After you Stream: What you should do after going live!
Alright, so you’ve just finished a marathon 8-hour streaming session, thanked your new subs or followers and now you’re offline. Job’s done, right? Well, it turns out, not quite yet. There are all sorts of things you could be doing to maximize the potential reach of your content after you stream, and we’re going to discuss them here!
Clips
This first one I’ve covered many times and I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but clips clips clips! Check if your viewers made clips, or go and make clips of any highlights from your stream to post on your socials (TikTok, Instagram, Twitter). If you want to take it to an extra level, try to have templates for each social media resolution in your editor of choice so you can just download the clips, drop them in and schedule the posts.
Not only does this give people a highlight but it gives them a bite-sized taste of what your streams are all about. Plus, there’s the chance a clip can get shared around the internet if something particularly crazy or exciting happens, something we have discussed over on our YouTube channel before.
Archiving
Places like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook will keep videos automatically for you, but not all of them will keep them forever. Twitch, for example, will auto delete a past broadcast after a certain amount of time, the time frame is different depending on if you’re a standard user, an affiliate, or a partner. What you want to do is make a highlight of that stream. In the Video Producer section, you can choose to highlight a stream, meaning you can capture a certain section or in this instance, the whole stream! This will then keep that archived content on Twitch so people can watch while you’re offline.
If you have the resources to record while streaming, it’s a good practice to cut out the highlights while your memory is still fresh on what was good and what wasn’t. Remember if you record with multi-track audio (something easily done in XSplit Broadcaster) you can take out any sounds that you think might get you a copyright strike on other platforms.
It’s also a good time to take a thumbnail pick as well, remember to use your youtube face, something else we’ve discussed on our YouTube channel!
Community Management
If you use Discord, Reddit, or any place where your community congregates, make sure to drop by and leave a few messages thanking people for tuning into the stream or just see what your community is talking about. This is a great way to gauge what people enjoyed and what they didn’t. While you shouldn’t change something you’re enjoying because a few people didn’t like it, if everyone in your community didn’t enjoy it, people you trust? Maybe it’s time to switch to another game.
Make sure to keep your community updated with what’s coming next as well. This can be as simple as posting when you’re going live or detailing the week in a tweet schedule and then posting that in an announcements section on your Discord. Update your stream titles for the next stream and schedule your social posts on when you’ll be live next.
Finally, check your DMs/socials/email as you never know when an opportunity to collaborate or do a sponsored stream might pop up!
Stats
If you’re on a platform that supports it, make sure to check your stats/analytics. Check where your viewers came from if your thumbnail had more clicks than usual. A good practice is to check after a couple of weeks how your channel is doing overall. So if your viewership is growing, check what time has the most viewers and what games you’re streaming that see the most viewership.
This part can seem a little creatively stifling, but if this is to be a career it’s better to make educated guesses on where to point your content than just go on gut feelings. Plus it can just be a good guide for you to try and replicate past success.
Take a break
Last, but probably most important, take a break. Go far away from your computer, take a walk, read a book, watch Nomadland, I mean it’s the best picture of the year. Do whatever you can to mentally separate yourself from work aka streaming. Everyone needs to disconnect for a bit, let the brain reset, and refresh themselves, otherwise, burnout will eventually happen. Some of us need more or less time, but be sure to take as much time as you need to feel recharged.
What’s your post-stream routine? How do you recharge the batteries after a lengthy stream? Do you make your own clips or does your community help? Be sure to let us know in the comments section and if there’s anything else you’d like us to discuss like this, that’s the place to tell us as well!