Thinking about embarking on a streaming career? You’re not alone. Many people are considering becoming streamers to help them build an audience, find a community, and, most of all, make some money doing what they love. In an age where creating content, side hustles, and getting paid for doing as little as possible is a reality, why not delve into the world of streaming to see if you’re able to find a new hobby or career that plays perfectly to your skills?
However, it’s not just as easy as playing your games and having people instantly flock to you and start the cash rolling in.
Becoming a streamer needs a lot of thought and consideration, and when you’re trying to make money in a market that already has millions of others on the same; there are currently over 7 million streamers on Twitch as of April 2024, you need to be able to stand out to help others find you and build that community you’re looking for or torake in some cash.
These tips can help you get started if you are dipping your toes into the world of streaming for the first time or enhance your streaming abilities if you are already active and more experienced.
Know Your Why
Now, not everyone streams for money. While it can indeed be a lucrative endeavor, it’s not the sole reason why people do it. If you are doing it for money alone, that’s not a problem. Still, you need to understand this as it will direct your approach to what you’re doing in that you need to be more intentful in what you do to get those bucks flowing through to you; fyi, streamers can earn anything from $50 per month right through to $30,000, and Twitch sets strict criteria for streaming to make money so it’s worth checking this out before you get started so you know what you need to aim for.
If you’re finding a community and making money isn’t your priority, then you will obviously approach what you’re doing differently. However, the reason why you want to stream to others is important, much like for anything else you do, so you can work towards your goal, be it meeting others, building an engaging following, simply doing something you love, or, yes, getting rich playing games.
What Are You Streaming
The most common type of streamers are people playing video games. However, that’s not the only type of steamer you can be. You can choose from multiple options to create content that others can look for and must.
Your options include but are not limited to
- Gaming
- Conferences
- Seminars
- Tutorials
- Interviews
- Q&A
- IRL streaming
- Event streaming for offline events
- Selling products
- Hosting giveaways
Choose Your Platform
There are various platforms you can choose to stream from, and each one will have significant advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned above, Twitch requires you to be a partner or affiliate to make money, and you need to have at least 50 followers and an average of three or more concurrent viewers in the previous 30 days before you can make money. If you prefer using TikTok, you need at least 100,000 followers to join the creator fund, and you can then generate money from your content.
The most popular platforms for creators to use for streaming include
- Twitch
- Facebook live
- LinkedIn Live
- YouTube Live
- Instagram Live
- Kick
- Tiktok
Take your time to understand each platform’s requirements so you can get what you need from your streaming experience. Then, you can move forward with the right option for you for a better chance of success.
Equipment
You don’t need a full professional setup for your streaming activities. Typically, you can get started with basic equipment, but the more experienced you get, the more you might need to invest in the right tools to do your streams.
Streaming equipment is divided into three categories: audio source, video source, and accessories.
Your audio source is your sound, so this is your microphone. You can choose from the built-in one in your equipment, a USB microphone, which is the most popular, and an XLR microphone. The sound quality produced by each is ranked in the following order.
- Good- built-in
- Better – USB
- Best – XLR
Your video source is next, and this is what you’ll be filming yourself with. Popular choices for your video source for streaming include camcorders, action cameras, DSLR cameras, and webcams.
Again, like with the microphones, each one has pros and cons. Typically, the camcorder is your best bet if you want a more professional setup, while the webcam is easy to use, as it’s built into your computer, and you can get started easily.
Lastly, you have your accessories. This includes things like a tripod for your video source if required, an arm for your microphone, and a live cinematic multicam for a more enhanced viewing experience in 4k live for your viewers. You need a green screen and good lighting, i.e., ring lights; you need cables, light stands, and, of course, the accessories to support your actual streaming type, i.e., gaming equipment for gaming streams, products for selling streams, and so on. You will also need a decoder to convert video content for streaming, too don’t forget this!
The more you understand what you need for your particular type of streaming, the easier it will be to start producing good-quality streams from day one.
Plan Your Streams
Contrary to how it looks, most streamers don’t just set up and get going without a plan. It’s not always the case; however, most people will simply think about what they’re doing beforehand so they know the direction in which they want to steer their session. If you are hosting interviews, Q&A sessions, or doing demonstrations, then you need more planning, possibly a script, and a more extensive setup to capture everything. However, having even a basic or loose plan of how things will be going is a good idea to help you create a theme and a narrative that is synonymous with you so you know what your streaming session should pan out like.
Arrange Your Set Up
Any pro streamer will tell you that you need to improve your setup for an enhanced streaming experience. You need to be comfortable, the equipment needs to be configured to capture your activities, and everything needs to work and be reliable, especially your broadband connection.
Play around with how things work and connect, and do some practice runs to make sure you’re happy. Check your bandwidth so you know you’ve got a good connection for your stream and are not constantly dropping out; this will quickly lose you viewers.
Choose Streaming Software
Another vital aspect of streaming is the software you can choose to do the actual stream. There are many paid-for and free apps available, but the most commonly recommended one is OBS Studio, which is free and open-source and supports all major platforms. Restream Studio, however, is no-download software that can be used directly from your browser and might be suitable for some streamers.
It’s important to understand streaming software’s capabilities and what you can do with them. Some have different features, like allowing guests to join you from your screen or enabling you to chat with all viewers on all platforms at once if you stream in various places at the same time. Understand what you need to tune and find the right software for your streaming.
Practice
Practice makes perfect, and in the beginning, it can be worth your while to only set up and practice and even film yourself to see how natural you are and get an idea of any habits or quirks you can have that can be off-putting to watch.
Take your time to watch other streamers and get a feel for their actions and behaviors. How do they engage when streaming? What are some common traits that come across well? What puts you off as a viewer? What do you prefer?
All of this research can help you practice your appearance on screen and evaluate what others will want to see so that when you go live, you’re ready and more polished. There’s absolutely no issue with setting up and learning as you go, but if you want a faster route to growing your audience, then it’s a great idea to do your research and get some practice in before your first live event.
Streaming is an excellent way to make money and a new avenue for you to explore for fun, community, or even engage with others. These tips are designed to help you get the most out of your experience and dive right into the world of streaming so that you can set yourself up for success and have the best possible start or even upgrade your accounts for improved streaming ability.
Perfect your setup, check your equipment, and find your platform(s), software, and niche. Then, you’ll be in the best position for a more successful streaming experience.
