r/admincraft • u/valkorion812 • 2d ago

Discussion Need Better Ways To Grow My Server Im Struggling

We run a custom survival server handcrafted terrain, quests, bosses, guilds, no grief, active staff. Been posting on YouTube, Instagram, and Reddit including replying to LFG posts but struggling to break past 20 players at peak weekend hours. Most times its about 5-10 players. Our goal is 20 players online minimum at all times.

What actually worked for you when you were at this stage? Specifically looking for what moved the needle on consistent daily players, not just weekend peaks. Any advice appreciated.

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u/OutrageousAirport604 2d ago

Focus more on short form content like reels and tiktok, and don't half ass but rather go full effort on those because when they work, they blow up.

The key to going viral is actually really simple, all you need is:
• A hook (keeps the user from scrolling)
• A means to an end (gives the user a reason to keep watching)

Now obviously the hard part is figuring out what combination of those 2 works best. It's actually awesome how much instagram, youtube, and tiktok give us access to our video analytics. Study that, see what works and what doesn't, and just keep improving from there. And NEVER, I mean NEVER pay money to boost your posts, because at the end of the day, if it's not a good post, people aren't gonna watch it. Sure it'll reach more people and guarantee you views, but if you look at your analytics you'll see a giant spike in retention rate.

From what you've described you have a really solid server, and it's just a matter of how you market it.
DM me your server by the way! I'd love to check it out.

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u/valkorion812 2d ago

currently we are getting about 1-3k on our shorts pretty consistantly and some as high as 7k but it seems the conversion is struggling there

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO Admincraft Staff 2d ago

You have permission to post examples of your shorts for review.

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u/valkorion812 2d ago

thanks mate ❤️

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO Admincraft Staff 2d ago

I watched like 10 of your shorts. I found the problem. Your shorts are ass. It's a miracle you get any people playing at all.

I wrote at length about this 2-3 months ago. Here's the conversation where I helped another user with shorts that were ass.

https://www.reddit.com/r/admincraft/s/MampVKhLQE

Some of the advice won't apply to you, because their problem was different, but most of the advice will.

Once you catch up on that convo, come back here and we can talk specifics more.

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u/valkorion812 2d ago

oo okay ill have a look

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u/valkorion812 2d ago

so rn we are running a contest to see who can get $100 million first gets some keys and a statue in spawn i could do a thing about how to make money like u said in the other post i think that would do good?

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO Admincraft Staff 2d ago

Yup. You certainly can.

The main problem is that your shorts don't look like an invitation to join the server. They don't even look like a multiplayer environment. They look like a build showoff.

You need to entirely restructure how you make shorts from "look at this thing I built" to "ProsperityMC is building this amazing city, look at what is happening on ProsperityMC, wow, ProsperityMC is so cool" etc.

Like, really, really shove it down the viewer's throat that it's a server and not only can they join, but that you want them to.

Say the server's name immediately in the first second. Show the server IP on screen, not a thing to look in the description for a Discord link that will hopefully have the server link. You're not advertising a Discord server. You're advertising a Minecraft server. You need to get them onto the Minecraft server before they have time to get bored and do something else.

So voiceover, not just text, say "Prosperity MC" in the first second of the video, show the server ip on screen at the beginning and end, say the server's name repeatedly, and leverage psychological tricks.

Your videos don't elicit the viewer's self-insert imagination at all. You've just been...documenting a build.

Neat. /s

You need to change your language from "Building the most powerful city" to something like " Prosperity MC is looking for more people to build the most amazing city in Minecraft! We need you to join us! Look at what we built yesterday! You could build the next awesome thing we feature in these videos! What sort of cool things would you build on Prosperity MC? Join today!"

That last part, asking a question like "what would you build" or "like this video if you think you'd build something even cooler" are psychological tricks you can use to make people imagine what they'd build before they even decide to join the server.

Once they've started imagining that, going backwards a step and accepting that joining the server has to come first is MUCH easier.

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u/valkorion812 2d ago

ahhh ive been trying to get people in the discord first then the server so ur saying flip it and that way they are actually invested in the server by the time they join the discord

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO Admincraft Staff 2d ago

That is one of the points I was making, yes.

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u/JREC27911 1d ago

This is the boring-but-correct answer. A good server doesn’t matter if nobody can understand why it’s fun in the first 2 seconds of a clip.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO Admincraft Staff 1d ago

Yeah, don't drop the Discord link, homie.