This week, I decided to share some of my favorite things I’ve learned throughout my own streaming journey and constantly remind myself about. These are all topics I have been over before with others, but not as in depth and wanted to share them in this article. Here are six helpful tips for beginners to keep in mind to help grow your channel.
1.) Overlays and Tech Gear – You could have great gear and the most professional looking overlays, but still not have an influx on channel traffic. This is common, especially for new streamers. Even the best sound or camera quality will not give you any physical advantage when you’re new to streaming. Some people even disable their webcam or prefer to use VTube models and they may encounter the same types of success as others who do use webcams. Buy the gear you can afford, don’t overwhelm yourself with the stress of getting the best tech available. When you first start streaming, your channel will likely be close to the bottom of the stream chain, it happens to all of us and everyone has to start somewhere. Spend less time decorating and spend more time editing your about sections on your social platforms.
2.) Networking – While the point of discord servers like ours is to network with others of similar interests, you shouldn’t rely strictly on networking as your main form of channel growth. Every streamer should actively be networking but also investing money and time into digital marketing and creating digital ads on other social platforms that can target your specific audience.
3.) Social Platform Utilization – Aside from Gamactica, content creators should be utilizing as much social platforms as possible. Create and maintain other social platforms to promote yourself on. Post your stream schedules if you have one, post a tweet looking for other content creators to collaborate with, create a Facebook page and attach it to your public stream-focused Instagram account. Create a YouTube channel to create and post content weekly, bi-weekly, or even on a monthly basis. Discord servers, Facebook groups, and subreddits are also great tools to utilize, but only those within the community will see and read the things you post. Hover and TikTok are wonderful for clips from your favorite streams. Utilizing other social platforms is a great way to streamline your networking and gives you an opportunity to reach more people worldwide. Platforms where your content remains constant and readily accessible gives you the ability to grow even while you sleep.
4.) Goal Oriented – Continuously create content on social media that are aimed to help achieve a goal and are focused around your goals. With the platforms and any other apps or websites you utilize as I mentioned above, you will soon find that utilizing other social platforms will help you grow when you’re not live-streaming. Someone may come across you on a separate social platform when you’re not live-streaming, they may click your links and might even send a follow to get notified for when you do finally go live. Be sure to add your link to your designated streaming platforms on your social platforms so it’s easier for others to find your channel.
5.) Relatable and Relevant Hashtags – Be sure you’re using the appropriate hashtags on your posts on other social platforms, as well as in your livestreams. This allows people to search for various topics through the hashtags. Take advantage of the categories available to you and carefully categorize your streams appropriately. Hashtags won’t guarantee social media likes, or stream views, but it’s a great way to allow others to potentially access your content. You never know who might just stick around and support you for the long term.
6.) Chatting Categories – This is an important one that I wish someone told me when I first started streaming, take advantage of the chatting categories on your streaming platform. This is good to do weekly or bi-weekly. Think of just chatting as a form of a virtual podcast, with or without a webcam. Chatting with your viewers and lurkers gives them the ability to get to know you on a more personal level, ask you questions, and talk to you more directly compared to quickly chatting in mid-game where you’re multitasking and might not be as focused. If you’re feeling bold, engage with your viewers even more by utilizing your other social platforms to create polls and allow your supporters and followers to choose the just chatting topics you speak on the next time you livestream under a chatting category.
