by You are unique.
Every part of your stream needs to be unique. Your video’s look, your character, your playstyle, and maybe even your laugh. Thankfully, you are already a unique person. Your past successes and failures shape who you are today. Now your goal is to show the world YOU. Put your ideas and perspective into every detail of your stream so that everyone who shows up wants to stay because it’s YOU.
Just like your wardrobes, you got to keep it fresh.
Now that you have established your stream, it is easy to think that you are done working on it. However, your content needs to stay fresh to continue to be unique. Your community is there for every stream and they want to see your entire stream grow, not just your numbers. A great way to improve your streams is to replay them. While watching a past stream, come up with at least three things you did well and one thing you can do better. Do this on a regular basis or do it when your content is feeling “stale”, but make sure you do it. Take the positives and continue to capitalize on these things; I like to say “do them Bigger”. Now you have your To-Do list of 3 things to do Bigger and one thing to do better. Put that list somewhere that you see it daily.
Don’t you dare compare.
Comparing is a slippery slope that needs to be maneuvered carefully. Watching other streams and seeing what they do and don’t do well, IS a great way to come up with ideas. However, if you aren’t careful you might wind up comparing numbers, chat interaction, donations, and other stream metrics. If their numbers are higher, you may find yourself discouraged and feeling inadequate. If their numbers are lower, you may get too comfortable and feel there is no need to strive for continuous improvement. Both comparison scenarios are unnecessary and unproductive. Again, watch your previous streams and you will have things to celebrate that you are doing well and an area that you need to improve. You can only control you. Keep building you and your community will reflect that.
Always be you.
Continue to focus on how to keep your stream fresh and being yourself. Avoid the comparison black hole and belittling your accomplishments. Your community will start to grow, and they will be there for, you guessed it, you. We will discuss building and nurturing your community in future posts.