OH MY GOODNESS. You’re telling me that this whole networking thing was so important that it required not one blog post, but TWO OF THEM?
Yes, that’s right, networking is pretty darn important. Let’s face it, the future of your stream relies on other people watching it. Who knows maybe in the future there could be a Networking Bonus Pack DLC Blog post where I teach you four new ways to network like you’ve never seen before. All for the affordable price of $0. Stay tuned.
So to recap Part 1, we talked about how you form relationships with other broadcasters and how twitch teams work. In today’s blog post, we’re going to talk about being on top of your social media game, the ins and outs of Raids/Hosts, and one of my personal favorites, the elevator pitch.
Yes, that’s right, networking is pretty darn important. Let’s face it, the future of your stream relies on other people watching it. Who knows maybe in the future there could be a Networking Bonus Pack DLC Blog post where I teach you four new ways to network like you’ve never seen before. All for the affordable price of $0. Stay tuned.
So to recap Part 1, we talked about how you form relationships with other broadcasters and how twitch teams work. In today’s blog post, we’re going to talk about being on top of your social media game, the ins and outs of Raids/Hosts, and one of my personal favorites, the elevator pitch.
Raid Host + Elevator Pitch
So you’re streaming and minding your own business when all of a sudden, A WAVE OF EMOTES HITS YOUR CHAT. MAN THE HATCHES! GET ALL OF YOUR MODS ASSEMBLED! KNOCK THESE SUCKERS OUT AND SEND THEM BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM!
Hold on there hot shot. There’s a good chance these Kappas, dog faces, friendly waving women, or any other emotes, are probably there for a reason and not to disrupt your chat. What’s happening is most likely called a stream raid, and it’s definitely something you DON’T want to overreact to. A raid is when someone cuts their stream for the day and decides to direct their viewers to a stream that they think is a good watch. It’s a great way for bigger streamers to help smaller streams grow and educate viewers on awesome streams that might not get the recognition they deserve. They’ll probably also follow it up with a host. Hosting, is a feature by Twitch that allows you to basically put your stream on their stream and you get all the benefits of their followers knowing you are live.
So now you have all of these brand new people who have no idea who you are, but they were told that you’re pretty cool. The last thing you want to do is ban them or freak out. Just relax, have a deep breath, and act like nothing is different. The spam will stop and it’s not worth getting mad.
This is where the Elevator Pitch comes in. In the business world, the idea of the Elevator Pitch is you’re in an elevator with the executive of the company of your dream job. You have 30 seconds to impress them and explain to them why you’re a perfect fit for their company.
The Elevator Pitch for streaming is somewhat similar, except instead the executive of your favorite company, it’s however many people that came over to your stream from the raid. There’s a good chance that a lot of the people that came to the stream will most likely leave very quickly, so you don’t have much time to make an impression. I always suggest to have some sort of 30-45 second sales pitch as to what you’re doing on your stream, and why they should watch. Have that phrase memorized, and ready to go whenever you get a raid. Don’t make it to be this really fake sales pitch either. Just be genuine about it, and explain what makes you, "You". Streamers would be surprised how many people will at least give you more time to find out about you if you come prepared when you get a stream raid.
Example:
"Hey Everyone, and welcome to my stream! I'm currently speedrunning the SNES classic Super Mario RPG! For those of you that don't know, speedrunning is trying to beat any game as fast as possible! I'm glad you're all here and if this is your first time here, come on in, say hi, and don't be afraid to hang out and chat! I don't bite I promise! I love interacting with new viewers!"
The goal is to let new viewers know exactly what you're doing and as the stream goes on, they can find out more about you through your content and commentary.
So you’re streaming and minding your own business when all of a sudden, A WAVE OF EMOTES HITS YOUR CHAT. MAN THE HATCHES! GET ALL OF YOUR MODS ASSEMBLED! KNOCK THESE SUCKERS OUT AND SEND THEM BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM!
Hold on there hot shot. There’s a good chance these Kappas, dog faces, friendly waving women, or any other emotes, are probably there for a reason and not to disrupt your chat. What’s happening is most likely called a stream raid, and it’s definitely something you DON’T want to overreact to. A raid is when someone cuts their stream for the day and decides to direct their viewers to a stream that they think is a good watch. It’s a great way for bigger streamers to help smaller streams grow and educate viewers on awesome streams that might not get the recognition they deserve. They’ll probably also follow it up with a host. Hosting, is a feature by Twitch that allows you to basically put your stream on their stream and you get all the benefits of their followers knowing you are live.
So now you have all of these brand new people who have no idea who you are, but they were told that you’re pretty cool. The last thing you want to do is ban them or freak out. Just relax, have a deep breath, and act like nothing is different. The spam will stop and it’s not worth getting mad.
This is where the Elevator Pitch comes in. In the business world, the idea of the Elevator Pitch is you’re in an elevator with the executive of the company of your dream job. You have 30 seconds to impress them and explain to them why you’re a perfect fit for their company.
The Elevator Pitch for streaming is somewhat similar, except instead the executive of your favorite company, it’s however many people that came over to your stream from the raid. There’s a good chance that a lot of the people that came to the stream will most likely leave very quickly, so you don’t have much time to make an impression. I always suggest to have some sort of 30-45 second sales pitch as to what you’re doing on your stream, and why they should watch. Have that phrase memorized, and ready to go whenever you get a raid. Don’t make it to be this really fake sales pitch either. Just be genuine about it, and explain what makes you, "You". Streamers would be surprised how many people will at least give you more time to find out about you if you come prepared when you get a stream raid.
Example:
"Hey Everyone, and welcome to my stream! I'm currently speedrunning the SNES classic Super Mario RPG! For those of you that don't know, speedrunning is trying to beat any game as fast as possible! I'm glad you're all here and if this is your first time here, come on in, say hi, and don't be afraid to hang out and chat! I don't bite I promise! I love interacting with new viewers!"
The goal is to let new viewers know exactly what you're doing and as the stream goes on, they can find out more about you through your content and commentary.
Social Media
Growing up in high school and college, I really hated Twitter, and I really loved Facebook. Twitter never made any sense to me. Why would I care about what Kim Kardashian is wearing, and why would I ever want to “tweet” at my favorite restaurant to tell them how much I enjoyed my meal? I made a few twitter accounts to keep up with the times, but never spent more than a week on each account. With Facebook, I was addicted to the social media hot spot. When I got into streaming, my views on both completely changed. Facebook became less and less used, and I was opened up to the great world of Twitter.
So you’re asking why is Twitter so great? The beauty of Twitter is how straight to the point the information is. People live busy lives and schedules, and don’t really have the time to read huge posts about information like this (hahahaha). They want the important details in as little as time as possible. Twitter does a great job of making that happen. It’s really easy to come up with a great way to advertise your stream to a group of people that are basically saying “I want to know what you’re up to.” What’s also great is if they think your content is worth it, they’ll tell others about your stream, thus creating an opportunity for you to grow.
Twitter is a great opportunity for you to interact with people, and a great way for those who enjoy your content to interact as well. There’s nothing like getting on Twitter and seeing someone say “Hey great stream today @Iateyourp1e, really enjoyed it and am looking forward to tomorrow's stream!” When you see tweets like that, don’t ignore them. Whether it’s a favorite, retweet, or a response, let people know that those tweets mean a lot, and make sure they know you saw it. You’ll create a better relationship with that viewer, and it will show them that you care.
Now Twitter isn't just sunshine and rainbows, there is a dark side to twitter. With all the great networking things that can happen, there are a lot of negative things as well. Make sure to pick your battles wisely. People love to talk about other people on Twitter, and it’s not always nice. Some people will say negative things about you, and you have to choose to not get caught up in it. The thing you have to remember that when you choose to say something negative on the internet, people you are saying it about will most likely find out. Is being funny on Twitter at the risk of alienating a lot of people, worth it for that 10 seconds of the zinger you just made on Twitter? As someone whose made that mistake many a time, trust me, it’s not worth it. We’ll talk more about the dark side of Twitter in a future blog, but for now, just live by this rule. Treat others how you want to be treated, and you’ll have a successful Twitter experience.
Growing up in high school and college, I really hated Twitter, and I really loved Facebook. Twitter never made any sense to me. Why would I care about what Kim Kardashian is wearing, and why would I ever want to “tweet” at my favorite restaurant to tell them how much I enjoyed my meal? I made a few twitter accounts to keep up with the times, but never spent more than a week on each account. With Facebook, I was addicted to the social media hot spot. When I got into streaming, my views on both completely changed. Facebook became less and less used, and I was opened up to the great world of Twitter.
So you’re asking why is Twitter so great? The beauty of Twitter is how straight to the point the information is. People live busy lives and schedules, and don’t really have the time to read huge posts about information like this (hahahaha). They want the important details in as little as time as possible. Twitter does a great job of making that happen. It’s really easy to come up with a great way to advertise your stream to a group of people that are basically saying “I want to know what you’re up to.” What’s also great is if they think your content is worth it, they’ll tell others about your stream, thus creating an opportunity for you to grow.
Twitter is a great opportunity for you to interact with people, and a great way for those who enjoy your content to interact as well. There’s nothing like getting on Twitter and seeing someone say “Hey great stream today @Iateyourp1e, really enjoyed it and am looking forward to tomorrow's stream!” When you see tweets like that, don’t ignore them. Whether it’s a favorite, retweet, or a response, let people know that those tweets mean a lot, and make sure they know you saw it. You’ll create a better relationship with that viewer, and it will show them that you care.
Now Twitter isn't just sunshine and rainbows, there is a dark side to twitter. With all the great networking things that can happen, there are a lot of negative things as well. Make sure to pick your battles wisely. People love to talk about other people on Twitter, and it’s not always nice. Some people will say negative things about you, and you have to choose to not get caught up in it. The thing you have to remember that when you choose to say something negative on the internet, people you are saying it about will most likely find out. Is being funny on Twitter at the risk of alienating a lot of people, worth it for that 10 seconds of the zinger you just made on Twitter? As someone whose made that mistake many a time, trust me, it’s not worth it. We’ll talk more about the dark side of Twitter in a future blog, but for now, just live by this rule. Treat others how you want to be treated, and you’ll have a successful Twitter experience.
Conclusion
So there you have it. The Essentials of Streaming. These are the bare basics of what you want to have down before you embark on the crazy adventure that is streaming. Now that you have this knowledge, you're one step closer to that dream of growing your stream. Over the next few weeks we'll take this foundation and we'll continue to add more and more layers. Hold on to your seat, buckle your seat-belt, because we're just getting started.
Follow us on Twitter so you get all the latest updates! @StreamBigNET
So there you have it. The Essentials of Streaming. These are the bare basics of what you want to have down before you embark on the crazy adventure that is streaming. Now that you have this knowledge, you're one step closer to that dream of growing your stream. Over the next few weeks we'll take this foundation and we'll continue to add more and more layers. Hold on to your seat, buckle your seat-belt, because we're just getting started.
Follow us on Twitter so you get all the latest updates! @StreamBigNET
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