Avoid chasing followers

 Avoid chasing followers

When striving to enhance your stream presence, how do you effectively measure your progress? Many are drawn to the familiar metric used across various content platforms: the follower count. It serves as a convenient numerical representation and seemingly sums up the popularity of all your efforts. Sounds straightforward, doesn't it?

Yet, relying solely on a follower count introduces a significant challenge. This metric provides a narrow perspective on an otherwise diverse channel. Pursuing follower growth for its own sake can be dangerous, potentially leading to dissatisfaction with the actual content creation process. The risk lies in turning your channel into a mere time clock, where the joy of the craft is overshadowed. In this discussion, we'll go into the reasons why approaching the pursuit of follower counts with caution is important and suggest alternatives to elevate your streaming experience.

Finding balance and Joy beyond metrics

Think about your daily food choices. Junk food may be the easier and tastier choice, but let's face it, it doesn't provide proper nourishment. Going for the intense flavors of junk food can set off a vicious cycle, slowly nudging aside healthier options until your meals leave you both stuffed and malnourished at the same time. Now, let's apply this to streaming. You might have passions you're itching to explore on your channel—whether it's creating a cozy cooking show with your favorite recipes, hosting a live art studio to showcase your painting skills, or launching a deep-dive series into the history of video games. The catch? These deeply enriching streams might not attract as many viewers as the more mainstream stuff.

Picture this: choosing what to 'eat' vs. 'being nourished.' The pursuit of follower counts could easily turn into a never-ending loop. Just like craving unhealthy snacks, an unquenchable thirst for follower growth might push you to ditch the enjoyable content for what seems like immediate 'results.' This laser focus on metrics might blind you to the bigger picture of finding real joy in the streaming world.

Here's where it gets tricky, adopting a fake persona, putting on a show just to reel in viewers, and losing the ability to be your true self. If your viewership suddenly vanished, would you still get satisfaction from your channel? Now, let's talk about many streamers who, when faced with the intimidating streaming scene, play it safe instead of diving into their passions. They shove aside what they genuinely love, worried it won't fit the streaming mold. This hesitation fuels a disheartening trend, streamers who love JRPGs, indie platformers, or adventure games, but keep them off-stream, thinking they won't attract viewers. It's a cycle of conformity.

But guess what? Breaking free from this cycle, embracing your true loves, and tossing out preconceived notions can shake up your streaming game. Instead of being stuck on the follower count treadmill, the aim is to find joy and fulfillment in every stream, doing what you love daily.

The Power of Community and Passion

Here's the lowdown on the notion that certain games won't cut it for successful streaming: It's not off base. Those games might not resonate with their audience because they've crafted a community with distinct preferences. For example, we have all heard of finding a game with high viewership but low streams to build your audience, but what happens when you want to change things up? 

Sure, some games can deliver quick results, but those gains won't hold up when you shift to something else. If you're overly fixated on your follower count, you'll reap precisely what you sow. If your regular streaming content revolves around multiplayer shooters because they draw a large audience, don't assume you'll effortlessly attract viewers interested in turn-based strategy games, sports simulations, or retro platformers. Your community is tuned in for the fast-paced action, and introducing a different gaming genre might disrupt their expectations, resulting in tune-outs or even unfollows. The issue isn't that no one wants to watch what you're passionate about; it's that your established community might not be on board. See the distinction? You influence to shape the community you're building and stick to your passions, and the right audience will naturally gravitate toward your stream.

Final Thoughts

If you are aiming to stream content that truly fuels your creative passion, then it's time to step back from the follower count chase. It's crucial to broadcast what genuinely interests you. However, pinpointing that can be a bit tricky. Maybe you've been streaming Fortnite for an extended period, and it's become challenging to distinguish between genuinely wanting to play it and feeling compelled to do so. Stating, "I want to play Fortnite because it's the only game where I can get over 20 concurrent viewers," doesn't carry the same weight as saying, "I want to play Fortnite because I'm genuinely passionate about this game, and I'd be streaming it even if I had zero concurrent viewers for 30 days straight." Identifying what you truly love doing boils down to a simple question: Which activity would you continue streaming even if you had absolutely zero viewers during the broadcast?

The reassuring part is, that you won't have zero viewers, no matter what you choose to stream. With enough consistency, any content can attract a community. So why not build a community around people who genuinely want to watch what you're truly passionate about?

Certainly, building a following is okay. I'm not suggesting you actively avoid growth. However, if your growth is solely for the sake of growing, when do you get to relish and enjoy what you're doing? As many successful individuals have discovered throughout history, achieving success loses its luster if you don't genuinely enjoy your daily pursuits once you reach them. Therefore, be cautious about obsessively chasing your follower count, and consider letting it organically build around what you love to do.