5 Underrated Things That Make a Successful Streamer
What Makes a Successful Streamer
1. Radiant Personality
If you want to be a successful streamer, then you need to have a captivating on-camera personality. Let’s use the gaming niche as an example.
In general, there are two ways to make it as a content creator within the gaming niche. You either need to be really good or really entertaining.
If you’re really good, then you don’t have to rely on your personality as much. You can let your skills do the heavy lifting. People playing the same game will watch you to learn how to get better.
However, most people are not professional eSports players. Casual gamers must use their personality to find success.
Having a good streaming personality means that you can make people laugh. You can make them feel good. You are the entertainment that they look forward to watching after coming home from a long day at work.
If you naturally have a bubbly personality, then there is not much else that you need to do. You can simply turn on the camera and start streaming.
What if you’re naturally more reserved?
Then, you need to first question whether streaming is a viable career path. You will do a lot of talking as a streamer.
Does that excite you?
If not, then that’s okay. There are other ways to make money.
However, if you want to move forward with streaming, then there are certain things that you can do to develop your on-camera personality.
For example, you can study established streamers with big audiences. Don’t just casually watch them but analyze how they interact with their fans.
What do they say in chat?
How do they tell stories?
How do they keep everyone engaged if the stream is over an hour long?
Another thing that you can do is study stand-up comedians. To reiterate, you are very much an entertainer if you want to go into streaming. So, learn how to tell good jokes by studying people who have mastered the craft.
Finally, take massive action. This means that you need to just start streaming. It will feel incredibly awkward at first, but your communication skills will improve over time. You can re-watch your streams to reflect on what went well, and what you can improve upon.
2. Consistency
Being consistent is important if you want to be a successful streamer because viewers treat streams the same way they treat TV shows. If they know a streamer is on at a certain time, then they are more likely to tune in.
Also, being consistent will help you build momentum and grow your subscriber numbers. As a content creator, you must create content. The more content that you create, the better. This is the game that you are signing up for. So, let’s play.
To be consistent, you need to decide how often you are going to stream and for how long each time. Initially, you probably want to treat this as a part-time job.
You most likely won’t be making any money in the beginning, so you need another way to financially support yourself. As your numbers get bigger, then you can consider putting in full-time hours.
Most importantly, set a realistic goal and stick to it. This is how you can achieve your dreams and avoid burnout.
3. Networking
Networking is important if you want to be a successful streamer because it will lead to collaboration and cross-promotion opportunities. By promoting each other’s streams, everyone can reach a broader audience and become more popular.
Moreover, you can learn about content creation strategies and equipment recommendations by networking with more experienced streamers. This knowledge can help your career in a big way.
You can network by attending local and national events within the streaming space. These events are of course a great way for you to meet fans. They are also a way for you to meet other streamers. Exchange contact information and decide how you can work together.
In addition, if you see a fellow streamer online that you want to collaborate with, then send them a message. Hopefully, they respond positively, and things can take off from there.
Keep in mind, however, that there is very little reason for a popular streamer to collaborate with a rookie. The popular streamer will not benefit much from the business relationship. So, don’t get your hopes up if you’re messaging someone with millions of followers.
Instead, reach out to people with similar follower numbers. That way, you can both benefit from the collaboration.
4. The Right Motive
The money isn’t bad, that’s for sure, especially if you become well-known. However, money should not be the only reason why you want to become a streamer.
The road to riches is filled with landmines.
For example, streamers must deal with toxic viewers, changing platform policies, and new trends.¹ Burnout and failure are around the corner if you do not have the mental fortitude to overcome these challenges.
Some of the biggest streamers today got into this space just for fun. They didn’t think much about it. They just treated streaming as a fun little hobby. And look at where they are today.
So first of all, do you actually enjoy streaming? Do you have a passion for it? Do you have something to share with the world?
Understanding your why is so important to being successful in any endeavor. It will help you overcome obstacles and stay focused on the long-term vision.
5. Discoverability
Some of the biggest streaming platforms today are notorious for their lack of discoverability, although that seems to be improving.²
Users on the homepage can easily see which streams currently have the most views. This is great for established streamers with big followings. It is not difficult for them to get more followers.
However, it puts new streamers at a disadvantage because their content cannot be easily found. Therefore, discoverability is one factor you must consider when signing up for a streaming platform.
Another thing that you can do is leverage the power of social media. Grow your social media pages and direct traffic from these pages to your stream. For content, you can simply upload clips of your past broadcasts. Your streaming numbers will increase as your overall online presence takes off.
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