Rarran and his community are here to “just have a good time.” When asked what he attributes to his success, he emphasized consistency and learning from others above all else. However, I thought he was hiding something, so we took a closer look at Rarran and his community to find out what his real secret was.
“My community is just great overall. There are people who play Wild and Standard which is cool. For the most part, everyone’s basically there to have a good time. There’s no one who seems to be tired of being in the community or seems like a drag. Everyone seems to be having a good time. My channel seems to have very active chatters ’cause I try to respond to everyone I can and have a good time.”
Rarran seemed to have a great community, but surely there was something unique about his viewers which allowed him to be successful.
What was the secret that kept people coming back?
“It’s such a weird question to ask. I guess the content’s good enough and I guess they like me, but you can say that about every single channel.”
Well, that wasn’t a satisfying answer. Just produce good content and be yourself? No; there has to be more.
“If someone raids you, if your content’s not good enough, people won’t stay and that raid won’t really mean as much as if your content is attractive… As long as you’re being entertaining to your viewers that come regularly, if you get raided, you hope that the people who come in just naturally fit into your community. You shouldn’t go try to do something you’re not just to appeal to the people coming in. If someone’s raiding your channel, it’s not because they’re expecting you to do something extravagant. It’s because they’re bringing viewers over because they think your community is good.”
So the solution is just be lucky and get raided 4Head?
“Luck has nothing to do with it for the most part. Like if you’re good, you’re good.”
Oh :/.
“The biggest thing would just be consistency. That’s the biggest thing for anyone, right? If you’re trying to build something, you can’t just do it sporadically. People want consistency, and if you’re not consistent enough, people are not gonna be ready to expect your stream and you won’t have regulars.”
Well, maybe there’s a secret to making good content. How do people improve? Do you just look at your stream VODs and change things until you’re satisfied?
How do you make a good stream?
“If you’re watching someone who is like Reynad, or like a bigger streamer, and they’ve already given you insight on how to be successful, following those cookie-cutter steps and then adapting it to your specific content is what I’d recommend. So like, when I first started streaming, especially with Mario Tennis, I did exactly what he did. I tried to stream every single day, tried to be funny, tried to be different than the other Mario Tennis streamers, and take his exact advice and keep building off of it. Just like a watching someone play a Hearthstone deck, it’s better to watch someone do it, learn from what they’re doing and then try yourself, rather than go in blind with absolutely nothing.”
Author’s note: Rarran first got big from streaming Mario Tennis. You can read more about it here.
Is there really any secret to making content then?
Rarran said other than the three things content creators constantly say, not really. Those three things being be consistent, be yourself, and be positive.
Rarran said being positive, or more accurately, going in with the right attitude and motivations, is possibly the most important requirement for being a content creator. It’s something people may overlook, but it’s extremely important.
He said that especially with YouTube, creators are going to face adversity. Without the right mindset, they’ll likely fold.
“As you get bigger and bigger, more vicious comments come out… If your goals are going in there just to make money, it’s not going to work out the way you’re thinking. When you actually get feedback and it’s negative, it’s going to discourage you so much. You need to do this because you want to do it, not because you want it to be your job. You can look at LiquidOx for example. He still has this idea that he’s going to school and that’s going to be his career path, but if [streaming] so happens to work, and he can make it work, and he enjoys it still, he’ll do it full time. That’s a really good way of looking at it.”
So, there isn’t some hidden secret that every big streamer knows but no one is leaking.
There isn’t some mythic-tier chatter that randomly pops into chats to give you massive chat interaction. That comes from the creator.
There isn’t some giant raid that’ll magically turn your stream into a full-time job. That comes from consistent growth and improvement.
And finally, there isn’t some magic formula you can just plug in. You can’t just insert a recipe, wait 317 days and receive partner. Streaming isn’t like planting crops in Stardew Valley.
Maybe people think there’s a hidden secret because the advice given is deceptively simple: just be consistent, continually improve and have the right attitude. But that’s really it. As long as you keep enjoying content creation, there’s no losing with that advice.
Remember that saying “do what you love and the money will come”? It’s basically the same for streamers, but with three extra steps.
