REALLY GROW on Twitch? BUILD COMMUNITY.

[00:00] hello youtube i see you've come here to

[00:01] build a community well you've come to

[00:03] the right place my name is cabal i am a

[00:06] horror of youtuber here on twitch.tv i

[00:09] deal on all things spectacularly spooky

[00:10] to include content creation in the past

[00:13] year i've been able to build up a

[00:14] community from next to nothing to what

[00:18] it is today thriving and full of life

[00:20] and definitely not trapped in the

[00:22] basement if you're curious on how to

[00:23] build your community well today we're

[00:25] going to have a talk and i'm going to

[00:27] explain to you the steps that you can go

[00:28] through to build your community as a

[00:30] streamer and the ways that you want to

[00:32] bring people into it and use the various

[00:34] platforms at your disposal to do so and

[00:38] there's a lot of things that go into

[00:39] building a community a lot of things

[00:41] that don't seem very intuitive at the

[00:42] moment a lot of people when they are

[00:44] like man i want to be a streamer i want

[00:47] to build a community i want to you know

[00:48] have people come and you know interact

[00:50] with me and watch my content everything

[00:52] like that it's like what do i do it's

[00:54] like i just go live on twitch right

[00:56] wrong sorry to burst your bubble the

[00:59] days of go live get big on twitch or

[01:00] long dead and that's just not something

[01:02] that happens anymore today it's all

[01:03] about syndication syndication

[01:05] syndication syndication if you don't

[01:07] know what syndication is basically what

[01:08] you're going to be doing is you're going

[01:09] to be taking your content you're gonna

[01:11] be putting it on as many platforms as

[01:13] possible and tailoring it to those

[01:15] platforms for example if you're going to

[01:16] be on twitter maybe you want to put

[01:18] funny clips on there maybe you want to

[01:19] put you know like little tutorials on

[01:21] there something that's going to you know

[01:22] have somebody want to interact with it

[01:25] if you're on tick-tock maybe you want to

[01:26] do something that's a bit more memey

[01:28] maybe you want to do something that's a

[01:29] bit more of a trend you can also do

[01:31] clips on there as well youtube you can

[01:32] do what i'm doing right now produce a

[01:34] video put it on youtube you might have

[01:36] to edit it down yourself but hey guess

[01:38] what it's good practice and the reason i

[01:40] talk about these things is because

[01:43] utilizing all the tools at your disposal

[01:45] is what you're going to need to do to

[01:46] build your community when you're

[01:48] starting off nobody's going to want to

[01:49] watch your content nobody's is going to

[01:51] actually you know care at all because

[01:52] that's the way we all sought out

[01:54] everybody starts out from nothing with

[01:55] content and it's up to us as the content

[01:57] creator to build ourselves up but cab

[01:59] that sounds hard that's because it is

[02:01] [Laughter]

[02:04] but it's not impossible and that's what

[02:06] this talk today is going to be about

[02:07] about giving you the tools to build that

[02:09] community that's going to interact with

[02:10] your things on the various platforms and

[02:12] give you the ability to grow as a

[02:14] content creator which we're actually

[02:15] going to talk about in another youtube

[02:17] video you know canvas is high just like

[02:18] any business it starts from zero

[02:20] absolutely correct chad

[02:22] you may be thinking okay well you know i

[02:24] want to build a community i want to go

[02:26] out there and i want to be known how do

[02:28] i get started i'm going to tell you

[02:29] right off which is not your answer more

[02:31] than likely what you're going to want to

[02:32] do starting off is yeah you want to be a

[02:34] streamer try youtube first i'll use

[02:36] myself as an example so when i started

[02:38] out with content creation did i start

[02:40] out streaming

[02:41] no i actually started out making youtube

[02:43] let's play videos and yeah i've since

[02:45] moved past that content but one of the

[02:47] things it taught me was to one be the

[02:49] sole source of conversation like right

[02:51] now we have notifications turned off i'm

[02:53] not looking at chat you know i'm

[02:54] actually just going off on tangent

[02:56] that's not something i'm naturally able

[02:57] to do it's something i learned over time

[02:59] it's something that you can learn over

[03:02] time not only that but when you produce

[03:03] content on youtube and things like that

[03:05] you get used to streaming to nobody

[03:07] because guess what you're not streaming

[03:08] to anybody you're recording things and

[03:10] that's going to pay dividends in the

[03:11] long run it's going to allow you to

[03:13] improv it's going to allow you to be

[03:14] able to tell stories it's going to allow

[03:16] you to be the sole source of

[03:17] conversation which when you're starting

[03:18] out with streaming you're going to need

[03:20] not only that but when you produce

[03:22] youtube content and you put it on

[03:24] youtube you are at that point in time

[03:26] using their machine learning using their

[03:28] algorithm to reach people that you're

[03:30] really not going to be able to reach on

[03:31] twitch otherwise when you're doing

[03:33] things like content you want to use

[03:36] passive discovery platforms like youtube

[03:38] like tick tock because on platforms like

[03:40] twitch when you're live you're only ever

[03:43] going to be discoverable when you're

[03:44] live that's when you're going to be

[03:46] popping up in people's recommended it's

[03:47] when you're going to be popping up in

[03:48] people's feeds go ahead and use tools

[03:50] that are available to you it may be like

[03:52] cab i don't like tick tock well i'm

[03:54] sorry you're just going to have to get

[03:55] over it that's one of the tools

[03:57] available it's what other people are

[03:58] using to make themselves discoverable as

[04:00] well if you want to play if you want to

[04:02] win the game you have to play it use all

[04:05] the pieces on your chessboard exactly

[04:07] and so you know on that topic on talk

[04:08] about you know using the passage

[04:10] discovery of these different platforms

[04:12] one of the things we need to talk about

[04:13] is we need to talk about funnels because

[04:15] the concept of funnels as a business you

[04:17] know as marketing you know as strategy

[04:19] is

[04:20] integral to building a community even as

[04:22] a content creator like it's not a

[04:24] foreign concept for you know a lot of

[04:25] content creators kind of dive into

[04:27] marketing um and this is something i've

[04:28] actually learned you know friends that

[04:30] are professional marketers or you know

[04:31] professional we got you know they have

[04:33] history as being you know community

[04:36] leaders for very very large communities

[04:38] or even like entire studios what the

[04:40] heck is a funnel i'll go ahead and tell

[04:42] you what a funnel is a funnel is

[04:43] essentially how you're going to get

[04:45] people into your community and how

[04:47] you're going to filter them into the

[04:48] community so you have people that are

[04:50] actually like dedicated participating in

[04:52] it everything like that when we're

[04:54] looking at funnels we're going to be

[04:55] looking at the top and we're going to be

[04:56] looking at the bottom what is the top of

[04:58] the funnel the top of the funnel is

[04:59] going to be your things like youtube

[05:01] like tick tock these massive platforms

[05:04] with innate discoverability where you're

[05:06] going to be posting your content and

[05:07] people can find you whenever it's going

[05:09] to be things that you know people will

[05:10] be able to just stumble across and

[05:12] they'll be like this person looks nifty

[05:14] and then they'll be able to follow links

[05:15] or other such things to the second part

[05:18] of your funnel the second part of your

[05:19] funnel is going to be things like your

[05:21] twitch like your twitter and you may

[05:23] think to yourself well wait a second no

[05:25] like i want people to come to my twitch

[05:27] that that is that's the bottom of my

[05:29] funnel that's my destination no no no no

[05:31] no you're missing out on something very

[05:33] very important you see when you're on

[05:35] twitter when you're on twitch things

[05:36] like that you can do things that are

[05:38] called ctas what is a cta a cta is a

[05:42] call to action called actions are

[05:45] essentially like hey chat type in

[05:47] exclamation mark discord and it will pop

[05:49] up in the chat and you can go click on

[05:51] that link and join the discord just like

[05:53] that when you're using that ability as a

[05:55] mute as a community leader uh this

[05:57] allows you know to direct people to

[05:58] things like your youtube or you know

[06:00] direct people to things like your

[06:02] discord speaking of discord though

[06:04] that's the bottom of your funnel and

[06:06] maybe like the cab i don't really want

[06:08] like why why would i have a discord i'll

[06:10] tell you why you have discord because

[06:11] the discord is the bottom of your funnel

[06:13] you see all these platforms

[06:15] youtube tick tock twitch

[06:18] twitter

[06:19] instagram everything like that these are

[06:21] all platforms that rely on algorithms

[06:23] for people to see your things for people

[06:26] to know that you're going live for

[06:28] people to know you know how they can and

[06:31] you're like when they can interact with

[06:32] you and like oftentimes can really only

[06:34] interact with you uh on like a like a

[06:38] non-live basis with the exception of

[06:40] twitch and because twitch is a live

[06:41] experience discord seems like a lot to

[06:43] manage or yeah no it absolutely is uh

[06:46] but that's part of the reason you want

[06:47] to stop building your community you want

[06:49] to find the people within the community

[06:51] that you really you know you really work

[06:53] well with you know that are actually

[06:55] folks that contribute to it you know

[06:57] that are really into it and you know are

[07:00] about your content and about you as a

[07:02] creator um and you want to find those

[07:05] leaders within the community and those

[07:07] are the people that can help you you

[07:08] know help you build that community help

[07:10] you manage that community um

[07:13] ultimately it's going to be up to each

[07:14] and every individual to choose you know

[07:16] like what their team their mob team you

[07:17] know uh whoever is uh but that it's also

[07:21] a topic for another video why do we want

[07:22] to get people into the discord well

[07:24] discord basically serves as a home base

[07:27] for your community when you have the

[07:28] discord you're not relying on algorithms

[07:31] you're not relying on the whims of other

[07:32] platforms you're not relying on anything

[07:34] like that the people that get in your

[07:36] discord that join your discord are more

[07:38] likely than not going to be some of the

[07:39] most loyal of your viewers the most

[07:41] loyal of your community and they're

[07:43] going to be the people that want to

[07:44] genuinely interact with you as a creator

[07:46] and yeah you may be busy because content

[07:48] creation is a lot of work but having

[07:50] access to those people being able to

[07:52] communicate them communicate with them

[07:54] on a one-on-one basis that is insanely

[07:56] valuable as a content creator and that

[07:58] is the foundation of your community

[08:01] being able to communicate it being able

[08:03] to interact with it and not having to

[08:05] worry about oh is twitter going to push

[08:07] this tweet out and anybody going to see

[08:08] it you know oh is anybody going to

[08:10] wonder about oh when does this youtube

[08:12] video go live no all those things you

[08:14] don't have to worry about on discord

[08:15] because you have a handy little tool

[08:16] called at everyone side note please use

[08:20] it sparingly because if you're just

[08:22] constantly at everyone in people will

[08:24] mute it for example

[08:26] we have my discord we have over a

[08:28] thousand members in this discord it will

[08:30] actually show me when i go to at

[08:32] everyone how many people are going to be

[08:33] receiving this message for me with the

[08:35] size of my discord it's only about 600

[08:37] people why because people hate getting

[08:39] pinged but yeah you know when you have

[08:41] that ability to

[08:43] you know talk to your community to alert

[08:45] them when you have new content coming

[08:46] out you're going to have in higher

[08:48] engagement rates one of the things

[08:49] you're going to be looking at with a lot

[08:50] of platforms is because they run off of

[08:52] algorithms the initial going live of a

[08:55] video or piece of content or something

[08:57] like that the initial engagement that

[08:59] you're going to get on that is going to

[09:00] be integral to how far it goes in the

[09:03] long term for example when we put out a

[09:05] youtube video hit on the youtube i go

[09:07] into the discord and i'm just like hey

[09:09] we have this youtube video that has gone

[09:10] live and what do people do they go and

[09:12] they click on it they go and they watch

[09:14] it also another strategy that i use is

[09:16] whenever we put out a youtube video

[09:18] oftentimes instead of raiding into

[09:20] somebody off of twitch i'll be like hey

[09:23] we have a youtube video that has just

[09:25] gone live because i will keep the video

[09:26] unlisted until i'm about to end stream i

[09:29] will then list the youtube video it goes

[09:32] live and i'm like hey here's the youtube

[09:34] link go check out this video we just put

[09:35] out that in turn boosts it in the

[09:38] initial algorithm which will then send

[09:39] it out to more people and more people

[09:40] will be able to see it more people will

[09:42] be able to watch it more people will be

[09:43] able to enjoy it you know and like it

[09:45] comment on it and everything like that

[09:46] it essentially it feeds the algorithm in

[09:48] a positive way that is going to promote

[09:49] your content to more people which

[09:51] ultimately as a creator that's what you

[09:53] want because when your content is

[09:55] promoted your content is going to be

[09:56] seen by more people when it's seen by

[09:58] more people you're more than likely

[09:59] going to have more people following

[10:01] those links checking out your different

[10:03] platforms and ultimately some of them

[10:06] will filter into becoming community

[10:07] members i made that mistake of adding

[10:09] everyone every time i'm in a small

[10:10] update unfortunately cap i mean like hey

[10:12] it happened at the end of the day none

[10:13] of us really know what we're doing like

[10:15] it's about gaining the experience it's

[10:17] about you know uh figuring out what you

[10:19] want to do with content and you know

[10:21] like learning and that's what these

[10:22] entire videos about are just learning

[10:24] but cab how do we moderate discord and

[10:26] twitch how do we get moderators yet

[10:28] again that's what i was talking about

[10:29] earlier you're going to look for those

[10:30] individuals that are very active within

[10:32] community but they're also you know

[10:34] trusted and and you know very

[10:38] i guess you could say moderate members

[10:40] of the community it's people that are

[10:41] going to interact but they often

[10:42] interact with an even hand uh my me

[10:45] personally when i go and i look for

[10:46] moderators i look for people that often

[10:48] are like yeah i don't want to be a mod

[10:50] and you know i'll talk to them about

[10:51] them i'll talk to them about it i'll get

[10:53] a feel for them and you know see if i

[10:55] think they're going to be a good fit

[10:56] oftentimes one of the things i look for

[10:57] is like people just like yeah i don't

[10:59] want to be mod but i love this community

[11:01] i love this you know entire thing that

[11:03] we have and i want to help make it

[11:05] better because one of the things you're

[11:06] going to be having to deal with is you

[11:07] know there are people that i want quote

[11:09] unquote authority you know within a

[11:11] community and those people no get them

[11:14] out so you know with access to all the

[11:16] people in your community in your discord

[11:18] that is going to be the foundation of

[11:20] your community and yeah it's going to

[11:21] start off slow you're not going to have

[11:23] a lot of people one of the things i want

[11:26] you as a content creator to understand

[11:28] is that yes in the beginning you're

[11:30] probably going to be interacting a lot

[11:31] on the discord but as you get busier you

[11:33] know as you grow as a creator oftentimes

[11:36] it can be hard to continue to be you

[11:38] know active especially in voice calls

[11:40] like for example i'll sometimes join in

[11:42] voice calls in my discord and we'll have

[11:44] like maybe 20 sometimes 30 people join

[11:47] into a discord call it can get chaotic

[11:49] it can really wear on you especially

[11:51] when you're already giving so much of

[11:53] yourself as a creator you know to the

[11:55] community through your content through

[11:56] videos you know uh through answering

[11:58] questions it can be draining and that's

[12:00] okay the people that are there for you

[12:03] and really enjoy your content they will

[12:05] understand all right it's not something

[12:07] that you have to stress about like yeah

[12:09] some people will come in maybe some

[12:10] people will be weird chimp maybe some

[12:12] people will be a little monkey ass it

[12:14] happens all right but at the end of the

[12:16] day that's your community you moderate

[12:18] it and you need to make it a place that

[12:20] is going to be comfortable for you

[12:21] because it's not comfortable for you

[12:23] you're not going to have a good time and

[12:25] if you're not having a good time you're

[12:26] not going to be able to produce the best

[12:28] content that you can and you're not

[12:29] going to be able to make the best

[12:30] community that you can and that at the

[12:32] end of the day should be your objective

[12:34] make the best community that you can all

[12:36] right so now we're going gonna have a

[12:37] bit of a q a question from chad uh we've

[12:39] got them live here you know people have

[12:40] questions about building community about

[12:42] uh things like that and so we're gonna

[12:44] go ahead we're gonna answer these so

[12:45] we've got a question from judo kami is

[12:47] being consistent helpful in growing your

[12:49] channel yes yes consistency is actually

[12:53] really key to in my opinion growing your

[12:55] channel growing your community things

[12:56] like that analogy i like to use is the

[12:58] concept of a movie theater content and

[13:00] like you know your channel your content

[13:02] things like that especially with

[13:03] streaming it's kind of like movie

[13:05] theater are you going to go to a movie

[13:07] theater that doesn't have times posted

[13:09] that you have no idea when it's going to

[13:11] be open and you have no idea what the

[13:12] movie is what movie is going to be

[13:14] playing like does that mean that you

[13:15] have to go out and on twitter you have

[13:17] to have everything scheduled like every

[13:18] week everything no but kind of sticking

[13:21] to a schedule is one of the things that

[13:23] you want to do you want to have you know

[13:26] available to people that are looking for

[13:28] your content if somebody's like hey what

[13:30] time are you going to be live you want

[13:31] to be able to at least you know have a

[13:33] time frame and have the days that you're

[13:35] going to be going live me for example

[13:37] here on twitch i'm live mondays

[13:39] wednesdays thursdays and fridays 11 to

[13:41] noon est is when i go live and people

[13:44] know that if they pop in around that

[13:46] time i'm more than likely going to be

[13:47] live and if i'm not i'm probably going

[13:49] to put something out on guess what the

[13:51] discord because i can let everybody know

[13:53] that hey i'm not feeling well or i've

[13:55] got other things going on or maybe we're

[13:57] working on a project i just don't have

[13:59] time to stream that day that's one of

[14:01] the upsides of having your community in

[14:04] a medium like a discord you can let

[14:06] everybody know hey there's not gonna be

[14:08] a stream today because i know i'm

[14:09] feeling sick or i'm not feeling well or

[14:11] i have other things going on or maybe i

[14:14] have you know finals or something like

[14:16] that and keeping people informed is

[14:18] going to make people feel like they're

[14:20] connected which with when you're

[14:22] building a community you want people to

[14:23] feel like they're connected they want

[14:24] you want people to feel like they are

[14:26] part of the community it's a very very

[14:28] good thing to be have all right so we

[14:30] have a question from purple nigel how

[14:32] long should we do youtube before trying

[14:34] out twitch assuming there's a

[14:35] recommended time frame uh i don't think

[14:37] there's a recommended time frame i think

[14:38] it's getting to the point where you feel

[14:40] like you're comfortable uh being able to

[14:42] go live and carry on a conversation for

[14:45] uh i want to say like you know around

[14:46] two hours like if you can stream for

[14:48] around two hours it's pretty good and

[14:50] you can then take those two hours of

[14:52] content make those into a youtube video

[14:55] something make it into a highlight reel

[14:56] it doesn't have to be anything fancy

[14:59] it just has to be something that you can

[15:00] use for content don't let your vods sit

[15:04] and go to waste

[15:06] that's a personal mistake i've been

[15:07] doing for the last year and it's

[15:09] something that now i'm looking to

[15:10] correct i'll go ahead and use myself for

[15:12] example when i was doing youtube i knew

[15:14] that i did want to stream however i knew

[15:17] that i was a very quiet person i was a

[15:18] very soft-spoken person i knew that i

[15:20] didn't really know how i wanted to

[15:22] stream and ultimately the way i made

[15:25] content and the way i wound up streaming

[15:26] are now very very different like

[15:28] actually if you look down on the youtube

[15:30] channel if you look through all my old

[15:32] content you can see the very first

[15:34] youtube video i ever made uh it is very

[15:36] very different from the content today i

[15:38] spent about eight to nine months doing

[15:40] youtube before i even thought about

[15:42] streaming because that's where i started

[15:44] to feel comfortable in my skills as a

[15:45] content creator and my skill as a

[15:47] narrator everything like that to get to

[15:48] the point where i was like if i'm

[15:50] streaming to nobody i can still keep

[15:52] talking i can still carry on a

[15:54] conversation and be entertaining so if

[15:57] anybody does come into my stream they're

[15:59] like hey this guy's pretty nifty i might

[16:02] want to stay around and watch and become

[16:03] a part of his community and we've got

[16:05] another question from go tastic what is

[16:07] the first thing one should focus on in

[16:09] content creation streaming my opinion

[16:12] and this is probably gonna be a hot take

[16:13] for a lot of people is that you are

[16:15] entertaining yourself now you may be

[16:17] like oh well now i gotta sit there i can

[16:18] play a video game and you know i just

[16:20] sit there in silence and it's

[16:21] entertaining to me yes it's entertaining

[16:24] to you but you need to learn how to

[16:25] vocalize the entertainment take that

[16:27] entertainment that you feel and channel

[16:29] it into being a outward force as well

[16:32] that's one of the things that i adhere

[16:33] to why do i stream it's because i enjoy

[16:36] streaming but it's also extremely

[16:38] entertaining to me every day i go on i

[16:40] turn on the stream i do it because it

[16:42] entertains me because i enjoy doing it i

[16:45] enjoy the process of it i have a fun

[16:47] time doing it one of the greatest things

[16:50] that people underestimate is the ability

[16:52] for people to sense

[16:54] if somebody's having a good time i go

[16:56] and i stream i go on rants i go on

[16:59] tangents i'll yell at video games i'll

[17:00] just you know all sorts of chaos will

[17:02] happen but at the end of the day i am

[17:05] having a good time and i am entertaining

[17:07] myself i then take that entertainment

[17:10] and i project it outwards so other

[17:12] people will maybe stuck at work maybe

[17:14] they're stuck driving maybe something

[17:16] else they can also

[17:18] have a good time they can enjoy

[17:20] themselves through me because guess what

[17:23] sometimes

[17:24] life sucks

[17:26] [Laughter]

[17:28] and at the end of the day we as

[17:30] streamers

[17:31] we're entertainers you're luck exactly

[17:34] externalize your joy reactions feelings

[17:36] vibe

[17:37] yes that is good look at chat chat's so

[17:40] smart but anyways yeah that's going to

[17:42] be our basic lesson on how to build your

[17:44] community as a streamer if you have any

[17:46] questions we're going to have links down

[17:47] for the discord in the youtube comment

[17:49] section or you can always join me live

[17:50] here on twitch like i said before i'm

[17:53] live mondays wednesdays thursdays and

[17:55] fridays january from 11 a.m est around

[17:58] to noon est are the times when i go live

[18:01] and i'm generally live for about five to

[18:02] six hours you can pop in i'm always open

[18:05] for content questions feel free to ask

[18:07] away i love talking about the subject i

[18:09] love educating people that you know want

[18:11] to get into content creation it's

[18:13] something that is a central tenet of

[18:14] this community or if you just want to

[18:16] pop in you want to watch a purple noodle

[18:18] man yell at things or talk about spooky

[18:20] things you're welcome as well but that's

[18:22] it for today i hope to see you in the

[18:23] next youtube video where we're going to

[18:25] be talking about more chilling content

[18:26] creation topics

[18:29] until then though

[18:30] have a good one youtube

[18:36] [Music]

[19:05] you