Original: Top ideas to improve live stream engagement.
The days of streaming yourself playing video games are over. Twitch channels that simply turn a camera on, point it at themselves as the creator sits back and plays another run of Dark Souls are a dime a dozen, which means only one thing: it’s been done so much, viewers are no longer interested.
With so many choices in front of them, it’s normal that Twitch viewers are looking for streamers who are going beyond this paradigm. You can be one of those as well by injecting a bit of variety into your show. Here are 5 ideas to improve your live stream engagement.
Tricks to improve live stream engagement
Challenges & punishments
Viewers have seen the red-faced rage of streamers dying to Ornstein and Smough so many times, it’s become sad rather than entertaining. Instead of rewarding them with yet another profanity-filled diatribe, why not give them something funny or silly to behold instead?
Challenges and punishments are a great two-hit combo for engagement because they build anticipation. All you need is a tough goal and something that you really don’t want to do, then you’re good to go. For instance, you could tell your viewers that if you can’t kill the super challenging boss that’s blocking your way by the end of the stream, you’ll prepare and eat a bowl of flaming hot Korean noodles.
You can make these punishments as mild or severe as you want. However, the challenges have to be real. Don’t make them too easy or you’ll kill the suspense (believe it or not, the goal is for you to actually fail). On the flip side, don’t fake your failure either or make the challenge impossible or it’s just not going to be genuinely exciting.
Community days
Viewers want to feel appreciated and seen by their favorite Twitch streamers. This is why you often may see them do silly things like make memes about you or post your most embarrassing clips on social media. You’ve invited them into your world by going live and now they want to be a part of it.
This is why starting regular community day streams are key to building more engagement. A popular approach some channels use is reviewing community creations. If you’ve got a bunch of viewers who love making art, memes, and other stuff, no matter how silly or poor quality, you’ve got an instant recipe for a fun stream. All you need to do is accept submissions from them, put them on screen while live, and talk about their creations.
Not only will this incentivize more viewers to create things, but will also keep them hanging around your channel more often.
Play with viewers
We’ve said this one before but it bears repeating. Playing video games with viewers instead of by yourself all the time is a great way to develop more engagement with your Twitch stream. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a competitive game, either.
One popular choice some streamers opt for is setting up a game server for something open-world and creative like Minecraft and 7 Days to Die. The beauty of these types of servers is that it gives you and your viewers a space to be creative together while chatting about anything and everything.
More importantly, it builds a deeper connection between you and your viewers which will ultimately make them more loyal to your channel.
Tournaments & events
Much like playing with viewers, hosting events and tournaments is another fun way to get your viewers to hang out on your Twitch stream. Apart from giving them something to look forward to, it’s also an opportunity for them to have some spirited competition in an attempt to win a prize. It doesn’t even need to be something you buy for the event.
It can be something related to the stream, such as giving them control over a certain element for a while.
Give viewers control
It’s not the easiest thing to do but ceding control of a certain part of your stream to your viewers is a great way to keep them invested. We’re not talking about making them run the whole show or giving them mod access. It’s more about allowing them to influence how the show is run.
The simplest way to do this is through polling and voting. They can vote for which game you’ll play or what sort of punishment you need to receive for failing a challenge. It can be as big or as small an aspect of your channel as you want. What’s important is that it gives your viewers a sense that they’re putting a part of their own ideas into your stream, which in turn gives them a bit more ownership of your channel to a certain degree.
Looking for more ways to improve your live stream engagement? Here are 5 Live Stream Engagement Tips And Tricks To Start Using Today.
Check out this video on improving live stream engagement from Video Creators.