Setting goals is a pretty important part of any streaming career. It keeps you grounded and focused on the next step and encourages improvement to a growing channel. If ever someone feels overwhelmed or discouraged during the ups and downs (and they will come and go), personal and community achievements can get the ball moving once again. When I talk about goals I do refer to a scale from realistic to crazy; there’s a huge difference between the two.
Realistic is more along the lines of gaining 100 followers in your first three months on Twitch. Crazy is becoming partnered during your first broadcast. Alright. That one was a little farfetched but you get what I mean. Setting attainable goals early on will guide to in the right direction.
Now, I’m not saying crazy goals are unattainable; they take years of streaming, fine tuning, improvements and consistency to attain. Like the title says: walk before you run. I’ve witnessed ambitious streamers with very large goals become discouraged when they are unable to reach a goal in a certain timeframe. It makes more sense to chase 100 follower hype as a new broadcaster than 1,000. Streaming can feel like rolling a boulder up a steep hill; setting the goal so high will feel like a much steeper climb. This can burn out potential streamers and cause many to start and stop or quit altogether. This is not what I want to see.
I want to see you all succeed in this space. Gaming is a shared passion that has reached such a high level of mainstream and global acceptance. This should be a fun activity that drives you to find new ways of entertaining a growing community. Once it begins to feel like a chore, it all falls apart.
One last thing I’ll mention here is a word everyone must keep in mind: patience. In a world of instant gratification and the illusion of overnight, viral sensations, patience is key. It takes time to chop down that Redwood with even the sharpest axe. Taking it day by day, stream by stream may not seem very glamorous on paper yet it is part of the process. One more view, follow, bit, new streamer met via networking is one step closer to accomplishing the goals you’ve set for yourself. Here’s an example of the goals I’ve set for my channel over the years (time for a flashback!)
- 50 follower hype (giveaway stream!)
- 150 follower hype
- 300 follower hype (giveaway stream!)
- 500 follower hype (10 hr stream!)
- 750 follower hype
- 1000 follower hype (10hr + giveaway stream!)
- 1500 follower hype
- 2000 follower hype (24hr stream!)
- 2500 follower hype
- 3000 follower hype
- 4000 follower hype (24hr stream!)
- 5000 follower hype (12hr + giveaway stream)
- 6000 follower hype (10hr stream!)
These goals were attained over the course of three years. It’s a journey. Currently, the channel is sitting at a little over 16,000 and I couldn’t be happier for the continued growth. Seeing where I wanted to be and how I would reward my awesome community gave me extra motivation to continue that Twitch grind.
And as always, keep being awesome, good luck and happy streaming!
Kaitality is a variety broadcaster on the video game streaming platform Twitch.
Be sure to join him and hi. Minions as they enjoy indie, fighting, action and horror games. Oh and talk about food.
