How To Build a Healthy Chat Community in Your Twitch Stream

read time ~6 minutes

Hey Happy Friday!Thanks for reading today's edition of Greatness on Demand, the only newsletter of its kind that's droppin' knowledge napalm about streaming, the streaming business, mindset and more.

Here's what we've got for you today:

• Quote: Act of kindness

• How To Build a Healthy Chat Community

• Future topics

• Bonus Meme

Quote

There's a person that's been coming into our stream for some time now (out of respect for their privacy I won't give their name). This person is always one of the most positive people in the chat. They show love to everyone, say nice things to people and is genuinely happy to be there. They ask me for requests from time-to-time, which I gladly play because I know how happy it makes this person. Imagine my surprise when this person tells me, "your stream makes me so happy. I'm battling stage 4 cancer right now and being here is one of the brightest parts of my day. Thank you for playing my requests and showing me so much love. You have no idea how much it means to me". Wow...This my friends, is what it's all about. This is why my wife and I do what we do and continue to persevere when things get tough (and they are tough more often than not). It's these types of stories that fuel us. We have always made our stream, first and foremost, about our fans and making an impact on them. Everything else is is secondary. You never know what people are going through, this is why it's so important to show kindness and love to everyone. After all, kindness is free ❤️

How To Build a Healthy Chat Community

Today we're going to talk about the health of your chat and building your community. Before we jump in though I have a question: when you're streaming, what do you see? In other words, can you see the chat well and can you see the stream activity? These two items are critical in being able to build a healthy chat and community. Often times, new people will follow before they chat in, not always, but sometimes. When someone new follows you, you should thank them asap and encourage them to, "say hello in the chat and tell us where you're checking in from". If you can't see the stream activity, then you may be missing those new followers and in-turn, missing opportunities to grow your community.You also need to be able to see the chat very well - as much of it as possible - so you don't miss anything.See the pic below to see how we have ours set up. I have my Activity feed on the left so I can see everything that comes in: followers, channel point redemptions, bits, subs, everything. My chat is on the right and takes up the full length of my screen. If you don't already have a way to be able to see everything, I highly recommend you fix that first and foremost. None of what we're about to discuss below is going to matter if you can't see what's happening in your stream. 

Ok, moving on to today's topic...One of the aspects of Twitch that sets the platform apart from radio and pre-recorded mixes, is the viewer's ability to interact with each other, as well as their favorite streamer. In order to keep a balance between great music and a positive fan experience, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to evaluate the health of your chat: 1. Are your viewers welcoming when a new viewer enters the chat?2. Are new (and return) viewers being greeted by both yourself and your mods when they enter the chat?3. Are your viewers gifting new people with subscriptions?These 3 questions are almost like a report card for how healthy your chat community is. Let's dive deeper into these 3 questions and why they're important:1. Are your viewers welcoming when a new viewer enters the chat? - When I go into a new stream and say "hello", I love it when others in the chat say "hello" back and ask me where I'm from, etc. It makes me feel welcome and like I could see myself becoming a part of that community. On the flip-side though, I've gone into chats where literally no one says anything to me, not even the streamer. It makes me feel like I'm not welcome and that I won't or don't fit it there so I leave and I never go back. This is bad, very bad for growing your community. You never want your chat to feel "cliquey" as this is a turnoff for most people looking for a fun stream.2. Are new (and return) viewers being greeted by both yourself and your mods when they enter the chat? - When someone enters the chat they should be bombarded with welcomes from the streamer, the mods and (hopefully) other viewers in the chat. You as the streamer should welcome them in asap - within the first minute if possible - and this should trigger your mods and other viewers to do the same. When a new viewer says in the chat "thank you all for making me feel so welcome", you've nailed it. If your mods and/or viewers don't do this now, you can instruct them to do it when someone new comes in. A simple, "hey everyone, join me in welcoming *insert username* into the chat!" is all you need to do to start creating that habit. Over time, it will become second nature to your community and you won't have to ask them to do it. This is you leading your chat and building a healthy community. 3. Are your viewers gifting new people with subscriptions? - This is of course not something you would ever ask your community to do. However, if new people are coming in and adding value to the chat, and your community is gifting them subs, then you know you're on the right track and your community is flourishing. 

These are some of the things we do and look for to help build up our community. It all starts with being able to see what's happening and then using what you see to create the experience for your viewers. Have fun with it and happy building!

Future Topics

We want to know what your struggles are with streaming and what topics you'd like to see us cover in future editions of the newsletter. Do us a huge favor and reply back to this email and let us know what topics you'd like to see us cover.

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That's a wrap for today! Don't forget to reply and let us know what topics you'd like us to cover in the future!Have a great weekend!✌️ & ❤️Chad & Rissa

Bonus Meme