The Five Similarities Between Running A Shop & Streaming on Twitch
One of my favourite things to do when teaching something to do with the internet or ‘online’ is to compare it to a real-life ‘offline’ service or location. For example, Twitter is a cocktail party where everybody is discussing ideas, sharing funny stories and promoting themselves.
Secondly, it is important to treat creating content on Twitch (and being a brand online) just like a real business. You need to take this seriously if you are looking for real success.
Following this form, I thought it would be interesting to compare running a shop (say, the corner store near your house) to broadcasting live on Twitch.
So, here are the five similarities between running a shop and streaming on Twitch…
Making sure you have high-quality products
Simple as that, if your ‘products’ are bad-quality, fall apart or just don’t work… nobody is going to buy them. So if you stream isn’t high quality — why is anyone going to spend any time there?
High quality doesn’t always mean shiny and brand new, your stream could look ‘vintage’ like an old bookstore, or homely like a pub with an open fire on a cold winter night.
Talking to your customers
If somebody came into your shop and asked a question — you wouldn’t ignore them, would you? You wouldn’t focus on stacking a shelf while somebody was talking to you, so why focus on playing a game when somebody talks to you in chat?
While you can’t be dictated in what you do, play or say…just like nobody could tell you what to sell in a shop — you are an entertainer, your job is to entertain, educate or inspire as many people as possible.
Making sure your shopfront looks great
A messy shop and a messy front-end of a shop isn’t going to attract somebody to come to visit, keep this in mind with your stream too.
- What does your overlay look like?
- What does your logo look like (On Twitch + social media)
- What do your Twitch panels look like?
- Do your designs scream ‘messy’ and ‘amateur’ or do they look professional and business-like?
- What do you look like? Is your webcam high quality? Is the lighting good enough — too bright, too dark, too cold or too warm?
Standing out from the other shops in your neighbourhood
While your competition should never impose you to do something or change how you stream, you have got to understand what everyone else is doing and how you can do it better (and differently). You don’t need to see them as competition, because they could become good friends and potential content partnerships for you.
Never forget, being yourself is one of the most important things you can do on stream.
Making friends with your viewers, business partners and being part of a community
There is no difference between real life and the online world, so why do we treat it so differently? You wouldn’t walk into a shop and go “Hey, you can find my shop at 12 High Street down the road”… so why would you do it on Twitch?
You are going to naturally make friends with your viewers as you spend so much time with them, talking with them and playing games with them (if that’s something you do on your stream). You also will want to start making real friends with other broadcasters, content creators, designers, podcasters and influencers in the Twitch, Mixer, YouTube and Facebook Gaming communities.
And of course, your shop is always there and your opening times are always the same …cough… consistency. People learn to trust you will be open, you will not be late and you are always there for the products/services they need.
While your stream may seem less important than a shop selling goods, for some people it may not be. They may use your stream to cheer themselves up after a long day at work, they may have found a supportive community and enjoy your company or they may just enjoy learning more about you, where you live, your culture or the game you play.
With all this in mind, while they may seem completely different from one another, running a retail shop isn’t too dissimilar to streaming live on Twitch. The same rules and knowledge apply, and the same ways to build a following and grow a community exist.
Hopefully, you found that useful, if you are looking for more guides on Twitch Streaming, you can find them all here:
What Is The Emergence?
- Website — theemergence.co.uk
- Twitter — twitter.com/emergencegg
- Twitch — twitch.tv/theemergence
- Discord — discordapp.com/invite/VxFA7Xc
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