The last thing you want to do
is to accidentally limit
how many subscribers
or followers
you can have.
But many creators are doing this without even realising it!
This episode
covers 9 ways you can stop limiting your own channel size.
Now for those unaware,
The Minecraft Creator Podcast
has been rebranded
as Follower Forge.
The focus is on gaming channels and streamers
and not limited to just Minecraft.
The goal is to help you forge your following online.
It's a different name,
but the same great content
and you can join the Forge in Discord, too!
I have a link in the notes for you.
So, how do many creators
make the mistake
of limiting their channel size?
And how can you avoid making the same mistakes?
A major component of this
is not properly appealing to a
worldwide, international audience.
Let's go through 9 ways you might be doing that without even realising it.
First of all,
acknowledge the timezone difference.
Release at a good time for your viewers,
or go live at a good time for your viewers.
Look at your statistics
and work out where most of your viewers are located.
Or, if you want to target a particular region,
keep that in mind and target that even if it's not
where your viewers are currently located.
Then release videos when those people are likely to be awake
and on the platform that you're making content on.
Alternatively,
if you want a worldwide audience,
post your content around midday UTC.
This is approximately 8 a.m. New York time, in the US,
around 1 p.m. London time, UK,
or around 10 p.m. Sydney, Australia time.
It's one of the only times in the world
that you can match up with almost every time zone simultaneously.
It's a good time to post content
and you'll notice a lot of other creators
posting at that time as well.
Ideally, post slightly before that,
so that you get in first!
As the Australians are going to sleep,
New York is waking up
and the West Coast USA isn't far behind them.
If those times are inconvenient for you,
consider uploading your content and scheduling it
from the day before.
Next,
make sure that you're aware of timezones
when communicating with others.
Don't say:
“I'm going live at 8 p.m. EDT”
For one thing,
there's multiple timezones in the world
that are called Eastern Time.
So if you're doing that,
at least mention the country as well.
But even better,
mention how many hours and days away the event is.
That's better for an international audience.
For example, you could say:
“I'm going live at 8 p.m. United States EDT, which is 9 hours from now.”
Or just simply:
“I'm going live in 9 hours.”
The platform that you're posting to
has timestamps in the viewer's local timezone
and you're giving them the missing puzzle piece.
The time difference they need
to work out when you're going live in their time zone
or when you're posting your content in their time zone.
As a bonus tip,
if you have a Discord community,
make use of Discord events!
Discord events are automatically converted to the viewer's local timezone,
they automatically alert people when the event is starting,
and they give plenty of advance notice
that you've got an event coming up
in an easy to access list.
The events list!
Events won't get lost
just because you've posted new messages on social media
after your video or livestream announcement.
Another thing to consider
is watching how you talk.
First of all,
make sure you're culturally aware of what you're saying.
Use common words that mean the same thing worldwide,
not slang.
The actor Will Smith
once referred to the launch weekend
for one of his movies
as Big Willy Weekend.
He didn't realise that a “willie”
refers to the male appendage
in the UK, Australia and elsewhere.
You can learn more about this
by listening to the previous episode of this podcast.
If you're on YouTube,
let me know:
What other words do you know that can be confusing when used online?
Secondly, in regards to watching how you talk:
If you’re referring to units of measurement
use both metric and imperial.
Most of the world uses the metric system,
but we want to look after our American friends 😉
If you're talking about units of measurement,
it's a good idea to quickly look up the other value
and provide that too.
Or if you’re livestreaming,
ask your chat to look it up for you.
If you want some engagement,
you could refer to the imperial system as
“Freedom Units” 😉
and see the Americans reply in droves! 🙂
Thirdly,
watch how you talk.
Literally.
Speak slower, and more clearly than normal.
An international audience
needs to firstly process your accent
before they can understand what you're saying.
Just because the people around you in daily life understand you,
it doesn't mean that a stranger on the Internet will as well.
You can also talk the talk.
Make an effort to speak the same language
as a viewer does,
at least in written comments.
If you receive a comment in a language that you don't speak,
use Google Translate to firstly,
understand what they said,
and secondly,
to reply in their language.
They will appreciate the extra effort that you went to,
even if Google Translate
isn't as accurate as a native speaker would be.
Next,
you can take advantage
of your own location
and culture.
Cultural awareness goes both ways.
Not only is it good for you
to be aware of the viewer’s culture
and how they speak,
but it's also a good idea
for you to share a little about your own country and language
with the viewers.
Remember,
many in your audience may not live where you do.
Therefore,
even common sense things to you
might be new and interesting to them.
Let's sidetrack briefly on that point about language,
and I'll teach you a few things.
In Australia,
rather than saying “Hello”
we usually say “G’day”
and that's short for “Good Day”.
In Vanuatu
where they speak Bislama,
a common greeting is
“Olsem wanem”
Which means “How are you?”
And in China
you say hello using “Ni hao”,
and if you convert that to a question using
“Ni hao ma?”
it changes from “Hello” to “How are you?”
If you're listening on YouTube,
let me know a few words in your language, or
something else that's unique about your country.
Now another thing that you can do
is acknowledge your own accent and nationality.
This is particularly important
if your accent differs from others in the same country
or if you have a different appearance
to what people might assume is “normal” for that region of the world.
One writer that I used as a reference for this episode
named Christina Canters
had this to say:
You can also address anything ‘weird’ about you.
For example,
my black hair and semi-Asian looks can be confusing
for cultures who think of Australians
as blond or brunette.
So, I always mention I have Malaysian heritage.
Own up to who you are and what you look like.
They’re your culture, your history and your language.
These are the things that make you unique
and they're also the things
that appeal to an international audience.
Next,
post content using an on demand platform.
If you only livestream,
your viewers are forced to be available when you are live,
or when you are online.
If you want to appeal to a worldwide audience,
make content that people in a different timezone can also consume.
This could mean:
Hosting your stream replays as a VOD (Video on Demand)
on another platform like YouTube.
Use a social media platform
for text or image posts
like Twitter or Instagram
that can be viewed at any time of the day.
And if you're on YouTube,
make use of the community tab.
Or if you have a Discord community,
Encourage people to chat with each other
when you're not there
by asking questions that lead to an ongoing discussion.
By doing these things,
you allow your viewers
or listeners
to access your content on demand
when it's convenient for them.
You also build up a sense of community
by getting your viewers to interact with each other
and feel like they belong in your community.
As you can see,
there's a lot more to an international audience
than just thinking about timezones.
And by focusing on an international community,
you aren't going to artificially limit your growth.
You're going to give your channel
the greatest potential
to grow.
If you want to help your fellow creators,
share this episode with a few of them
and bookmark it for your own future reference.
This is Follower Forge,
helping you to forge your following online.
Join us in the Discord.