The biggest mistake that new streamers make is thinking they deserve to be watched
from day one. You need to completely change how you think about streaming if
you're going to want to grow your average viewers it doesn't matter what size you
are if you aren't thinking about the next five steps then you're setting yourself up
to consistently struggle to keep your audience engaged in your stream let's go
One of the worst feelings in the world for a streamer is seeing your view count
drop while you're live or even worse when you're a brand new streamer seeing that zero tick up to
a one and moments later drop back down to a zero we've all been there it sucks today i'm gonna be
breaking down how i and many streamers organize and plan out their streams so that when anyone
joins they become engaged and stay for the entire stream this is something that larger streamers do
all the time and it is so simple yet so effective that i bet this even worked on
you and that you've become incredibly engaged by a streamer who has done all of these steps
and the most important part of this entire video is that if you watch all the way to the final tip
you'll realize you can take your entire stream and make it much more discoverable just from following
these five steps so stick around for that but first i want to say thank you to our sponsor
own doll tv you guys should know about own dot tv by now they are a fantastic resource for any
streamer whether you're just starting out or whether you're pretty experienced and you're
just looking to add some more production value to your stream and the best part about owned is the
fact that they have a huge library of animated and static overlays and even if you buy the same pack
as someone else they are entirely modular which means you can pick and choose move things around
and do whatever you want to the pack so you don't look the same as everyone else we have a link in
the description guys so if you want to support me go and support them by clicking that link
and checking out some of the own tv packs today okay so the first step to this entire process
is something that you guys have heard me say over and over again but i have to reiterate it
for new viewers and for the people who don't take this seriously and that is understanding
your audience intent which means what your viewers want to see this is literally the most important
step of this entire video this is your foundation this is the basics that will set you up so that
every decision you make will be effective for growing your stream that's why i want you to go
down to the comments section and while listening to these next few questions i'm going to ask you
i want you to write down the answer to them and if you actually write these answers down and you
actually think carefully about these you will be so much further ahead than every other streamer
out there who's just going live and making random content hoping to grow the first question is
who is the audience you want watching you i think a lot of people just say to themselves i want
viewers but that's a huge demographic and you can't appeal to every single person on the planet
you need to niche down and think about exactly who you want watching you this could be how old
is your ideal audience are they teenagers or 18 plus what do they like to do do they like anime
painting call of duty animal crossing what are their viewing habits are they the type to actively
type in chat or are they lurking while they work study or take a [ __ ] next we have to think about
what they like to watch because if these people like to watch a certain thing that you don't want
to play or you don't want to create well then you don't have your audience locked in properly do
they want to watch chill laid-back streams of starju valley would they prefer hardcore apex
victories are they looking for someone to interact with live or are they like my audience who just
wants to watch someone be incredibly bad at games for hours on end the next question is what
streamers already have this audience who is this audience already watching are we to think about
this very carefully pick an established streamer that might appeal to your ideal audience and think
about what they're doing to attract those viewers are they playing brutally challenging games like
ludwig are they hilarious and very community focused like ravs do they have an intensely
interactive stream like bajo and then if you want to take it a step further there are two more
questions you can answer every single stream that will set yourself up even more why would viewers
click on your stream title and your thumbnail compared to the guy next to you and then second
why are they gonna click on your discord go live your twitter go live or whatever go live you're
posting what makes you special what makes them want to click on you when you're just starting out
a lot of the answers to these questions are going to be based on what type of content creator you
want to be and what type of content creators you already watch and that is totally fine but it is
so important if you want to become a good streamer and a good content creator to take a step back
and think of it from an audience's perspective think of it from a viewer's perspective because
that's how you start to understand what they want to watch and how they're going to get engaged with
you last time i talked about this concept i had a few people say to me i completely disagree lj
you shouldn't do this you shouldn't just try and constantly appeal to your audience
that's what being a content creator is though you are a product and you are selling that product
to a niche or a demographic if you find out that everyone loves buying chocolate chip ice cream but
you don't like chocolate chip ice cream so you're gonna buy pistachio ice cream for your shop or
you're just killing your business that's the same thing you need to think about your audience now if
you don't want to comment down below because it's comment bait or whatever then that is totally fine
write all of this down on a piece of paper instead we'll put it in a notebook or put it somewhere
where you have to think about the answers to these questions and if you don't want to do any of that
then stop watching this video because nothing i say in this video is going to help you and nothing
anyone says in any other video is going to help you moving forward because you need to think about
who the audience is that wants to watch you and how you're going to appeal to them if you want
to grow as a content creator that's just a fact for those of you who have written it down though
and for those of you who have thought about their ideal audience this next step is perfect for you
and now you have to completely change the way you look at streaming i see so many new creators say
well i was going to be playing games anyway so i may as well stream it no wrong that is not how
this works they are completely different streaming is content creation and creating content means
providing value and essentially telling a story much like your stream stories have a beginning a
middle and an end and that means early on your stream you need to establish what your goal of
that stream is going to be so that people have a reason to want to stick around all the way through
the same way in this video i established that there were two reasons to stick around to the end
the first was that this video was going to completely change how you looked at streaming and
give you the ability to keep people engaged for your entire stream and the second which is still
coming up was the fact that the final tip would make you so much more discoverable than everyone
else who's not thinking about this setting up and establishing a goal outside your stream or at any
content is incredibly crucial for your audience retention a few example goals could be something
like ludwig who says things like i am beating this brutally hard game today in x time frame
or if you're a music streamer we'll learn this particular song today or if you're an art streamer
painting master chief as if he was waluigi or maybe you're just chatting streamer and you have
some easy content like i'm ranking every single type of chip flavor today or when i did my dark
souls events i said i am beating the first three bosses tonight cater your goal to your audience
so that you're thinking about what they want to see and what they're gonna stick around for so
goals are pretty important if you want people to stick around and watch your entire stream but you
also have to remember that goals just aren't fun or rewarding if there's no stakes as well after
all if you don't complete your goal if you lose but nothing is lost well that's not really losing
and it's also not overly entertaining either probably the most common example of stakes
that you've seen across all of twitch is i will do x or else i will gift subs or it could be
something else if i don't finish this painting of waluigi as master chief today then i will have to
paint wario as cortana now i'm saying stakes here rather than the word punishment because i think
stakes fits more types of streamers it doesn't always have to be a bad thing it could just be
something like i'm revealing childhood photos or i'll make someone vip playing community games
next week if i lose or hey i'll have to name my character after someone in chat for my dark souls
event the stakes were a punishment though it was beating the first three bosses or i have to dye my
hair purple at the end of that stream there are so many options you can set for your goal and
for your stakes you just have to make sure that they're creative and appealing to your audience
you're starting to see why understanding your audience is so important for content creators now
right because everything you do is either going to engage or disengage viewers from your stream
and you have to be comfortable with that and you have to be able to make confident decisions
with what you're going to do to make sure you keep people engaged just like how goals are
meaningless without stakes well stakes are kind of meaningless without hurdles to overcome if you
set the goal that you have to beat three bosses in dark souls or else you're dying your hair but then
you sail through really smoothly without any kind of hurdles or any kind of difficulty well that's
kind of a boring stream so if you want to set up a really good story for your stream then you need
to have those hurdles to overcome a lot of these hurdles can be natural for example in video games
they'll have bosses puzzles and challenges to try and stop you if you're doing art it takes a long
time music is hard to learn so there are things that will naturally be hurdles but you can take
this a step further as well for example you could set up audience interaction to become your hurdles
i've talked about my dark souls event a lot but it's just a really good example of how to
integrate this for 100 bits you could make your audience force you to drop your controller or
if you're an art streamer 250 bits and you have to change colors to whatever they pick there are ways
for you to make your audience interact and engage i think bajo does this very well with just his
general overlay moving on though before i show you guys how setting your streams up like this
will set you up to be so much more discoverable than any other creator on this platform first we
have to talk about payoffs the hardest part about goals or payoffs is that no matter who joins your
stream whether it's at the beginning middle or end that person needs to instantly understand
what the goal of that stream is to become engaged if they don't understand what the goal is if they
don't understand what is happening then often they will disengage and try and find something
that suits their needs better one of the easiest ways to look at this is just setting your title
to be the goal and the stakes and the challenge by doing this it essentially gives people all the
information they need instantly and titles are also very important for example i have a video
all about how to set up your stream title to be engaging and clickable i haven't linked at the
top of the description and hey here's a really unbiased comment from someone who's not me so
if you really do want to see if it's a good video there you go so if you've set your goal up you've
set your stakes up and you've set your hurdles up well then no matter what you're gonna have a
successful stream and the best part is whether you succeed or fail at your goal it doesn't actually
matter because if you succeed it means you've overcome hurdles and created engaging content
and if you fail at your goal then that doesn't matter either because the stakes that you set up
will have to be paid out because you'll look like an idiot at the end of your stream with purple
hair because you couldn't beat three dark souls bosses in the first night either way the audience
sees great content which makes them stick around and enjoy the stream for longer okay so the final
tip is here the one that is going to completely change how discoverable you are you know how
people keep saying to you that you need a youtube channel if you're looking to grow on twitch and
then you're kind of sat there thinking but how do i make my stream into discoverable entertaining
content well this formula is actually the best way to set up your stream to become a youtube
video because by streaming like this you've essentially created a script for your entire
video you've got your goal and your opener where you establish it that is the start of your video
and then you've got your conclusion your payout and your stakes and that is the end of your video
which means all you have to do is place those two things in and then work your way through
creating highlights and all the best bits and telling a story with the journey that you went on
and bam you've created a perfect youtube video with a good structure that keeps people hooked
and engaged for the end beginning middle end book content payoff every single piece of content
out there follows this exact formula and you need to be following this exact formula as well
now i know there is going to be someone in the youtube comments who says
lj uh there are thousands of streamers out there who don't do this and they're successful and hey
you're right there are content creators out there who can be a lot more free with it and generally
still create good content the only thing i have to say to that is i'm not as talented as them
so i have to put a lot more work in if i'm willing to grow and i want to actually make this my career
but hey that's just me maybe you can go live maybe you can start streaming maybe
you don't have to think about your audience at all and you'll be fine
i'm gonna get so many sassy comments on this video if you watched 100 comment sassy down below