If you’ve been thinking about jumping into a streaming career, now’s the time. Over 60% of people aged 18 to 24 regularly watch live streams. Streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube continue to attract more and more new audiences. Moreover, around one in five videos on Facebook are already live. And these stats barely scratch the surface. Live streaming as an industry is growing fast and showing no signs of stopping.
In this guide, you’ll find all the streaming tips and tricks you need to get started or take your existing streaming content to the next level. Learn what you need to get going, how to produce professional-quality video, and how to grow your audience.
How to get started: Streaming tips for beginners
Although top streamers make what they do look effortless, you’ve probably guessed that streaming isn’t as easy as it looks. But, it’s definitely not that hard either. We’re here to make it a bit less complicated. Let’s start with some basics.
1. Define your goal
The most common mistake people make at the beginning of their streaming career is not setting a goal. Before you go live, you should pinpoint why you want to stream. Your goal might be something like growing your audience, building relationships with your followers, or simply gaining more exposure for your content.
Read later: How to set goals and be a successful streamer
2. Choose the type of your stream
After defining your goal, you should decide what you will do on the stream. You can’t just go live and do nothing, can you? What kind of content will engage your audience and move you closer to your goal? Here are some popular ideas to get your wheels turning:
- Educational videos
- Product launches
- Gaming streams
- Contests and giveaways
- Webinars
3. Set up your streaming equipment
You don’t need a full professional studio to get started, but you will need some basic streaming equipment. As any pro streamer will tell you, it’s crucial to get your stuff set up properly so that it works reliably for you. And speaking of reliability, make sure you have enough bandwidth to maintain a stable connection.
4. Choose your software
Another big step is choosing the right broadcasting software. There are multiple cool apps on the market right now. Luckily, the best ones are free to use. OBS Studio is the parent of all modern streaming programs. It’s free and open-source, supports every streaming platform, and offers high and stable performance. For a truly seamless experience, check out Restream Studio. You can use it right in your browser, no downloads required. With Studio, you can easily feature guests on your stream, chat with viewers on all platforms at once, screen share, and add copyright-free background music and custom overlays, plus much more.
5. Choose your streaming platform
Okay, you’ve come this far. Give yourself a pat on the back! It’s time to choose a platform where you’ll broadcast your content. Choose platforms that will be a good fit for your content and audience. Gamers tend to gravitate to Twitch and YouTube Live, for example. A travel blogger may be more interested in Facebook Live and Instagram Live.
It’s also worth mentioning that there’s no downside to live streaming on multiple platforms, besides high CPU usage and hundreds of open tabs on your browser. Restream can help with that. You can stream live to multiple platforms all from one place without needing to deal with the technical side of things.
6. Test everything before you go live!
This is the shortest piece of streaming advice, but it’s probably the most important. Never underestimate the power of a simple test. It can prevent you from making unnecessary mistakes and get you on the fast track to success.
Your streaming tips for beginners cheat sheet:
- Define your goal.
- Decide on content for your stream.
- Set up streaming equipment.
- Choose your software.
- Choose your streaming platform.
- Test your webcam and mic before you go live.
Streaming tips for becoming a pro
Now that you know the basics, we’ll cover some live streaming tips to take you to the next level.
1. Look confident on camera
Observe and analyze your favorite streamers. It’s no surprise that they look calm and collected. One of the most reliable (yet slow) ways to gain such confidence is through experience. The more time you spend doing something, the more confident you become in it. However, you can speed up this process a little bit with one simple trick. Sit as comfortably as possible, hold your shoulders back, relax your neck and keep your posture straight. Try to sit like that for 15 to 30 minutes at a time to see a difference quickly.
2. Communicate with your audience
One of the main reasons people enjoy watching live videos is that they can communicate with streamers directly. Now that you’re looking relaxed and confident, don’t forget to interact with your viewers. Jump into the chat to respond to comments and questions or add some commentary of your own. Imagine you’re talking to a bunch of your friends and acquaintances and enjoy the conversation.
3. Avoid inappropriate behavior
You might be surprised to learn how many streamers have ruined their careers with inappropriate behavior. Foul language, sexist comments and racist jokes can be fatal in the world of live streaming.
4. Learn from competitors
Find your competitors, analyze their content, and learn their strong and weak sides. Some of them may lack engagement, whereas others may be straight boring. Remember, information is your friend. By learning from your competition, you can avoid making their mistakes.
5. Use additional tools
It’s amazing how a few simple but powerful instruments can significantly improve a streamer’s quality of life. One such tool is Restream Monitor, a stream monitoring system. This little friend allows you to monitor all the incoming and outgoing data on all your streams in real time. Restream Monitor can help you find any issues within your streaming sessions and quickly solve them.
Your pro streaming tips cheat sheet:
- Look confident on camera.
- Communicate with your audience.
- Avoid inappropriate behavior.
- Learn from your competitors.
- Use additional tools.
Streaming tips to grow your audience
Every streamer eventually faces one major question: how to grow the audience. Getting more followers and subscribers can be challenging, especially if you’re doing things intuitively. Here are some tried-and-true methods for expanding your viewership.
1. Promote your videos and channel on social media
Show the world what you are up to. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are great places to advertise your content and attract more viewers. Don’t forget, your titles and hashtags should be trendy and catchy! It’s super efficient to promote your videos on every possible social media. After all, if billboards were free, wouldn’t you use them?
It may not be that obvious, but people often forget to like, share and subscribe, even if they enjoyed the content. So it’s your job to remind them. Don’t be too shy to ask your viewers to hit the bell.
3. Repurpose your video content
It’s hard work creating a quality video, so why not get some more mileage out of it? Record your streams and use them to create teasers, social snippets and more. You could also create exciting, engaging previews and post them on social media before going live. This brings us to the next streaming tip.
4. Always announce your live streams
Announcing your stream is like saying to your friends: “Hey, guys! I’m going to do something interesting here in an hour. Come join me!” Wouldn’t you want to let your friends know when your live stream is on?
5. Create SEO titles and descriptions
Often, people find new videos through search engines like Google or Yahoo. The same applies to live videos and streamers. If you want people to see your content in the top search results, you should create some catchy SEO titles and descriptions. Place your keywords in the title and description to make Google notice you.
6. Restream Events
Another cool option is Restream Events. This amazing tool lets you broadcast your pre-recorded and live streams on your favorite platforms. You can just schedule them for any time you want and enjoy your free time.
7. Restream Analytics
One of the best ways to grow your audience is to understand it better. We can help you with that. Restream Analytics provides you with helpful insights on your live stream performance. It allows you to understand what your audience enjoys the most. Moreover, it gives a new perspective on life in your chat by gathering statistics like trending emojis and top chatters.
8. Stream consistently
Finally, if you really want to grow your streaming brand, you should stream regularly. Create a schedule and do it consistently through thick and thin. You have to be determined and fully committed to this job.
Your streaming tips cheat sheet for getting more followers:
- Promote your stream on social media.
- Encourage others to like and subscribe.
- Repurpose your content.
- Always announce your live streams.
- Use SEO titles and descriptions.
- Try Restream Events.
- Get insights with Restream Analytics.
- Stream consistently.
Start multistreaming
FAQs
What is the best time to stream?
People can’t watch your stream if they’re stuck at work or school, so aim for times when your audience is more likely to be free. Think weekends, early mornings or evenings.
What makes a good streamer?
Every streamer is unique, and that’s a good thing! But the most successful ones do tend to have a few qualities in common. They stream on consistent schedules, they engage their audience and interact with them, and they have a dynamic, interesting presence on the screen.
How do I get better at streaming?
Running a great stream is a skill, and as with any skill, it takes practice to get good. But you don’t have to rely solely on trial and error. Set yourself up for success by getting comfortable with your equipment before going live. Watch other streamers and take note of how they do things and what you do and don’t like about their shows. And always make sure to define your own goals so you know what you’re working toward.
How many hours should a beginner stream?
The right number of hours depends on a lot of things, including your channels and what kind of stream you’re running. But in general, you should plan on streaming a few hours at a time a few times a week. Establishing a consistent schedule is helpful here, because then your growing audience will know when to tune in.
The bottom line
Live streaming gets more and more popular every day. Even huge brands prefer to promote their products with live videos. So if you want to be a streamer, jump on board. It’s now or never! Refer back to our streaming tips anytime you need to. Start with the basics and deal with new problems as they come. After all, live streaming should bring you both joy and money. Good luck, and have fun!
