Up your stream presence

 Up your stream presence

Engaging with viewers and responding to chat are two fundamental aspects of any stream. Streamers pride themselves on being available to answer questions and comments no matter what they might be doing on stream. The interaction quality far surpasses the number of chat messages you can have with each person. This can be broken into three important aspects; make the viewer feel heard, truly engage with chatter and build on questions/interactions. Practicing these three principles will help you have more interesting interactions and make viewers feel involved and appreciated. 

Making Viewers feel heard

Prior to answering any chat messages, it is important you fully understand the comment being made. Many streamers will look at their chat and quickly glance at messages and then respond.  This creates a very one-sided conversation because by not reading the chat message out loud you aren’t giving it a voice and only your response is featured. Here are some techniques to help make conversations a more two-sided affair. 

Read chat messages out loud but make sure to scan them silently to yourself first to make sure it is appropriate but then go ahead and read it.  This will give a voice to the comments and help make the chatter feel appreciated because you are giving their message its 15 seconds of fame. One thing to note is that you want to emphasize the main points and get excited when reading the message. Another benefit of doing this is creating accessibility for others in the stream. Responding to chat messages without reading the comment out loud doesn’t allow someone who might be half listening or watching your stream while working or doing chores to follow along. By reading the message, everyone is given the opportunity to follow along and respond. This same concept is important for people who simultaneously stream to multiple platforms. If you are streaming to YouTube and Twitch at the same time and someone comments on your Twitch chat, and you simply respond, those watching on YouTube will be confused and might lose interest and leave. Making viewers feel heard by reading their comments and then responding is critical to building connections and a community. 

Truly Engage

Streamers, especially new streamers, are often very matter-of-fact when answering comments and questions in chat. If someone asks, “Do you like the game?”  We say “yes, it’s fun”, or they ask, “What is your favorite game?” and you say “Fortnite”. Viewers do not have much to engage with, so it's time to change things up. You could argue that the question is the problem and that it is not giving you much to work with, but going back to the example of “do you like the game?”, implies a yes or no answer as it is considered a close-ended question. However, it is up to you as the streamer/entertainer to develop skills that allow you to expand on the question and give a more personalized answer, and truly engage. Taking a simple question and attempting to add value and engagement is a skill, let’s look at some examples. 

Question: Do you like this game?

Response: I do really enjoy playing Fortnite. Fun Fact, when it first came out I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it and didn’t want to try it. I only started playing it because my kids asked me to play with them, and I was instantly hooked from that moment. Does anyone have any similar stories? 

Question: What is your favorite game?

Response: My favorite game has to be World of Warcraft. I had never played an MMORPG before, but a friend of mine convinced me to buy the 14-day trial for $1.99 back in 2005, and I was instantly hooked. I was immersed in this world of questing and interaction with players around the world. It is still a game I can get lost in and forget the world around me. No other MMORPG has come close to changing my mind. Does anyone have that one game they get so immersed in that nothing else matters?

Question: What is your favorite season?

Response: My favorite season has to be spring because it is full of new hope and beginnings. It is the start of the camping season and going to camp is truly my happy place. It is a place I can go recharge and truly relax. Do you have that kind of place?

These are just some examples to show you how you can utilize even basic questions to share your opinions, and personal stories and gain engagement by having others answer questions. To truly engage with viewers you can’t just read and answer the words put in front of you rather you want to use those words to inspire bigger discussions. 

Bring others into conversations

Using your storytelling skills and entertainment abilities is definitely an important part of streaming. It is, however, also essential to be able to involve others in the conversation. In the examples above, we finished each response with a question back to viewers and invited them to add their input. This allows the conversation to be a two-sided affair where both sides can share their thoughts and be heard. By elaborating on a simple question and in turn opening it back up to chat with a question of your own, you allow everyone the opportunity to participate and create a dialogue and sense of togetherness. This creates connections because not only do they learn about you, but you also learn about them and that information is priceless. 

Final thoughts

To stand out in streaming, it is important that viewers feel at home in your stream and know that they can interact with the person on screen. Always make sure to capitalize on comments made in chat to make chatters feel like they are making an impact on your stream. Don’t rush your responses to messages. The comment itself as well as the response should be valuable and entertaining. Making viewers feel heard, engaging with them, and building off their comments are what will make your channel unique. Be ready to up your stream presence and put on your best show.