So, you want to become a content creator. That’s fantastic, but many others have the same dream, and one piece of advice that we’ve heard time and again - such as in our tips on how to get discovered - is that you need to be both authentic and distinctive. You need to find what makes you special and nourish it, growing it into a unique identity - we might even say a brand - that people love. This is called finding your voice, and it’s often a journey of self-discovery, as you trial different types of content and presentation styles to figure out what works best while still allowing you to be yourself.

This is all far easier said than done though and for some budding content creators, the journey stops before it's ever really started due to the struggle at this stage. So we asked you, our community of content creators, big and small, how you made it through this step and for any wisdom you can offer others at the beginning of their journey.

The first tip comes from MacGybo, who suggests you just need to be yourself. As clichéd as it sounds, he explains "the moment you try and emulate another creator, people will spot it." This is also applicable generally, as you don't want to come across as insincere or 'fake'. It's much harder to maintain a façade for a long period of time than it is to simply embrace your personality and let it shine. MacGybo explained how he does it:

"I didn’t think I was doing anything special. I was just doing my thing, speaking how I speak, about something that I was both semi-knowledgeable and passionate about. That was enough to get people watching. My content speciality is niche but I’ve ended up with 3,000+ active subscribers. That’s chicken feed by most gaming standards, but for the game I play (EVE Online), that’s pretty decent."

Rushlock has similar thoughts, explaining that "your enthusiasm and passion for what you create or cover will show in what you produce, and is what will get traction". However, he also mentions that as soon as that passion turns into a grind, you'll burn out, which is something we talked about at length in our guide to managing the content creator lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Lanah Tyra suggests that part of finding your voice is to continue putting the effort in as long as you're enjoying it. Getting started is the hardest part, she explains: "If you only have a few viewers at the beginning [and you’re not taking off], it can be hard to tell if it’s something you're doing wrong, technical issues with stream quality, or if people are simply not interested in what you are doing. But if you keep putting effort in, you'll slowly see the results."

A personal anecdote she shared is that she's had videos she's worked on for days at a time only for them to hardly garner any viewers whatsoever, but a highlight from a recent Twitch stream got "picked up by the algorithm" and received over 2,400 views. That doesn't dissuade her from continuing to produce the content that takes more effort to produce though, because "they show different skills and aspects of the game; one is focused on visuals, while the other is a guide to a specific fight."

Additionally, building your brand goes hand-in-hand with being recognised by other people working on the game, whether it's other content creators or part of the development team. Lanah rounds off her advice with this tale:

"While I was away on holiday I got the notification on Twitter that a PR manager from Square Enix and one of my favourite content creators started following me. I was sitting there wondering what was going on - I’m on holiday, I haven’t even posted anything? When I came home and finally caught up on my emails, I noticed that the video I made for the FFXIV Fan Fest video competition got into the finalists, so probably those who followed me saw it and liked it. It’s not a big deal, still won’t get me much closer to monetisation or collaborations, but simply the fact that people I look up to appreciate my work and the style of my content, means the world to me."

Do you have any tips on how to find your voice as a content creator? We may run this bounty again in future to expand upon the wisdom above, so let us know your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to submit it to the bounty when we next run it.