically want to target the YouTubers that have the most contact with their community. After you've determined whether or not to pursue a deal, here is how you contact them: go to their YouTube channel, discover any related emails, and prepare an email proposal. On several instances, I've discovered that the easiest approach to reach a creator is to either find their Twitter and directly message them, or to find their public discord and attempt to message them. Message another staff member on their discord to get in touch with them as this will almost always result in being ignored and hence failing. The greatest technique, and one that I've noticed has a very high success rate, is to just say "Hey! "How are you doing today?" This is a terrific method to get people to notice and connect with you, and it will undoubtedly help you close the deal. I can't help you any further from here, so you'll have to figure it out on your own. Remember to keep your professionalism at all times. I'll provide another chart below illustrating the typical creator deal pricing I've observed in my experience as a marketing manager.| Average Cost | |
| 1k-20k | $10 - $80 |
| 20k-100k | $90 - $400 |
| 100k-1Mil+ | $2,000 - $6,000+ |
Please keep in mind that the information in that table is based only on conversations I've had with creators in that pricing range. I can't say anything else because they're all Minecraft YouTubers who speak English, so if you are looking for any other creators, I can't tell you prices.
When it comes to supporting creators, using a monitoring plugin/site is a wonderful approach to see if it's a worthwhile investment. Personally, I would prefer Analyse, a free plugin (with premium features) that includes hosting. It allows you to see the average retention rate as well as a lot more data, and it even allows you to create your own placeholders. Using a site like this allows you to see the difference between before and after and choose whether you should use such a creator in the future.
I'm just going to provide the first three chapters of my handbook. I'd be delighted to continue, but first I'd like to hear from the community. I'd love to hear what you have to say, and you may ask any questions you have here or DM me!
Have a great day all!
