- Guys, I'm tired.
I'm tired of seeing bad advice
being spread around the internet
about how to grow your live stream audience.
Seriously, the number of bad takes
that I've seen on Twitter, on Reddit,
and now even on TikTok is getting out of hand.
I don't know if this is old advice maybe
that is being re-spread
and isn't as relevant in the Twitch matter today.
Or if this is this new craze
of Twitch tips that are being spread across places
like TikTok where people are really just
posting them to hopefully boost their own numbers.
But some of these takes are hilariously bad
and would seriously ruin your chances
of ever growing a dedicated live stream audience.
So let's take a look at some bad advice
and suggest some better alternatives.
(gentle music)
Just before we jump into the tips I'd like to give a quick
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To get started with Melon,
just simply visit the link down in the description below.
All right, so bad advice number one
is a crazy stream schedule.
I constantly see people suggesting
that you need to be streaming at least five days a week
for at least four hours per stream.
And if you can't do that, then you're not going to grow.
And it's just, it's bad advice.
You simply can't spend all of your spare time,
all of your free time dedicated to this career by streaming.
What you have to understand here is that live streams
as a format don't work in your favor for growth
because they aren't a discoverable form of media.
And next to nobody is going to be watching your VOD
after you finish streaming
as a way to grow through your offline library.
This is why I think people are suggesting
that you need to be live for longer
because you'll be discoverable for longer.
But the reality is since these live streams
aren't really discoverable in the first place,
that advice doesn't really ring true.
Most people aren't going to spend their time scrolling
down in the directories, finding a new live stream to watch.
So this theory of being live for longer
is going to help you grow more just doesn't really work.
What does work is diversification
and producing video content
for a platform that is built around discoverability.
So YouTube and TikTok
I would say are the two major players there
because then people can arrive at your video content
whether you are live or not,
and even if you made the video months or even years ago.
If you can spend your time learning to create good,
valuable content on one of these discoverable platforms,
it's going to be much easier for you to build an audience
and then hopefully help move some
of that audience across to watching your live streams.
Think about it.
What sounds like a better strategy to you?
Spending eight hours streaming to 10 people
for then nobody to watch your VOD from that live stream,
or spending those eight hours creating a super
engaging and valuable YouTube video that can
keep bringing new viewers across to your channel
even months or years after you've finished creating it.
I'm living proof of this working.
Some of my oldest and admittedly cringiest videos
from two or three years ago
are still getting thousands of views a day.
And people are discovering my channel
and the content around it
from something that I worked on two or three years ago.
So how should you be spending your time then
considering most of you are doing this
as a sort of side hustle, side project right now
and probably have work
and other family commitments to think about?
I'd advise when starting out
spending roughly 25% of your time streaming
and 75% of your time creating content.
So let's say that you have 20 hours
in the week that you can dedicate
to trying to build this career.
I would spend five hours streaming, maybe in two lots
of two and a half hours streams
that are on a set schedule every single week,
and the rest of the time creating content
for discoverable platforms like YouTube or TikTok.
Of course, once you've built an audience and a bit
of a following, you might want to adjust this balance
in favor of more live streams as your audience grows.
But certainly for growth
the best strategy is going to be producing good quality,
valuable and engaging content
on a more discoverable platform.
If you want to be extra efficient with your time,
I would recommend taking the same strategy
that popular streamer Ludwig does,
which is to actually create your YouTube content
whilst you're on stream.
Pretty much every single live stream that Ludwig does
is built around the content that he wants to put
into a YouTube video each day.
He then records that content live with his stream audience
effectively combining the tasks
of creating content and streaming together.
So ultimately I'd advise you not to spend all
of your free time streaming
and instead learn and practice the skills
of being a more diverse content creator,
rather than just a streamer.
Iterating over this process again and again
will not only improve your content
but also result in more avenues
for potential viewers to find you.
The second bit of bad streaming advice that I saw
plastered over the internet was people being encouraged
to create their own discord server as an avenue of growth.
Now, I'm not saying that you can't create your own discord
server, or that you need to wait for some magic number
of viewers or followers before you create one.
But I see far too many streamers spending days
creating this perfect discord server
with 15 different channels,
auto posting their social media posts,
auto moderation bots that they've brought in
and really expecting this perfect discord server
to bring viewers across to their stream.
But if you actually go in the server
there's little to no interaction happening there.
You have to weigh up the benefits
of spending the time creating and managing a discord server
when you haven't really got enough members
of your community yet that really desire a place
to be able to speak and communicate in.
If you think about this from your audience's perspective,
what actual value are you providing them
by asking them to join your discord server?
And what's their impression going to be
if they do join your server and see 15 channels there
but little to no interaction happening?
That's probably going to hinder your brand rather than help it.
Instead, I'd recommend participating
in some medium-sized discord communities
that you share similar interests with.
Maybe you can find one
for a game that you're passionate about
or some specific niche that you're very knowledgeable in.
Whatever it is, the purpose is to interact
and participate in that community.
Learn what it actually takes to build a good discord server
by being a member of one
and making friendships with other people in that server
that share similar interests to you.
Don't go spam-- (alert sounding)
Dude. - [Man] Sorry, sorry.
- Don't go spamming or self-promoting
in these discord servers.
Trust me, nobody is clicking on your links.
And most communities will probably warn or ban users
that are coming across as self-promoting.
The aim here is to find a community of like-minded people
and to actually participate in that discord server.
And then eventually down the line
when you have got a big enough audience
from your live streams and your content elsewhere
to build a discord server for them to interact in,
you will know exactly what you want to build
because you've been the other side of this.
You've been a member in a bigger discord community
so you will understand what it is
that your audience wants from your own discord server.
Then you can look at creating all the fun bits
of your discord server, like private live streams
or stage channels, but you need to make sure
that you have an audience that desires it
and not the other way around.
You're never going to build a discord server
that's going to grow your stream,
which is where this bad advice comes from.
And hey, whilst we're on the topic of discord servers,
I would be doing myself dis-justice
if I didn't mention that Gaming Careers
has its own discord server where thousands of streamers
and content creators interact every single day.
So I'd heavily recommend joining the discord server.
The link is down in the description.
Bad advice number three
is that you need to be putting your content everywhere
on all of the different social medias.
But when we're talking about Twitter, Twitch,
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat.
I mean, there's endless social media platforms
and it's unrealistic to expect anybody
to be able to post on all of them.
And that's not even taking into account
that places like YouTube now, you have videos,
live streams, shorts, community posts.
They're trying to be all encompassing
and it's just unrealistic to post everywhere.
Instead, what I'd recommend doing
is focusing on one or two social media platforms
that serve slightly different purposes and that you know
that your target audience is already using.
For example, if you're streaming content that was all to do
with cooking food, you might want to be using Instagram
for all those finished plate pics
and TikTok for quick 60 second highlights
of the recipes and how you made each meal.
Or if you're streaming a competitive game
that has frequent patch updates, you might want to
choose YouTube where you can post in-depth guides
about certain aspects of the game
that people might be searching for.
And your second social media could be Twitter
where you can share your thoughts
with the community on updates and patch notes.
I definitely recommend having one of the platforms
be a video first platform.
So YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook,
just because that medium is going to be the closest
to what your live stream is going to be like.
So if they like seeing a lot of you on your videos,
that's probably the closest representation
of what your stream might be like too.
Now you might well be thinking,
Pete can't I just make one video and post it
to multiple different social media platforms?
Create one vertical video
and then post that to TikTok, YouTube shorts,
Instagram reels, and Snapchat simultaneously,
and then I can be on all the platforms.
And yes you can, but I actually wouldn't advise doing that.
Again, it really just comes down to value for your audience.
What value are you providing
by posting your TikTok clips into your Instagram reels?
Why would somebody want to follow you on Instagram
if all you're doing is posting your TikTok content there?
You want your audience to feel valued by you.
So if all you're doing is re-posting content,
that's going to come across as low effort
and low value content.
Instead, what I'd recommend doing
is to edit the same content to fit and be specific
to the social media platform that you're posting it to.
Then that's ideal.
So for example, you could take a Twitch clip and turn them
into portrait highlights for TikTok using a tool
like StreamLadder to crop your web cam
and actually make good, valuable content
that is intended for the vertical video platform.
So to summarize, you don't need to be on
every single social media platform out there,
instead focus your energy on one or two platforms
that you know that your target audience is using
and really putting out valuable content for them
on those platforms.
Bad advice number four is to stream just one game
for your whole streaming career
if you want to grow to be a full-time streamer.
And I can certainly understand where this advice comes
from because the old advice at least used to be
that if you wanted to grow, you needed to stream one game
because people were only interested in watching one game.
And if you went and streamed a variety of games
then you'd lose your audience every time you mixed up games.
But thankfully Twitch as a platform and streaming in general
has become a bit more forgiving
from the audience's perspective.
The majority of partnered streamers
aren't just streaming one main game anymore.
Instead, they vary what they play
day to day or month to month, depending on what's popular
or what's entertaining for their chat.
Think about how many of your favorite streamers took part
in the big trending games on Twitch in the past year
like Among Us or Fall Guys, Rust or GTA Roleplay.
The reason that they can do this
is because it's the personality of the streamer
that the audience is attracted to.
People may arrive at your stream
from the game that you're playing
or the category that you're streaming in,
but if they're going to become a valuable member
of your community, it's likely that they're sticking around
because they like your personality.
I've seen far too many streamers burn out
and give up on streaming because they'd been
streaming the same game that they no longer enjoy playing.
And that comes through in their content.
It's obvious to the audience
that you no longer enjoy streaming that game
and your content suffers as a result.
So the ideal situation is to build a community
of people that want to watch you as a streamer
exploring and playing new games
and creating content about new and different games.
And they're just wanting to see your reactions
and your entertaining value that you bring
whilst playing those games.
But how do you go about building that kind of audience?
Well, I think there's a few things that you can do.
Firstly, I would suggest having a just chatting portion
to every single live stream that you do.
This section of your stream should be solely dedicated
to interacting with your audience and discussing topics
or having a conversation back and forth with your chat.
This can be a bit tricky if you're still a very new streamer
and you only have a small handful of viewers,
but try and plan a topic that you're going to talk about
for each stream and choose a topic that you're
comfortable talking about on your own if you have to.
You should also try streaming games
that are closely related to each other.
So don't just jump into a new game every single day
that's completely different
to what you've been known to be streaming,
but pick games that have similarities between them.
So for example, if you're known for trying to do no hit runs
in games like Dark Souls,
then you could look at other games that you could try
and do no death or no hit runs in.
That way your audience won't find it such a jarring contrast
to what they're used to.
And hopefully they'll still find the links
of what they found entertaining previously
just in this new game.
And finally, you can plan some content and some streams
around real community engagement by playing games
like Marbles on Stream or GeoGuessr with your chat
or doing a tier list of fast food restaurants for example.
Those kinds of events are really going to make that bond
between you and your community much stronger.
And they're going to be much more likely to
watch you play different games than what you're known for.
Bad advice number five is better gear equals better stream.
You can buy every light, camera, microphone,
capture card, stream deck in the world
but it's not going to make an engaging stream
for your audience.
They're not going to stick around
just because you've got good gear.
If you can't give your viewers the content
that they want to support and consume,
then they'll be gone before you know it.
This is a difficult one for me
because obviously on this channel
I do cover a lot of the latest streaming gear
and products that come out.
And often if I like the product, I do recommend it
which may influence some people into buying it
thinking it will improve their chances
of becoming a full-time streamer.
But you always have to be thinking in your head
will this product actually benefit my audience in any way
or am I just buying it
because I want the latest streaming tech?
It's really important to highlight that there's a difference
between improving the quality of your content
and improving the production quality.
When I'm talking about improving the quality of your content
it's nothing to do with the gear that you're using.
The amount of improvements that you can make
by simply balancing your audio
and EQ-ing a cheap microphone
or lighting yourself properly with a cheap webcam,
easily meets the threshold of what viewers will consider
as good production quality.
So it's really not about having this super expensive gear
and that being the reason that you're not growing.
In reality, the main reason people don't succeed
with streaming is quite simple.
It's that they're not making good content and they give up
before they put in enough learning and repetitions
in creating content that eventually becomes good,
valuable content for an audience.
So next time you're watching me review the latest bit
of streaming tech, think to yourself
is that piece of streaming tech something that I really need
and something that is going to improve
the viewing experience for my audience?
And if not, maybe put that money towards something
a little bit more valuable,
like learning how to video edit from an online course
or something that is actually going to
directly impact your audience.
Because if you can improve your video editing skills,
then your content is going to become better.
And that's going to help your chances of growing
much more than some piece of hardware that's come out.
That being said, if you are a gear head
and you get a lot of joy out of testing
and getting the latest streaming tech
and you have the disposable income to do so,
then feel free to buy as much as you want to.
I don't control your money.
You can choose what you spend your money on completely
but just don't expect it to increase your viewership
because really that's down to your content.
All right, so that wraps up
five bits of bad streaming advice that I've seen
scattered across the internet these past few weeks.
If you have enjoyed the video please do give it a thumbs up.
That really does help me out.
And if you haven't yet checked out
the Gaming Careers podcast,
we are live streaming it every single Monday.
Me and my cohost Benjamin Green
every Monday at 9:00 AM PST, 12:00 PM EST.
We record this podcast live
and we're taking questions from chats.
So do drop by.
And if not, I'll catch you in the next video, peace.
(gentle music)
Live streams and shorts are kind of the polar opposite.
Shorts is like scrollable.
You're probably watching less than five seconds of most,
and then maybe you watch one the whole way through,
which is 30 seconds or something.
But how many times are you browsing
five seconds of live streams?
You're not, you're just finding somebody
that you know you want to watch
and you sit and watch them for a few hours.
And then when they stop streaming, you stop watching.
And that's the problem with Twitch.