We were lucky to catch up with Raychel Sanner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Raychel, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

What we’ve always done at Tornado Titans is stay ahead of the curve when it comes to where content is going. I’ve never thought about where we are, but where things are heading. This includes which platforms to engage on, how we engage on those platforms, and so much more.

Generally, my overall thoughts are that if everyone else is doing something, you probably aren’t that skilled or special to usurp the current leaders in the market by doing the exact same thing they are. The only way to grow, stand out, and compete successfully is to be different. This has always required a complete commitment to think about how to do things differently and how to differentiate which new ideas are going to be worth investing time in. For us, that has meant thinking about creating content that goes beyond the standard ‘show people storms’ to show people the entire chase, how we do it, etc. — we didn’t stop at step one, we just kept going.

With A.I. on the rise, I think this is going to become even more paramount. Content creation is going to be very standardized at a very high quality. No matter if you are a writer, photographer, video creator, etc. — machines are going to be able to do what you do on a technical level with little issue. Further, they’re going to enable more people to do what you do on a technical level. The only answer is to figure out how you can work within that framework to stand out. Quality and consistency won’t cut it anymore, and that’s something I’m not sure I ever imagined myself saying.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi, I’m Raychel. I’m a trans creator who has been working within the weather space (and more specifically the extreme weather and storm chasing space) for almost two decades now. I’ve also worked in gaming, sports, and local news. I started my first blog at 12 which I sold at 18. Then I sold again at 30. One of the benefits of starting so early is I’ve seen a lot of changes over the decades that have shifted how we do content, how we share content, and how we relate to audiences. This has led me to be pretty nimble (thankfully) in an ever-changing marketplace.

Currently, I’m dedicating most of my time to Tornado Titans, which was originally just a fun storm chasing brand I ran on the side but it’s becoming a bit more comprehensive in how it approaches weather and climate coverage. I’m honestly looking around at the marketplace today and wondering how individual creators are going to fit in as content creation continues an exponential drive upwards. What I’m most proud of is my team is tackling this with earnest openness and honesty about the fact things are about to shift in very fundamental ways.

I came of age just as we moved from analog to digital and I think what is about to happen is just as fundamental of a shift in content and with how open the market is going to be.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The most important thing I’ve done over the years is to know when to invest in a new network before it gets so crowded growth becomes much harder — but also when to skip networks that probably aren’t going to be worth your time. You have to have a clear why to be on a network that isn’t just ‘other people in my niche are there’.

Similarly, you have to learn when to drop a social media network when it just isn’t working. This includes if you have a great audience on there. Right now, we’re debating really hard about whether we want to continue with TikTok or not. As that network has become more crowded, the return on posts and engagement is, on-average, much lower than other networks. I’ve found it much harder to build a genuine community on there and the content moderation policies when it comes to storm content have been pretty awful. All-told, while our audience is gigantic on there by numbers — in reality it’s pretty small and I’m not that fired up about it.

If you want to experience growth, what I would advise is to try to keep your number of platforms to one or two to start and then try to build from there. Focusing on being great in just a place or two is more important than being everywhere everyone else is.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Care. About. People.

Contractors. Regular teammates. It doesn’t matter.

I try to ask everyone how they’re doing, we keep tabs regularly, and when I do forget to check-in I try to be quick to apologize. The same goes for just not having a massive ego. I know I don’t have all the best ideas, I try to surround myself in all situations with people who are smarter than me in specific areas, especially those I’m definitely not as great with. If I disagree, I try to ask questions to find out if I’m wrong or if they are about an idea. And it is possible we both are right and wrong at the same time, that type of ambiguity is oftentimes all too real.

I grew up around small businesses, and I don’t believe in professional conduct in the sense you don’t care about people. We’re not a family, that is a very serious thing that I don’t want to ascribe to a professional setting (and if you are please stop). But we are a team, and that means for us to be great we have to be together.    

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tornadotitans.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tornadotitans
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tornadotitans
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/tornadotitans
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tornadotitans

Image Credits
Raychel Sanner