The RPG Guy

The RPG Guy is a viral social media experiment and a potential D&D 5e content creator online persona I inhabited for the last month. My aim was to see how quickly can an account grow consistently following the new marketing techniques that I learned and an excuse to practice my creative writing and game design skills at the same time.

PHASE 1: The Framework and Layout of a Fantasy

I played dungeons and dragons for the past 5 years and created quite a bit of content for it as a dungeon master. I always wanted to put that content out there and see what the wider community would be like to engage with. With this I set to do proper research on how current content creators thrive in the TTRPG space and see how can I too grow quickly.

I quickly found that TTRPG content thrives mostly on Instagram and Reddit so I set those as my target platforms for the time being. I quickly grew accustomed to r/homebrew as the largest engagement subreddit to post to and conducted deep hashtag research to come to the following list:

#dnd #dndhomebrew #dndart #homebrew #homebrewing #criticalrole #dungeonmaster #instadaily #ttrpg #worldbuilding #fantasyart #dnd5e

After setting a consistent content calendar and setting on creating a month’s worth of creations, I formulated a collection of branding materials including logos, page layouts and cover pages which proved quite standardized and easy to replicate.

I took the standard two column structure and kept fonts and spacing that gave it the D&D content look but shifted it to darker tone both to be easier on the eyes and give a unique flair to the content I write.

I also had to learn how to integrate artwork within the pages in that D&D aesthetic, which proved problematic until I experimented with a series of custom brushes in Photoshop that gave me the look that I was looking for.

PHASE 2: Reels and Consistency

Managing multiple social media accounts was more difficult than I originally anticipated and I am still learning when to post at any given place for maximum exposure. It seems to be something unique per audience as majority of my views seem to come in during the night which might allude to a more European centric audience that I am engaging with.

With this initiative, I also came to realize how important reels are to drive engagement. Reels quickly became my highest performing posts in terms of engagement and I still feel I do not do them enough. It was a unique challenge to create video content without using my voice or visage, which I wasn’t too comfortable doing right away, but I learned that making quick engaging edits of existing movies, TV shows and games engage the audience the same way. This is a type of content I really want to lean into more and expand going forward.

I found a unique niche within the space with a more structured approach that stretches consistent narratives across multiple weeks of content. I structured the content in a way that it could exist independently but is enhanced considerably when viewed in sequence. Thus, if a person stumbled on a piece of content, they can continue reading across multiple posts and is more likely to follow to easier engage with the release schedule.

I sprinkled in some funny reels to grab attention and get the vibe of the release across utilizing my knowledge of pop culture and movies.

At the end of a current run, similar to comic books, the content can be pieced together into volumes which act as individual adventure modules that can be re-released or monetized in the future.

THE RESULTS

Data collected over the 1st month of operation

~1200

Reddit
Upvotes

~50,000

Reddit
Post Views

~500

Post
Shares

~250

Unique Instagram
Accounts Reached

70

Total
Followers

68

Instagram
Post Likes

PHASE 3: OUTCOMES AND LEARNINGS

I definitely learned a lot about how the Instagram algorithms are structured and how important it is for the creator to engage with the platform and not just post in it (something that I aim to improve next month.) I will continue to experiment with new content and update the results in this case study. Otherwise it is a very rewarding experience for me so far and I deeply enjoy the good words that my content brings up.