How to Engage Viewers
as a Streamer
In my previous article, Public Speaking: How the Hell Do You Do It, I broke down the 2 steps to take when you’re starting out speaking to a live audience. In this article, I want to breakdown the next step; once you calm the nerves, as a streamer, how you have conversations with your live audience.
A huge part of streaming is the interaction between the content creator and the audience. There are many factors that come into play when creating engaging conversations. Whether it’s your own personal comfort level or a streamer’s lack of “listening”, there is a multitude of reasons that come into play.
Let’s take on a few major points that will help you get beyond these obstacles to create a memorable experience for your viewers!
Give the viewers an opportunity to connect!
When people first arrive in your stream, they’re trying to figure out whether you’re a person they can watch or not. They found you because of the content but they stay and return because of you as a streamer. Unless you already have a built-in audience from outside sources (accolades like being an ex-Esport pro or selling millions of copies of an album), what and how you converse is what creates the emotional response that the viewer needs for you to stand out.
If people aren’t chatting, think out loud on the following items; no matter what you’re streaming:
- What is your process for what you’re doing?
- Why are you taking the actions that you’re currently doing?
- What do you need to do next in your content process?
- Was there some really cool inspiration that created the focus of your current stream? Share it!
- Have you been involved with previous content similar to what you’re doing now? Share it!
- Had a cool experience that happened in a past stream? Share it!
- What is your initial feeling on what you’re doing?
There are other questions you can ask yourself but this should give you a good jumping off point. As you’re going through the above breakdown, picture yourself speaking to your best friend. This will help your initiating of the conversation feel less forced and help give context to the viewer on what you’re doing to inspire them to join in.
Don’t be afraid to extend your hand out to the viewer!
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s understandable that this can be tough as you don’t know if anyone is really listening, but you’d be surprised. Also, if no one responds, that’s fine too as you need to be constantly taking those initial steps far more than your audience.
Now, two ways you can form questions to the viewers are:
- “Is there anyone in the chat that knows or is familiar with X?”
- “For those of you in chat, have you…?”
Forming your questions this way makes it so you’re opening it up to anyone who’s there and the ball is truly in their court. The big thing is not to dwell on it and continue the show. Remember that you’re competing with A LOT of people who are streaming at any one time; just a lot of “RNG”.
We all also have to remember that even though Streaming is picking up in popularity, it’s still new to many people who are used to other forms of “On-Demand” entertainment where chatting isn’t a part of the experience. There are many people out there that want to tune into a stream but just kick back and relax without feeling like they have to think about things to say.
Does this mean you shouldn’t worry about conversing at all? No, because a lot of what creates experiences for those that lurk are your conversations with others and the conversations other viewers are having. Some like being a fish in the fishbowl while others like to be on the outside looking in.
The Question on Questions — What do you actually ask?
A lot of this has to come from you in that moment, which takes practice doing. If you have a hard time thinking quickly on your feet, think about questions in advance that you can ask (as you should always know what you’ll be doing before going “Live” considering this is a show and you have a channel — treat it as such). When it comes to the specific questions, avoid Yes/No questions as best as you can as those questions don’t inspire more than a simple “Yes” or “No”. You want questions that inspire viewers to share more.
When asking questions, think on the content you’re sharing. If it’s a game if you aren’t sure on a mechanic of the game or where to go at a specific level, ask the audience. If you’ve only played a PC version of a game, ask if anyone has played it on a console and what they thought of it. If you do video editing only on PC, ask how people like editing on a MAC or even on a smartphone. After thinking enough about associations and start using those associations to create questions for your audience, the easier it becomes (give yourself the time you need).
LOOK, a spider! — Giving a sense of urgency and importance.
Another way to have viewers feel engaged is by finding moments of urgent decision making in the game you’re playing or the song you’re creating or in a specific shape to use in a design you’re working on. A sense of urgency and welcoming your audience into the content creation process can really be a lot of fun and inviting. It’s this real-time decision-making and sharing of ideas that makes streaming such an amazing platform.
This sense of urgency has been seen to have such an impact on channel engagement, that developers are finding ways to create games and extensions around audience engagement. There are a few different extensions you can add to your channel through Twitch that gets the audience involved. There are several games with audience engagement as well, such as:
Greet them at the front door.
When people do chat, make sure to “Welcome” them in a way that you would want to be greeted when entering into somewhere new. You wouldn’t want to arrive at someone’s house, ask to come in and have them stare at you awkwardly and go “Yeah” then immediately look away and walk back into their house. You need to welcome them to your place and make them feel comfortable. Be happy to see them and don’t let any lack of engagement in the past ruin the potential to connect to someone at that moment!
In the end, it isn’t just the focus of the content being created, but you as an entertainer, to guide the flow of the stream and to engage with the viewers. This is what truly separates streaming from uploading a pre-recorded video. It’s important to embrace that difference and give each stream everything you can give to it. It’s this dedication that will assist you in gaining return viewership as well as viewership that hangs around longer.
Once you’ve started working on these steps, let me know how your process is going and ask any other questions you have by connecting with me on Twitter: @EvinCAnderson or @MindMineTV
