Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is your community! Your community keeps you motivated, drives you, keeps you company, and ultimately becomes your biggest selling point if you ever are hoping to make a career out of content creation.
I’m going to break down some of my basic strategies that I have used over the past ten years of streaming on Twitch!
There are many great ways to draw people to your content. Giveaways, special events, guests, and other creative ideas can increase hits on your content. Getting people to your content is only the first step of the battle — you need to give them a reason to stay. Building a strong community that emphasizes your stream brand will build an identity for new fans to connect with. If they can engage with your content, they are more likely to return, with or without special events from the content creator (we can’t do marathon streams or PC giveaways every day).
Sell Yourself
The concept of “selling yourself” might read as a bit odd, but its an important step in building a loyal community. Just like online dating, people need a reason to swipe right on you. This can be done with good graphics, detailed bios, sassy quotes, interesting artwork, and whatever else works for your content. Give people a reason to stay. Show them a sample of what you represent. Do your best to honestly market your content. Current loyal followers should identify with the inside jokes while new potential fans are left curious and interested in learning more.
Everyone Loves a Surprise
Easter Eggs are a video game tradition. Any gamer should be familiar with the concept of hidden surprises, secret doors, and glitch exploitations. Community building for content is no different than community building in these games. People love surprises. Donations can trigger random alerts. Sneaky commands can set off funny bot responses using the unsuspecting user’s name. Graphics can contain hidden memes. Regulars will grow accustomed to these “easter eggs” — but they still have the amusement of new users discovering them. These interactions break the ice, build bonds, and increase engagement.
Discord
Discord is the single greatest creation for community management and growth. Every single content creator should have and maintain a discord community. This not only gives fans “direct” access to you (as direct as you want it to be) — it also forges bonds between other community members. You can’t be around or engaged all of the time. However, if you have a strong base of friends that grow accustomed to interacting, your community can eventually maintain itself. These communities are a key way to maintain viewership and engagement.
Many people focus on the struggle of driving eyes to content. Often, just as much or more effort should be poured into how to keep those eyes on content once they find it. Branding, unique surprises, engagement, and discord are key factors in building a community and maintaining their interest. You’re always welcome to join my Discord and ask questions! (New members are locked at first, so just give it a bit for permissions to be added to your account!)
REINESSA 