There’s this one group of people who love nothing more than having a backseat gamer. This means having someone sit next to them while they play a game, carefully watching, commenting, and cheering them all the way.
A streamer has a massive audience of backseat gamers every time the stream is on, and this is why, for a lot of people, being a streamer seems like a dream come true.
What’s not to love? You play games, chat, and react to content and get paid to do so. Still, how do you do it successfully? Here are six tips to help kickstart your own streaming career.
- Pick Your Platform(s)
In the past, Twitch more or less had a monopoly on streaming, with other platforms trying but never quite getting there. Today, however, Kick is a worthy competitor, with a lot of streamers managing to make a decent living by streaming exclusively on YouTube.
No one pays much attention to smaller creators, but once you grow larger (and your audience is with you), you might sign a contract with your streaming platform. Now, some of the largest creators out there have contracts that are not exclusive to a single platform. This means that you can simultaneously stream on Kick and YouTube, which opens up a world of new possibilities.
Sure, sometimes you’ll face certain geo-restrictions; however, with modern VPNs, you have a global market with which to work. VPNs are at a level where they’re not slowing down a connection by that much, and even apps for mobile devices are at a pretty high level of technical proficiency. For example, Kick is not allowed in Turkey and Greece, as it often shows players using unlicensed gambling sites. But, with a VPN, audiences in these countries will be able to access your Kick steam by setting their location to one of the many countries worldwide in which Kick is allowed.
- Understand the significance of cross-platform presence
In the previous section, we’ve mentioned the importance of streaming on multiple platforms, but why does this matter so much? Well, there are a few big reasons.
One of the best things about using multiple platforms is the way this system feeds into itself. Namely, some people will discover you via your YouTube clips and then look forward to catching you live on Twitch or Kick. The same goes the other way around.
Diversifying your sources of income is another reason cross-platform presence is advised. Here, you get more space for ads, more sponsorship opportunities, contracts (when you get big enough), and much, much more. Not to mention that each platform has its own monetization mechanic.
Most importantly, this is the opportunity for reusing your content. Memorable moments on the stream can be clipped out for your YouTube channel. If you find an editor to do this on your own, you don’t even have to put in extra effort. To incentivize them, give them a percentage of your YouTube revenue instead of just paying them a flat fee.
- Pick the right game
One of the first things you want to do is pick the right game.
A larger game has a larger audience, but it also has more streamers competing for the same pie. Not to mention that many of these “large” games have toxic fan bases. If you can’t stand this, it might be better to pick something a tad more niche.
Some games have a deep meaning and, for many people, represent more than just a game. Strong franchises always have sequels and make unexpected comebacks, which means that you might be set with fresh in-game content, even with games that don’t have infinite replayability by default.
Just keep in mind that if you pick a cult classic like Pokemon, Morrowind, Heroes of Might, Magic III, or something along those lines, you risk having an audience that knows the game better than you do. In that case, don’t try to be an imposter. Simply be forthcoming about just discovering the game and make your entire brand around it.
- Understand that you’re an entertainer
Magnus Carlsen is undeniably the best chess player of the generation. Is he the game’s largest streamer or the owner of the biggest YouTube channel on the topic? Of course not!
The same thing goes for virtually every game out there. Just take a look at a game like Age of Empires 2. No one doubts that The Viper is the GOAT, but Spirit of the Law has almost twice the number of subscribers.
Best players win tournaments, boost accounts, and coach others for huge income. Streamers provide a different service – entertainment.
It’s your job to provide content for your audience, content that they’ll actually enjoy. This means that you shouldn’t be too worried about losing points or not playing meta. They’re not there to see outstanding gaming on your part (most of the time), and sometimes, even a troll build or an epic fail can be a massive success. If nothing else, you can clip it out for your YouTube channel. Speaking of which…
- Manage your community
Early on, you’ll be happy to have any viewers or donors. However, you need to think about these things in the long run. You don’t want to grow anti-fans in your community, and you definitely want to grow and scale up with your fans. So, here are some ground rules you should set.
First, you need to hire the right mods. While this may sound a bit absurd you want people who are somewhere between becoming power-crazed and being pushover. You need mods who are strict but fair, as well as mods who understand that people are there to have fun, sometimes even vent a bit. You don’t want them to be too trigger-happy.
The best thing you can do for the community is to establish it, set some ground rules, and then let it live a life of its own. The discussions will evolve naturally, the memes will flow, and everyone will have a good time.
Occasionally, you want to “purge” your community as soon as you notice your fandom is becoming too toxic. Why? Well, as we’ve mentioned, you want it to live a life of its own, and you don’t want toxic old fans to gatekeep optimistic newcomers.
- Think about collaborations and toss in an occasional one-off
There are other content creators in your field, and you could benefit quite a bit from the collaboration. This is something that everyone benefits from.
Your audiences already overlap with many creators. By setting a collaboration, you’ll lay a foundation for a future event and provide a ton of content for your audience. This is also a great PR stunt to portray you as a team player. It doesn’t get any better for your personal brand.
Still, the overlap is never complete, and new people will discover you. This is not a competition. No one streams 24/7, and the audience follows more than one creator/streamer. As long as you create quality content, both audiences will grow.
Sometimes, it’s a good idea to break away from the norm and play something else or “Just Chat.”
You can choose a similar or related game when choosing a different game to play, or you can take a different route and get exposure to a completely different community.
Ultimately, you want to give yourself a chance to pivot. All games die, but if you’re thinking long-term, you need to have a contingency plan. Take, for instance, streamer Destiny, who pivoted from being one of the top Starcraft II streamers to mostly doing political streams and debates (as well as the occasional drama).
A streamer is a business owner, and they need a business plan
As a streamer, you’re working on your own career. After all, you need to be there for the long run, which is why you need to make sure your presence lays on a solid foundation and that you know what comes next. The above-listed six tips are great general guidelines, but you need to elaborate a bit in order to learn more.
