We asked six experts in the field about their top Twitch streaming advice. These are content creators, stream technicians, and marketers. Also, these are people who are either streaming or uploading videos on other platforms, such as YouTube. It was important to bring different backgrounds together when compiling this list, as we believe there is more to learn from that.
So with this in mind, lets right into our top Twitch and YouTube streaming advice.
1# From Ben Collins
Ben is a full-time streamer and OBS technician based in Krakow, Poland. He is passionate about providing streamers with an impressive platform to showcase their skills and streaming daily himself for the past 3 years to critical acclaim.
There’s a lot of Twitch streaming advice out there, but I think there are two main pieces that I would hand out to new or growing streamers:
1. Find Your USP
A USP is a unique selling point. Without one, you will struggle to gain traction on Twitch. In a world where every man and his dog can start a streaming channel, it’s important to have one thing that sets you apart from everybody else on the platform.
When viewers finally start having your stream recommended, you will have between 10-20 seconds to impress them and persuade them to hit that ‘follow’ button, so make sure your USP is visible most of the time (if not all the time) when you stream.
Find your USP, hone in on it, and the viewers will come!
2. Take Yourself Seriously If That’s What You Want
Many people get into streaming as a fun hobby and don’t particularly pay attention to their analytics and growth. This is absolutely fine and a brilliant way to use the platform.
Others, however, are in the streaming game to try and grow their streams to the point whereby it can be a side business or main source of income.
If you are the second type of streamer, my recommendation would be to start taking your streaming ambitions seriously. To succeed as a business, you need to treat it as a business. Start thinking about factors such as SEO optimization, income management, and community engagement as soon as you start your channel and continue to treat it in that way.
If you treat your streaming account as a hobby, chances are it will forever stay a hobby!
2# From Rob Balasabas
Rob is the Head of Partnerships at Uscreen and a seasoned content creator. In fact, he has his own YouTube channel with useful tips and guides for fellow creators.
When it comes to Twitch streaming advice, it’s important to keep your intent in
mind. What do you intend the live stream viewer to get out of your
live stream session?
Just like any piece of content, you need to deliver value to your viewer. That value can be entertainment, educational, or inspirational. Before you hit that “GO LIVE” button, take a moment to think of what your intended outcome will be for your viewer and for yourself.
Once you’ve nailed that down, your stream’s format and content will be easier to determine. You may want to create a few bullet points notes as talking points for your live stream so that you stay within your plan since it’s very easy to get distracted or side-tracked off course when the adrenaline of being LIVE kicks in.
Deliver value and know your intent with every Twitch stream, and you’ll continue to grow your live stream show!
3# From Rebecca Rogers
Rebecca is a YouTube creator with 718k subscribers! She has seen a lot of success from YouTube shorts. Link to here channel here.
First of all, YouTube is by far my favorite social media platform, YouTube really cares about its creators, and you can FEEL it, so good choice. But this advice also applies to Twitch streaming as well.
1. Create Contet to Build an Audience
Before you stream, you want to build up an audience with content, and there are two different ways you can do that on YouTube. There are YouTube Shorts (videos under one minute), and there are longer formed videos (over 1 minute).
For shorts, you want to make something quick and entertaining. Think of TikTok. Shorts is YouTube’s way of competing with TikTok. That is the kind of content—quick, eye-catching. You can tell a story. You can do a trend. You can teach somehow how to do something. The world is your oyster! I would definitely take advantage of hashtags — # shorts, then a couple that related to your niece. Shorts are being pushed hard right now, and it’s a good way to build up a following. I have exclusively posted shorts from July to November, and I gained over 700k in that short time period, JUST FROM SHORTS. I now plan to start streaming shows that I have a super loyal subscriber base in a few weeks.
For longer formed videos, the sweet spot is going to be 8 minutes. This is both for viewer time and ad revenue. Make sure your title is eye-catching, and make sure your thumbnail is attractive also. STAY AWAY FROM CLICKBAIT. Your title and thumbnail need to be RELEVANT. Watch time is going to be super important. The longer your audience stays engaged, the better the algorithm will push your video.
2. There Will Always be Trolls
People online can be really supportive and loyal. They can ALSO be cruel. There is no single streamer/creator alive who doesn’t get hate comments. It is going to happen. Just know: If someone is going to leave a hateful comment on your channel, it means they are likely to do it on numerous channels also. Meaning you aren’t special to them. They are going to forget about the comment they left on your page after 5 minutes. Do not let someone who will forget you exist after 5 minutes ruin your whole day.
3. Think of the Platform as an Search Engine
Something to remember that really put YouTube into perspective for me: YouTube is not social media. YouTube is a search engine. The second most used search engine in the world. A search engine that was BOUGHT by the FIRST larges search engine in the world (GOOGLE). Meaning YouTube doesn’t care what is trending. YouTube wants to bring viewers to videos that will match what they will look for, whether that video is 2 days old or 2 years old. Use keywords in your title, description, and tags so that they can get your video where it needs to go.
4# From Sam Shepler
Sam Shepler is a filmmaker turned entrepreneur with 9 years of experience in video marketing and the CEO of TestimonialHero.
My first and most important piece of Twitch streaming advice for people looking forward to starting their live streaming journey is to keep it simple with their streaming setup. Obviously, you will need four essential pieces of equipment to begin streaming: a camera, a microphone, streaming software, and a decent internet connection (assuming you already have a computer, of course); however, you don’t have to break the bank when getting those things, especially when you’re just giving your first steps.
If you own a laptop, you could very well start live streaming with your
laptop’s webcam and using free live streaming and recording software such
as OBS Studio or Streamlabs OBS, which will allow you to save some money
during your first streams. Nonetheless, you do want to invest a bit more
when it comes to your mic and internet connection.
Although you can stream most videos in high definition with a download speed of 5 Mbps, you might want much more than that if you want everything to go smoothly, especially if you’re thinking of live streaming video games. And as for the mic, high-quality audio is a real difference-maker among streamers, so I highly recommend getting a top-notch microphone, and there are many options in the market under $100.
I hope this helps!
5# From Anatolii Ulitovskyi
Anatolii Ulitovskyi is a digital marketer and the founder of UNmiss.com – simple marketing tools for increasing CTR. He started live streaming in 2019 after getting the first +10,000 subscribers on my Russian YouTube channel.
Even if you have an active and loyal audience according to your engagement and views, it doesn’t mean they will watch your broadcasts. That’s why my team sends email invitations for our weekly live stream. We found another technique that nobody shares online. If you start a live stream, ask all your team members and friends to open it. YouTube provides more engagement when the broad audience is watching.
At the end of 2020, I started to live stream on my English YouTube channel, Facebook, and LinkedIn. That was hard to invite well-known speakers. I usually convince them with personalized outreach on LinkedIn and emails. Rand Fishkin, Lily Ray, Craig Campbell, and many other experts spoke on my live streams.
I hosted my online event on August 24 with +45,000 subscribers on LinkedIn. Most events use paid ads on Facebook to invite attendees ignoring LinkedIn organic reach. It’s possible to create an event on LinkedIn and invite your connections. I have no 45,000 connections, but I asked other LinkedIn content creators to help me with that. Building relationships is a must-have today.
Today, I kill two birds with one stone. I record audio podcasts and live streams on popular platforms. I will increase my efforts with live streams because it’s an excellent way to cooperate with great speakers and influencers.
6# From Luke Tew
This is Luke from Maverrik, a social selling training and consultancy business that broadcast weekly live webinars every week. They’ve had their own studio for over a year now and learned a lot through their endeavors in training businesses and marketeers about social selling through live streams.
The biggest streaming advice I tell many people looking to replicate our strategy is to make it easy for you to engage with your audience.
You don’t want to be flipping through tabs to get to your chat, and you need to be able to communicate with your audience as fluidly as possible. This means creating a low latency stream so you can answer sharply. If you don’t engage with your audience, you may as well post a video.
Second, the equipment isn’t the be-all and end-all as long as you understand your environment. Even the best cameras and microphones will struggle if your stage isn’t set right. if you’re going to be moving, walking, or broadcasting outside, you need to anticipate every noise and how the lighting can change. People will forgive some camera quality drops, but poor sound quality will quickly turn people off.
Finally, ensure you have a good connection. That’s it.
In Conclusion
There you have our compilation of top Twitch streaming advice from creators, technicians, and marketers in the field. Some key points to take with you are to start simple, engage with your audience, and always focus on getting the newest and best gear out there.
If you feel you want more advice and tips on streaming, we really have a ton of articles for you. To help you get started, why now check out our ultimate streamer guide and OBS beginner tutorial.
