If you work towards improving in these 5 areas you will see your Twitch stream followers and viewers rise in the coming weeks.

5. Quality
4. Clarity
3. Communication
2. Branding
1. Audience

5. QUALITY

What your stream looks like is not the most important aspect of your stream, but it’s always the first thing Twitch streamers worry about when it comes to their channel.

This is because it’s something they can control and make changes too see immediate results. The truth is that you only need to have your stream quality set to a certain level. The only concern you should have is about whether or not new viewers leave your stream when they first show up.

What do we recommend? Streaming from your XB1 or PS4 with medium quality will be good enough, to start.

The key takeaway here is “good enough, to start”. You don’t need to go out and spend your cash on fancy equipment when you’re just starting out. Prove to yourself that you will actually do the work and then look into increasing the overall quality of your stream (cameras, broadcasting software, more internet etc).

It’s far more important you work on having a fun & interactive channel for your audience then worrying about the latest graphics cards to make your stream really pop.

Down the road this will be important to take your stream to the next level but don’t kid yourself, you’re not ready for that.

4. CLARITY

Did you know you have 3 seconds to grab someones attention before they decide to either stay on your channel or leave your channel and never comeback?

This is why it’s SO IMPORTANT that you clearly label what your channel is about.

Having a great Title is the first step of this process. Be specific when it comes to what you’re playing. Literally label out what it is you’re playing down to the exact mode.

Also, don’t make the mistake (we have all done this) of not syncing up the game you’re actually playing in your title. This can happen for a lot of reasons, like when you get logged in & out of Twitch when making changes, but make sure that the game you’re playing is always true to what your title says.

The next opportunity that you have to be clear with your message is in your channel panels. This is one of the best opportunity your channel has to grab the attention of new viewers. How clearly can they read what your channel is about?

Do you have a schedule panel?
Do you have an About panel?

Your channel panels are your defense against new viewers entering your stream and leaving your stream within 3 seconds.

When creating a schedule panel make sure that you stick to the actual schedule that you present. People like consistency and they want to know when to show up. Don’t disappoint them by not committing to your schedule.

Your About panel is the #1 panel on your stream, but it’s also the #1 panel that streamers mess up.

When creating your About panel remember that it’s not an “About Me” panel, it’s an “What Do I Get From You If I Watch This Stream” panel.

You see people don’t care that you have a dog named Skip and that you love the Toronto Blue Jays. They care about what they will be getting from you by watching your stream.

Clearly label out what they will be getting from your stream. Let’s plays, walkthroughs, Q&A’s, competitive action etc etc.

3. COMMUNICATION

You can communicate 3 different ways with your chat and if you can nail all 3 you will be on your way to a freaking killer stream.

What are the 3 ways to communicate?

I thought you would never ask…

Your chat. Your mic. Your face-cam.

The difficult part is learning to master all three, but a better plan is to first focus on being exceptional in just one.

Having a face-cam is technically the most difficult of the 3 but it also provides the biggest impact of the 3. What makes live streaming so great is the emotional connection you create with your audience. They get to see you and you get to look at them and during the emotions of gaming you connect with one another.

They get to see you stressed out during a big play, they get to see you annoyed or frustrated when something doesn’t go your way.

Streaming is REAL.

Streaming is LIVE.

Streaming allows viewers to see the real you and this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss out on. Having a face-cam is a difference maker.

But what if you can’t get one right now?

Then you have to worry about communicating with your audience through your chat or through a mic.

The reason communicating with your audience is so important is because it keeps your viewers engaged with your channel. It keeps them coming back for more.

One of the easiest things you can do to engage users is simply call them out when they come into the stream.

“hey bobby1412, thanks for checking out the stream”.

It’s really that easy. If you don’t have a mic you can still communicate with your audience, but it comes at a cost…

You will need to take time to type into the chat. This of course means your gameplay will suffer, but at the end of the day would you rather be the greatest gamer of “insert game here” or would you rather have hundreds of people watching your stream and talking in your chat?

2. BRANDING

In the past 5 years that we have been streaming we have learned that Branding is the single hardest thing to create for your channel.

I bet you’re wondering what the heck branding is anyways.

Good question.

Branding is about creating a cohesive experience across multiple networks, or areas of your channels. This means you want your audience to feel the same when they see you on twitter, facebook, twitch, youtube.

Matching your channel panel graphics to look the same in terms of fonts, colors etc will help to create this experience.

Having graphics for your stream or overlays will help with this as well.

1. AUDIENCE

The single most important aspect of any great stream is the Audience. Every great stream has a great audience and not just by luck, but because they created the great audience.

Your channel will be built through entertainment, competitive play or through exclusivity.

Decide which one you will be and then deliver on that for your audience.

Maybe you’re aren’t the best COD AW player on the planet, but heck you will be the most entertaining (entertainment)

Maybe you’re a real drag when it comes to personality but you have amazing stick skills in Destiny (competitive play)

Maybe you’re no good at any games and you’re not funny, but you can emotionally connect with your audience and you do that by having Q&A’s with them every Tuesday for 2 hours (exclusivity).

You need to ask yourself one question here…

What are you doing to make your followers raving fans of your channel?

DO THIS NOW

Respond in the comments below how you will begin improving your channel.