12 Live Streaming Tips & Tricks

Today, live streaming content is growing faster than ever. There are many opportunities for those getting started. Streamers who have been at it for a while know that there are many live streaming tips and tricks to learn along the way. 

In this article, we have listed 12 incredibly useful live streaming tips & tricks for beginners. These tips can help anyone who is getting started to create better content and stand out from the competition.

If you want to learn more about live streaming, feel free to check out our other articles as well:

• How to Become a Streamer: The Ultimate Guide
• The 10 Best Cameras for Live Streaming in 2024
• OBS Studio Tutorial for Beginners

Live Streaming Tips and Tricks

Below are 12 tips and tricks for streaming that can help you achieve a more hassle-free streaming experience and deliver better content to your audience.

1. Familiarize Yourself With the Equipment

Get to know your equipment before you start streaming. Understand your camera and take the time to look through the features of your microphone, headphones, and other streaming gear you might have.

The same goes for your recording software too. Whether you are using OBS or some other live streaming software, make sure to practice a bit before going live. There are many tutorials you can find for free on how to use OBS studio. We even have an article on it: OBS Studio Tutorial for Beginners.

2. Keep Your Streaming Setup Simple

You do not need fancy equipment or complicated setups to do good live streams. When you get started, it is always a good idea to keep your setup simple. 

Streaming in itself already consists of many moving parts, and there is no need for beginners to complicate things even further. Every extra piece of equipment or gear you add increases the chance that something doesn’t work or needs fixing. So start off with an easy setup, add slowly add gear if and when you need to.

3. Always Have Extra Bandwidth

Good internet is critical when streaming. Always ensure you have some extra bandwidth as a buffer for your connection. Check your upload speed and bandwidth by using a free tool like www.speedtest.net.  

4. Have a Plan Before You Go Live

While you do not need to have everything written out, you should always have a goal or purpose in mind before going live. This helps your stream feel cohesive and entertaining to your audience. This also ensures you do not run out of things to say or do during a stream.

5. Set a Live Streaming Schedule

Make sure to set a clear streaming schedule and follow it. Share it on your channel page and social media. This way, people will know when you go live and can tune in to your stream like they would their favorite tv-show. A clear streaming schedule leads to more viewers consistently and can help you grow your channel.

6. Limit Any Distractions

There are endless distractions you face every day. As a streamer, make sure to stay focused on your stream by limiting any distractions. If you are not really paying attention, your viewers will be quick to notice.

Put your phone on silent mode and close any tabs on your computer. Also, try to do your streaming when you know you are not going to get disturbed for a while.

7. Interact With Your Audience

Try to interact with your audience as much as possible. The main advantage of live streaming is that the viewers can be part of the experience with you. Interacting with your audience could be many things, such as engaging in the chat, do requests, run a poll or contest.

8. Keep Your Layout Simple

A common beginner mistake is to add too much to the stream layout. This could lead to confused viewers, broken overlays, and other problems. If you are new to live streaming, keep the stream layout as simple and clean as you can. 

9. Use Moderators or Chat Bots

If your channel has started to pick up some traction, an overwhelming chat is almost inevitable at some point. There are amazing chatbots out there you can use. We also recommend having moderators for your chat. Any loyal follower to your channel could become a moderator. 

If you want to learn more about Twitch moderation, check out our the articles below:

• The Complete Twitch Moderation Guide
• Best Twitch Chat Bots

10. Embrace Mistakes

Nobody is perfect. You are going to mess up on stream sometimes, whether you are a beginner or have done this for a while. Don’t be afraid to embrace the mistakes when they happen and laugh it off on stream. This could even make you connect better with viewers, making you appear more personal and accessible.

11. Promote Before You Go Live

In addition to having a clear live streaming schedule to follow, it is very helpful to promote your stream before you go live. Send out a few posts on Facebook or Twitter before you go live, so people have a chance to tune in to your show. 

12. Re-purpose Your Live Stream Content

There can be a lot of hard work and planning that goes into a live stream. Re-purpose your content by uploading it as a video on youtube, or you could even turn it into something like a blog post or podcast. Twitch also allows you to save old streams so viewers can go through them when you are not live.

In Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed these 12 live streaming tips and tricks. To get good at anything, you have to be consistent with it. Streaming is one of those things that will require some time and practice to get comfortable with.

Summary of the live streaming tips and tricks: