Local Influencer Dusty Thunder Reaches 1 Million Online Followers
Dustin Storm, known as Dusty Thunder online, did not plan on becoming a social media personality. In fact, the whole thing started as a bit of a family experiment. He was born in Joplin, grew up here, stayed here and built his advertising career here. Offline, he heads up Storm Cloud Marketing with his wife, Candace, known online as Candy, who is also the creative force behind the scenes of their social media channels.
Dustin says the idea to begin posting was born during the pandemic, but it took Candace and their daughter Ava six months to convince Dustin to go on camera and read stories from the internet. They started posting videos in 2022. Each one performed better than the last.
Dustin says one turning point was when they brought the Dusty Thunder channel under the Storm Cloud marketing umbrella.
“We got more organized and started treating our channels like a business,” Dustin says.
That shift helped them build something that felt sustainable instead of accidental. They began creating content consistently, holding live streams every week, and posting daily videos on TikTok and YouTube. Wednesday afternoons and Sunday nights became appointment viewing for fans.
A big part of his popularity comes from the stories he reads. Many come from a certain online forum where people share their awkward family moments and social dilemmas and ask whether they handled things the right way. Since the magazine cannot print the real name of that thread, we will call it the “Am I the Problem” corner of Reddit. Plenty of creators simply read the stories out loud, but Dusty Thunder takes it further.
He says, “The people who normally do this only read the posts. I dissect the situations and offer my perspective. That is what makes us unique.”
The stories often involve family drama, follow-up details and comments from others who have already weighed in, which gives Dusty plenty to unpack.
Today, some people send their stories directly to him, skipping the internet entirely. They want Dusty and Candy’s take. The first time Dusty reads the story is live in their videos, which keeps reactions authentic. They even created their own rating system for how out of line a person might be in a particular situation. It’s called the ASCON Scale. Readers are invited to learn more about that rating system at Dusty-Thunder.com.
Behind the scenes, there is an entire family and agency team helping the content run smoothly. Candace and Storm Cloud Marketing teammate, Tony Hulfeld, known as Tony Spark online, find the stories and produce the live streams, while Dustin’s son Kadin edits and posts the videos. Their blended family of five children pitches in where needed. So do the employees at Storm Cloud Marketing, who have expanded their skills to support the growing workload, including weekly recording sessions, compilation videos and podcasts.
Dustin has been in advertising for nearly 20 years, and the lessons from that career show up in everything the Storms/Thunders do. They are intentional and careful about boundaries. Some topics are off limits. They avoid politics, religion and anything involving children getting hurt. They also avoid selling anything during their streams.
“We try to be protective of the audience,” he says.
They also try to protect their family.
“We share stories and talk about real life. We will share some things about our family, but we try to be respectful of their privacy, especially our teenagers.”
Building a large online audience can feel unpredictable.
“It can be volatile and a little scary,” Dustin says. Algorithms shift and trends appear and disappear overnight. Some videos rack up views and others don’t.
Today, they have more than a million followers on TikTok alone. Dustin says they are also growing on YouTube, where they are seeing slower and steadier growth. Between the two platforms, 2,000 to 3,000 viewers watch Thunder live streams, while hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, watch their posted videos. Their VIP group gives subscribers access to exclusive material and continues to grow. TikTok and YouTube both offer rewards for creators, creating another revenue stream that helps support the project. And, just in case anyone is wondering, “Hitting one million followers did not come with movie offers or a helicopter ride to work,” Dustin jokes.
What has surprised Dustin the most is not the audience size but their loyalty. Online comment sections are notorious for rude comments, yet the Thunder community is known for being supportive.
He says, “You have to have thick skin when your content grows. Our audience is great. When we have riff-raff commenting, our followers will protect us and run them off.”
Even with all this momentum, the Thunders don’t plan on touring or chasing fame. They like their life in Joplin. They like the balance a smaller town gives them, even though they have followers from every corner of the world.
Dustin’s advice for anyone thinking about starting a channel is pretty practical.
“Be realistic. It takes a lot of consistent performance. If you are going to do it yourself, go slow and always be experimenting.”
In other words, do not quit your day job.
“It has to be a side hustle first,” Dustin says. His other tip is to think things through. “It has been very important to me to be intentional. Being intentional makes it possible.”
Storm Cloud Marketing continues to grow alongside the channels. Dustin is leveraging the agency’s experience to help other creators build their own brands. He says it’s better to set goals for sustainability rather than for celebrity.
