I've been researching the process of starting a survival server for a while now, but one thing I can't find much information on is the process of recruiting new players to join. I've seen suggestions ranging from buying ads on Instagram accounts to paying small streamers to play on the server. Are any experienced server owners willing to comment on their most and least successful advertising techniques?
Best way to advertise a Minecraft server?
- Thread starter AmadeusFH
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I've personally tried streamers in the past and it got about 20 players, which left in a few days. I also tried doing a crap ton of 1v1 marketing (mainly on the Minecraft discord which isn't allowed anymore), and a couple small Minecraft server lists and got about 5-15 active players and 1k in donations. While I am by no means a super successful server owner and this is a bit outside of what your asking, but my one tip would be to work on making sure any players you do get actually convert. This is typically done by creating a friendly atmosphere/community and having the staff be basically targeted to help people feel welcome so any players you do get (most likely through future suggestions) actually stay. Sorry if this is a bit outside of what your asking for, and I wish you the best of luck.
I've seen servers gain massive amounts of players from hiring a semi-famous or famous YouTuber or buying premium status on popular server listing websites, but I would continue the grind with advertising where ever you can (as long as it's not breaking any rules.)[DOUBLEPOST=1628135294][/DOUBLEPOST]Establishing a name and reputation for yourself and your server will do wonders too, make you and your server a recognizable name. I will also recommend having something that's unique to/for your server.
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This is great advice, standard practice in mobile games is to really hone your conversion funnel and make sure you have high 7 and 30 day retention before starting to draw a lot of players. Sadly I don't think the tools really exist for tracking KPIs like Daily Active Users for minecraft server.
If you have the time for some reading I would recommend "The Pyramid of Game Design" and "Superfans". Pyramid is all about the meta game loop that you create to build true engagement for your players. Superfans is about engaging the people who really love your product and building a monetization strategy that gives them access/rewards that they find meaningful and are willing to pay for. For example, I was one of the 100 people that paid $1000 for the highest tier reward during the first Double Fine kickstarter they mention in Superfans. I literally paid $1000 to support Tim Schaffer on Kickstarter. I REALLY love his games and would have probably paid way more if there was an option.
A lot of indie developers have been using blogs, youtube, social media etc during the discovery/prototype/production phases of there games to give weekly updates to build and engage with a community, ideally building Superfans during development who help spread the word and draw in new viewers/players. "Hokko Life" just released on Steam and Rob made a Patreon and Discord to bring his fans along the development journey.
But that wasn't really your question
I think you should build a community as you go during development by being consistent and fully transparent. Then once you have your core meta loop, 30 day retention and monetization strategy locked in you should aim at only really big influencers and paid ads. Since at that point it will be a math problem. (Insert some formula including Ad cost, Conversion Rate and Player Lifetime Value here
).
Hey man! If you still want any tips to help advertise the server I would say to get a decently large youtuber to run a few videos and maybe even stream on the server.
There are many current survivals starting up that are doing pretty well due to this strategy. For example a new server called BuzzMC is owned by a youtuber called Guiltyy who has 200,000 subscribers and they had around 100 players on for release.
Another way you could go is through premium server slots, however the price of them can add up very quickly.
Hope this helps
There are many current survivals starting up that are doing pretty well due to this strategy. For example a new server called BuzzMC is owned by a youtuber called Guiltyy who has 200,000 subscribers and they had around 100 players on for release.
Another way you could go is through premium server slots, however the price of them can add up very quickly.
Hope this helps
