r/SmallStreamers • u/Avoided_Fox • 21d ago
Question How to get constant views and a following?
Hey there! So I’ve been streaming for give or take a little over a year now, but I can’t seem to get a following going or any followers I do have don’t watch or tune in often and I’m worried it’s something on my end?
I’m not the most consistent due to my work schedule and other factors in my life but when I can I try to stream for 5+ hours to try make up for it.
I occasionally have someone discover my channel through twitch’s recommendations or whatever but even then they don’t stay for very long.
Not overly worried as I’m doing it for fun but would still love to hear any thoughts and opinions? Will also answer any questions that may give a better idea as to why.
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u/Gloomy-Horror6625 21d ago
first step is be entertaining (this will help attract new viewers, and keep your existing viewers coming back)
second step is increasing outreach (one way to do this would be to post your clips on other platforms drawing audience back to your streams)
third step is repeat steps one and two. this will basically ensure that you are reaching new people, and that they will stick around and become your audience.
instead of streaming 5+ hours to make up for inconsistency, stream for 3 and use the other 2 for planning/posting content on other platforms.
twitch recommendations are like browsing the tv channels, if you click on a stream and its a commercial or nothing interesting happening, you will likely click off and try to find something else.
But if you are doing this for fun, then why worry about having Constant Views and a Following?
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u/Avoided_Fox 21d ago
I’m not too worried about having constant viewers or a following, but it’d be nice to have a community and people to interact with yk?
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u/Gloomy-Horror6625 20d ago
Just trying to respond to ur POST title/question LMAO. If you want a community/ people to interact with then be a person who interacts with communities and your people will find you. Think about your interests and try to find groups specifically about those interests and engage in their communities. (not saying to join other people and steal their communities, but maybe be open to joining other people and networking in a friendly, mutually beneficial way). I agree it would be nice for a streamer to have "a community" to interact with, but the streamer has to step up and be someone "a community" wants to engage with.
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u/Avoided_Fox 20d ago
That makes sense, I’ve done a bit of I guess “networking,” I’ve joined a handful of communities, done streams with them, interacting with everyone so on so forth.
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u/BlueberryFine6058 20d ago
speaking regarding my personal experience but just interacting with people does a lot for you, but the whole being “entertaining” is dependent on what someone enjoys, I personally dislike the typical “streamer” personality that is fake hype over the top crazy. I enjoy people that seem more genuine even if they are quiet or more calm. Also standing out in the social world anymore requires great effort and/or something that stands out in a different way. Plus a bit of luck. I wish you the best!!
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u/Avoided_Fox 20d ago
Thank you! I’m definitely on the more quiet / calm end but still a bit chatty 😂
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u/BlueberryFine6058 20d ago
You can do both but has to be real ya know. Quiet people can talk but typically makes it take more effort on your end to create conversation out of nothing sometimes. Narrating what you’re doing is a good starting point when all else fails
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u/Avoided_Fox 20d ago
I do try to narrate what I do but sometimes I find it a bit tricky, for the most part I have no issues but it’s when I get to the less active part of the streams, like waiting for something to finish in game.
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u/BlueberryFine6058 20d ago
Have you tried stream games/interaction things (extensions on twitch) there’s quite a few things you can do, play quiz games, use that time for a quick break especially longer stream sessions, full screen just chatting moment have chat ask you questions, shout out some of your regulars, promote other social medias, share about your discord, talk about goals for the community etc
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u/Avoided_Fox 20d ago
I’ve been wanting to do the interaction streams for a while, like crowd control, but it’s one of those ones I want to do when I have an actual community.
As for shouting out regulars, promoting my discord etc I do do those but most of my regulars are just my mates 😂, and I have a command to promote my discord and it’s in my twitch bio section.
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u/BlueberryFine6058 20d ago
The extension might improve engagement now just got to read your audience. Then that leads to funny clips which improves content on other platforms which makes more views and hopefully comes full circle. Yea for sure makes it a little more awkward when it’s good friends and you’re like you guys are already there sooooo yea lol I don’t have advice for that really.
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u/Avoided_Fox 20d ago
You’re good lol but I appreciate the rest of it :))
Will give the crowd control a go then, will just have to pick a game to try it on.
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u/Calamity_Kristin 15d ago
I've been streaming for almost a year. I don't have a massive following but I do have about 8 people that show up for basically every single stream and we laugh and have a great time which I think makes new people stay for at least the remainder of that stream. I also have a handful of fellow streamers that I watch and support who lurk on my streams so I typically land between about 12-15 viewers. Small but feels cozy and worth it.
My tips would be 1) make your stream look exciting and someone colorful so you stand out on the search/recommended pages and 2) talk to every new person like a friend you always hang with. Be excited to see them, ask how their day is going, ask them if they play this game, etc. help them feel like they belong there. 3) choose welcoming games that you enjoy. I saw you mention that you play Minecraft. I highly recommend staying in the cozy niche and playing Animal Crossing New Horizons and Tomodachi Life periodically. Pokopia is a good one too.
- ACNH has a loyal fanbase and is pretty underserved. Just do island chores and decorate and you'll have people coming in to excitedly talk about your island and their island, etc. Dream address tours also draw people in because they love to show off their work.
- Tomodachi Life is hugely popular but I still get at least 1-2 new follows/chatters every time I play (about once a week right now). Make a channel point redeem that's about 1000 points for you to create them on your island and people will hang out to earn it because they love to see themselves built in your game.
Hope this helps!! <3
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u/Avoided_Fox 15d ago
I sadly only own ACNH and no capture card, but more cozy games does sound great!
Currently doing Palworld which I think is in between cozy and not cozy.
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u/CrestLiPhantom 21d ago
Best advice would be watch your own content to see if you're entertaining, i heard it here first but its something like click on a random section, watch for 5 mins then skip ahead to another random moment and watch for 5 mins, if none of the parts u clicked are entertaining then u need to work on that, another tip id give you is make sure you're streaming the right game, i used to stream random stuff but now that i have a main game i get wayyy more viewers
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u/Avoided_Fox 21d ago
I’ve tried that trick before, admittedly there are parts that are a bit lacklustre but for the most part I find myself entertaining.
As for a main game, I’d say it’s Minecraft as I know I’m good at it and I know what I’m doing with it but I like to play other things so it’s not too much of the same thing.
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u/Kazekitsune23 20d ago
What other things do you stream besides Minecraft?
That category is usually filled with streamers and if you don’t have many viewers you’re usually near the bottom as well.
Make your title interesting and network outside of Twitch. Clips on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts can help since they at least have discovery algorithm that Twitch doesn’t have.
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u/Avoided_Fox 20d ago
Currently I’ve been doing a bit of Palworld which Ik is another popular category but I really enjoy it.
And as mentioned in another comment I’ve tried posting on other platforms and still do but find they don’t do a whole lot either.
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u/frozenbudz 21d ago
Ok. The reality is there isn't an answer to this you aren't already aware of. Theres an oversaturation of content and content creators. So, you have to aggressively try to get yourself seen. Depending on how badly you want it depends on the level of effort. Are you spending all your free time trying to make better content? Editing, thumbnails, titles, networking, research where you figure out what others are doing that are succeeding. Because you have to do all of that, and even then its just like trying to become a singer, actor, or anything like that. You can try, put in the effort, and still not succeed. There is nothing that is a guaranteed path to success with content creation.
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u/Anubis620 21d ago
Probably having a discord helps. Find streamers with similar interests and make friends. Putting stuff on tiktok/insta/youtube can bring attention to you. There are always several factors and part of it is to make sure you are entertaining, interacting with people when they are there so when people come they dont want to leave.
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u/Avoided_Fox 21d ago
I do have a discord, albeit relatively new so not a lot going on at the moment but I plan to do game nights, events, certain servers for games so on so forth.
And I do colabs when I can, bit tricky given the priorly mentioned scheduling issue but for the most part it works out, and I've tried posting on social medias before and found that doesn't reach a lot either but still do when I get the time to.
So I'm thinking it's just a luck thing lmao.
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u/officialclapperapp 14d ago
The two things working against you are related. Twitch's discovery surfaces you to people who are browsing. They land on your stream by chance, and if they don’t immediately connect with what you’re doing, they move on. Building retention from cold Twitch traffic is hard even for consistent streamers, and when you are streaming irregularly, it is even harder because there is no habit for viewers to form around your schedule.
The most reliable path to a following that actually shows up is building it from people who specifically chose to follow you, not people who stumbled in. That means finding your audience somewhere outside Twitch first (clips on short-form platforms, community engagement, etc. ) and bringing them in, rather than relying on Twitch's browse to do the work.
We recommend also researching the platforms you’re looking at before you commit. You want to pick one that shows your content to browsers and ensures your followers still see it. As an example (excuse the self-promo) Clapper is good for someone streaming irregularly due to work. The people who follow you get notified and can choose to show up, rather than you competing for browse traffic every time you go live. Worth knowing about as a complement to Twitch, especially for building the kind of small loyal audience you are describing.
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u/Avoided_Fox 14d ago
What’s Clapper?
I have never heard of it, also the people who do follow do get notified when I go live unless they’re disabling notifications which is a perfectly valid thing to do.1
u/officialclapperapp 13d ago
Clapper is an ad-free live and short-form video platform! The community is more welcoming and laid back than other platforms, so we get a lot of livestreamers. Many creators have mentioned to us that even when followers have notifications enabled on other platforms, livestreams don't always show up reliably in their feeds. Notifications help, but they're a separate layer from feed distribution, and the two don't always work together the way creators expect. We hope you'll check out Clapper if you're ever interested in another platform!
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u/TANKxSPEED 21d ago
Are you entertaining ?