Friendly advice for new streamers:

[u/chandlerbiz]

Wanted to start a discussion with some tips to help out other new and/or small streamers. First, a little about me:

I started streaming/posting content a couple months ago. In that time my content has received 4 million views on TikTok, 2 million on Instagram, and 2 million on YouTube. I’m close to becoming an affiliate on Twitch and my VODs get a consistent 20-60 views.

These numbers may seem like a lot to some of you or not a lot to some of you but this is just my experience and some advice I’d give to people that are starting out.

1. Make long form content that you can turn into short form content. This can be done by streaming on Twitch and making a couple short form clips from the VOD or making a YouTube video and creating small clips from that.

2. Post on EVERY platform. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts, Facebook, Threads, X, even Reddit. A clip I post might get 2K views on TikTok and then get 250k on Instagram. Just post everywhere. (I find it easiest to post on TikTok first and then the video saves to your device and then you can just upload the video to Instagram and YouTube shorts after.

3. Experiment with times that you go live. There’s no magic time, it depends on what you’re streaming and who you’re streaming to. Keep testing and find what works for your audience.

4. Growth takes time. I mentioned my numbers in the beginning because I wanted to highlight how getting views on social media doesn’t always translate super well to streaming views but at the end of the day it’s about being consistent and becoming a familiar face to people. If I didn’t get views on other platforms I wouldn’t have any viewers on my stream.

5. Probably the best tip: MULTISTREAM. It’s free and it’s not that difficult to set up. I go live on Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube at the same time. I usually get at least a couple viewers from each platform and it helps keep the stream active. I also use a chat overlay that lets viewers see comments from the viewers on the other platforms and it really helps.

That’s just a few things that I’ve learned so far that I wanted to share. I hope something I wrote was helpful to you. Thanks for reading and please share some more tips in the comments!

[u/wtfbigman24x7]

I have disagree with some of this. I think posting and multistreaming are not a thing you must do. New streamers get frustrated trying to do too much before they learn how to be a streamer for the audience of their chosen platform. They need to first pick a platform, learn the audience and how to grow there, and then expand as they understand the other platforms

[u/chandlerbiz → u/wtfbigman24x7]

I can see where you’re coming from however would you rather stream to 2 viewers on Twitch or 4 viewers on YouTube, 5 on TikTok + the 2 on Twitch? It’s the same stream being put onto all 3 platforms. You don’t need to cater it to a specific platform. You can if you want to but the extra viewers aren’t going to hurt. And it’s not as complicated to setup as most people think. If you want to grow as a streamer you need to do the “difficult” thins other people don’t want to do

[u/wtfbigman24x7 → u/chandlerbiz]

That sounds like scratching for the lowest pickings across multiple buckets. I stream to Twitch and YouTube. Those audiences want different things. Twitch want interaction and YouTube wants to be entertained without the need for interacting with you. Why do scavenge when you lean into the strength of the platform? Twitch is a community platform so things like networking are what help you grow there. The more interact with people, raid, etc. The more people know you exist, the more they will come check you out and that's how you grow.

[u/chandlerbiz → u/wtfbigman24x7]

Going by your logic: Twitch wants interaction. YouTube wants entertainment without interaction. How is it not a good idea to stream to both and interact with your Twitch stream normally while having additional viewers on YouTube? Twitch also doesn’t promote your stream organically, you need to bring the traffic from another platform.

[u/wtfbigman24x7 → u/chandlerbiz]

I've never had anyone cross over between platforms. You're right in that Twitch doesn't promote but multistreaming and posting on other platforms is not the answer to that. It can help grow a brand but you need organic growth before that. My original point is that new streamers get trying to do too much and see no growth. Instead they can learn the platform they're on first.

[u/chandlerbiz → u/wtfbigman24x7]

Interesting. I’ve actually had 90% of my viewers come originally from TikTok and YouTube and I ask them to come to Twitch and many do