I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Lu Ban sighed.

He tried clicking on the system's task panel and found that there was a new custom mode, but it was locked.

When you hover the mouse over it, it will only display a message like "Please complete the career development task".

"You can't take shortcuts."

Lu Ban erased the system text and returned to the webpage.

He went to [Dongleme] and typed "how to increase the number of followers on old video websites" into the search bar. Before he even finished typing, several suggested questions popped up automatically, indicating that many people were concerned about this matter.

The answers were varied.

"Just leave a witty comment or joke under those popular videos, and you might get tagged and go viral."

"It's very simple. Just forward this post and enter a lottery for a few 648 yuan prizes, and your follower count will skyrocket."

"They can create fake official accounts for certain companies' products, and they can always fool a few blind people."

"If you're a streamer, you can join a streamer guild; there will be experienced streamers mentoring newcomers."

Most of these kinds of things seem to be crooked methods. To say they can't increase followers, they might actually have some effect. For example, the retweet lottery. Lu Ban had seen Weibo accounts use this trick before, getting tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers by retweeting for a few hundred yuan in cash, and then transforming into marketing accounts to take on advertising and make money. They're very efficient.

However, it's unrealistic to expect to gain 100,000 followers on an old video website using this method.

He found another highly-rated answer.

"To build a following, you need to establish a persona, allowing viewers to feel your presence through the videos and develop a liking for you as a person. The best way to do this is to leverage your personal charm, relying on your looks or talents, and staying relevant to trending topics..."

The answer was lengthy and detailed, and Lu Ban hadn't finished reading it yet. First, he checked the answerer's old video account by following their nickname to avoid the blunder of the previous keyboard warrior UP master. After seeing that the person's account had about 150,000 followers, Lu Ban continued to read the answer.

He took notes the whole way and read until the very end.

"...Finally, I want to tell you that there are many ways to gain followers, but there is only one way that won't work, and that is making MAD videos is a dead end!"

Lu Ban clicked back to that person's profile and looked at the earliest videos.

They are all MAD videos with animation editing.

Painful realization.

After finishing his notes, Lu Ban looked at the not-so-large Word document and suddenly felt a pang of regret.

"The night before, I was playing the suona in front of some unknown god, just to see if I could survive. Tonight, I'm worried about how to gain followers on video websites. The difference in my life is just too great."

While waiting for his takeout, Lu Ban roughly summarized his future development path.

There are some contacts from talent agencies in the private messages, but I don't know if they are real or not. If Lu Ban could join a talent agency, he might be able to get initial resources and develop slowly, and maybe he could even reach 100,000 fans.

Regarding the creation of a persona, Lu Ban felt that he was just an ordinary person, nothing special, with nothing noteworthy except for being handsome. Would viewers pay attention to a content creator just because he is handsome? Lu Ban himself wouldn't, and putting himself in others' shoes, he felt that it wouldn't be very effective.

If being handsome were all it took to gain followers, then I should have tens of thousands of followers by now, since I showed my face in my first video!

However, when it comes to establishing her persona, Lu Ban does have some ideas for the videos she's going to edit next.

"I'm telling you, figuring out how to grow your fanbase is much harder than dealing with those weird and wonderful things. Is it really true that the real fun comes from fighting with others?"

The takeout arrived. Lu Ban's takeout for tonight was a set meal of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and stir-fried pork. With the discount, it cost just over 20 yuan, which is considered cheap in Jiangcheng, a city known for its high cost of living.

While eating dinner, Lu Ban found some supernatural videos on an old video website to watch while eating.

In the past, Lu Ban might have felt his heart race when watching these videos, but now, he only felt that they were fake.

If fake things can scare people, why can't real things scare them?

Lu Ban continued to diligently study the valuable aspects of these videos.

After dinner, and even catching the time to take out the trash, Lu Ban returned home and began editing videos.

He plans to edit his videos into an exploration-style video.

So-called exploration videos are actually imitations of Discovery Channel programs, in which a group of people go to abandoned factories, schools, hospitals and other places to explore late at night, which to some extent satisfies people's curiosity. Some creators will even scout the locations in advance and use props to create a scary atmosphere, which attracts a large audience.

Lu Ban himself had been exploring the Jiangcheng Grand Theater at night, and the video footage contained supernatural elements, so he thought that making a similar video would be very eye-catching.

More importantly, this is his second video. Once the two videos are released, the persona of Lu Ban's account will be pretty much established: the kind of guy who has nothing better to do than go out and do dangerous adventures. Viewers who like this style will be looking forward to Lu Ban's next exploration and will naturally follow him.

Of course, editing a decent video from this material is not easy.

Lu Ban personally experienced the events and knew which places were eerie and which places weren't actually fun, but the audience didn't know that, so sometimes hints were needed, along with narration.

We also need to consider that the video footage from different camera angles cannot be switched too frequently, as this would give the audience the feeling of acting and reduce the excitement.

After a week of hard work, Lu Ban finally managed to edit a video that he thought was passable.

"I was right, making videos is indeed harder than doing dangerous adventures!"

After naming and uploading the video, Lu Ban felt completely drained.

He had a late-night snack and still fell asleep to the strains of classic songs from the Spring Festival Gala.

The next morning, he opened the old video website and checked the data of his videos.

150 clicks, 10 new followers.

"That's normal. The video is over twenty minutes long. It's not something that will amaze you at first glance; it requires data accumulation."

On the morning of the third day, there were 570 clicks and 8 new followers.

"Very good, the number of clicks has exceeded expectations, but the increase in followers is a bit slow?"

On the morning of the fourth day, there were 996 clicks and 16 new followers.

"Both fan growth and video views have reached new highs, this advantage is on my side!"

On the morning of the fifth day, there were 1263 clicks and 11 new followers.

Lu Ban pressed the calculator.

"Damn it, is this the end for us?"

He felt that he might, probably, seemingly, perhaps, need a tiny bit of help.

Don't miss out on this great post!

Chapter 027 A Stunning View Ahead

It's 8 PM.

The streamer, [Wangchuan], also known as Qin Tiantian, just closed the game.

"It's eight o'clock, time to touch it, time to touch it."

She spoke into the microphone, and despite a barrage of comments in the live stream such as "It's only eight o'clock," "bullshit," and "please stop touching me," Qin Tiantian remained unmoved.

In her words, a health and wellness livestreamer who goes offline at 8 PM is awesome.

Actually, slacking off was secondary; the main reason was that Qin Tiantian didn't dare to stay up late.

Ever since watching Lu Ban's video, whenever Qin Tiantian stays up late at night and sits in front of the computer, she always has wild thoughts. She sees someone behind the curtains and thinks the cabinet is moving, so she stops playing.

It kept her awake at night and unable to wake up during the day; even taking cold medicine didn't help.

Therefore, Qin Tiantian now goes to bed early every night. Once she falls asleep, she won't be afraid anymore!

Just as she was about to end the live stream, her computer's WeChat suddenly beeped.

Curious, Qin Tiantian clicked on it, then immediately regretted it.

It's Lu Ban.

She hasn't spoken to Lu Ban since adding him on WeChat. Lu Ban probably doesn't even look at his Moments. The two of them aren't even close friends who exchange likes.

"What brings him to me at this hour?"

Qin Tiantian muttered something, and then countless imaginations burst forth in her mind.

Could it be that he found those unclean things and is now coming to deal with them?

Or did he discover that there was something wrong with my family?

Wait, did I just move my cabinet?

The more Qin Tiantian thought about it, the more frightened she became. She shuddered and looked at the message Lu Ban had sent her.

[Still Motionless]: Could you please watch my latest video during your live stream?

"?"

Qin Tiantian was taken aback.

That's it?

Wait, did you post a video?

Qin Tiantian followed Lu Ban after that day, but she only followed him. She had hundreds of followers and her posts were constantly updated on her feed. She never saw any of Lu Ban's videos.

[Wangchuan]: But I've already ended the broadcast. Next time, next time, for sure.

How could she dare to watch Lu Ban's videos in the middle of the night?

Just as Qin Tiantian was about to end the live stream at lightning speed, another message popped up on WeChat.

[Still motionless]: But I see you're still live streaming here.

"hiss--"

What's it like to secretly play on the computer while your parents are out for a walk during your school days, and then turn it off before they come back, only to be caught red-handed by your observant mother who noticed the abnormal temperature of the computer case?

Qin Tiantian initially wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it carefully, she realized that many people had watched Lu Ban's video live last time, and the show was very successful, gaining her a lot of fans.

If I can be the first to watch Lu Ban's new video on live stream, will I also be able to benefit from it?

[Wangchuan]: Okay, I'll look at it now.

She replied with one sentence, and then sent another message.

[Wangchuan]: If anything goes wrong, you'll be responsible.

Qin Tiantian realized there was something wrong with the grammar after posting it, and was about to retract the edit when Lu Ban replied.

[Still motionless]: No problem.

"...What else can we do? Let's see."

Qin Tiantian then addressed the audience.