Author: Bim Barbieto

Whether people notice it or not, everyone has a personal brand. If you’re thinking “oh sure, that’s easy. I’m the Twitch streamer with the beard who plays shooters.” While that may be technically true, it might not be completely accurate. Remember, your brand isn’t just what you say about yourself – that’s only a small portion of it. Your brand is not just how you describe yourself, it’s mostly how others perceive you. Let’s see what we can do to improve personal branding.

What is personal branding?

Perception is everything. I know it may seem disingenuous and a little bit dishonest, but think about it like putting your best foot forward instead of wearing a mask.

Take Dr. Disrespect as an example. I think he’s a master of personal branding. He’s consistent with his character and reinforces it throughout all his other online and offline touchpoints, but at the same time, he is very clear that the Dr. Disrespect persona is just a character and that he and Herschel Beahm IV are not the same person. 

As a streamer, you’re partially an entertainer, partially an educator, among other functions you fulfill, and as such, you are a public figure to a certain extent. To build up a good personal brand, the goal is to try and control the narrative and shape the perception around you.

Before we go through the different ways we can improve and reinforce personal branding, let’s discuss why personal branding is important in the first place.

Why is it important?

With a very distinct personal brand, it will be easier for you to stand out from the crowd. On Twitch alone, there is an average of 3.3 million broadcasters every month. Each and every one of them is competing for eyeballs and view time, both of which are very finite resources. Keeping yourself distinct will help your recall and stickiness, your ability to be persistently remembered.

A distinct brand, being very clear of the value you offer, is going to help persuade some of those eyeballs to land on to you. An established brand lets viewers know exactly what they can get out of watching you. When your brand is clear about who you are and what you can do, people who are after what you offer are going to come.

Your personal brand will also help build trust. If you’re known as the go-to guy for specific things, then anything you say will have more weight. Reputation goes hand in hand with your personal brand. Of course, you’d still need to have the knowledge and actual expertise to back up that trust, but your personal brand helps people understand that you’re the subject matter expert.

If your personal brand resonates with certain groups of people, they will be drawn to you naturally and stick with you. Personal branding helps cultivate loyalty. It’s exactly why some people prefer Coke over Pepsi or Nike over Adidas. People will gravitate towards what speaks to them more.

How do you Build up Your Personal Brand?

There are a number of ways to improve, enhance, and amplify your personal brand. 

The initial step, and I think one of the most important, is to figure out who you are. Your personal brand cannot be fake. It is an enhancement of who you are. It has to absolutely be genuine.

Ask yourself some basic questions.

“What am I most passionate about?”
“Are there things I’m very good at?”
“Am I excited by what I’m doing?”
“What do people say about me?”
“What are some of my most positive qualities?”
“Am I aware of my negative qualities?”

Try asking a friend for help if you’re having trouble answering any of these questions. Once you’ve arrived at your answers, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of what you stand for and what value you can offer to your audience.

Now that you’ve answered who you are, you should determine the value you can offer. It can’t be too far off from what you’ve already identified as who you are. Your personal branding is not a lie, it is not a front – it is just an amplification of who you are and what you love.

Once you have that, you will be able to identify your niche. Armed with the knowledge of what you’re selling (yourself), you can find people who’ll be buying. Who would you appeal to? For example, if you’ve identified yourself as a shy, introverted guy who gets really intense with Pokémon games, then lean into it. Your audience will be like-minded people. You’d have to find people who like chill streams who essentially like a more intimate stream. 

Design your communications in line with your audience. You’d have to design your stream according to what you’ve identified so far. Let’s go with the intimate stream example again – you’d have to make sure to speak in a manner your audience would appreciate, maybe bring your webcam a little closer to your face, keep the music low, and the gameplay chill. Not everyone has to be the obnoxious screaming streamer. If that’s their niche, their branding, then great. But if it’s not you, then don’t force yourself to be.

Caring for your Personal Brand

Once you’ve built up your personal brand, it takes some doing to make sure it doesn’t drastically change or deteriorate. You need to control your brand’s narrative. 

You have to remember that your brand isn’t only online. When you’re talking to your audience outside of your stream, you have to remember that things you say and the way you behave affects the perception of you. And things that happen offline eventually reach the internet anyway. That’s why it’s also very important to have a personal brand that’s genuine. 

That said, it’s also very important to be very visible online. Design your online presence by how you want to be perceived. You’re the trendy social influencer type of streamer? Then always make sure to not be caught dead using whatever social media your mom uses, but be very active on apps she’d never even heard of. You’re the tech expert? Then show up on forums, have well-informed opinions on the latest tech, and make sure everyone knows what you’re talking about.

By virtue of being visible offline and online, don’t be afraid to network with people. Like in most industries, who you know is equally important as what you know, sometimes even more so. Ever notice how some streamers blow up after they squad up with popular personalities and streamers? That’s not to say it wouldn’t have happened otherwise, but it probably never hurt. But by being in tight with people with the same audience and the same niche, you’ll have access to more opportunities and more viewers. And when it’s your time to help out others in your circle, do so and that helps your personal brand, too.

—–

These little tidbits are just the basics of personal branding that I’ve picked up from 15 years of working in the marketing industry. It goes much deeper than this, but this is a very good start. And remember that your personal brand never stops evolving, so you should never stop developing it.

Live streaming, by virtue of its popularity and the sheer volume of users, has become synonymous with gaming and influencers. However, with live streaming being the new generation of video content, many industries have been making the most of the technology. We’ve already written about how live streaming is used in retail and video e-commerce. Now it’s time to tell you about some uncommon companies that also live stream. Maybe this will tell you if your company should live stream.

Yes, NASA literally live streams things – a lot of things, in fact. And their streams are viewed all over the world. With their content being about incredibly interesting topics, they are able to command a large number of viewers. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Part of their many initiatives is to educate and get people interested in space. So, as you might have guessed, their content consists mostly of educational documentaries. They also show views of Earth from space, spacewalks, discussions about their equipment and other things of spacey nature.

NASA has a page specifically for their live streams that lists down all their scheduled events such as showcasing next-generation spacesuits and media teleconferences. 

And pretty much at any time, you’ll find something on live on NASA’s YouTube. As of the date of writing, I’m actually feeling an overwhelming sense of calm as I watch a satellite’s live view of Earth.

It makes me feel so small, so insignificant, in the face of the vastness that is our planet. This is the kind of thing that should replace those virtual fireplace videos some people put on to chill.

Your company might not have access to outer space, but maybe you have something just as interesting you can live stream.

Train Stations From All Over

One of the very basic elements of a live stream is a video source. You know what streams video practically 24 hours a day? That’s right – a CCTV camera. And you know what public place has a ton of CCTV cameras? Well, there’s a bunch, but if you guessed train stations, then you’d be right.

There are entire networks of feeds that just show either a railway lines, intersections, or train stations. You, as the viewer, are there waiting for the next train to pass by. There’s a real sense of anticipation as you wait for the next train to roll by. After all that build-up, the pay-off is surprisingly quite satisfying.

There are a number of reasons for the existence of these streams. There’s the obvious one – monitoring and security. They are CCTV streams after all. That’s their primary function.

Another reason would probably be because there are a lot of people who just like trains. It’s not that weird, really! There’s a lot to like about trains – the sound they make when they speed across the tracks, their sleek designs, the function they serve in our ever-evolving complex societies… you know, cool things.

Railcam, a website based in the UK, which installs and operates railway webcams, has over 17,000 subscribers. They are non-profit and operate largely funded by donations.

If you want to see the Bullet Train operate in Tokyo, Japan, check out this channel. 

To find more, just search “Train Live Stream” and you’ll find so many streaming feeds of entire stations and railways. It’s good fun, and it really does feel like you’re exploring the world and traveling. It’s quite satisfying for someone who likes to travel but never really has time to.

This just shows that even the most niche things can have an audience. Maybe your company has something to live stream, too.

Parks and Zoos

Are you an animal person? Do you enjoy seeing creatures of all shapes and sizes walk around and generally exist? Well, you’d be glad to know that at any time you wish, you can surround yourself with all sorts of zoo animals via the power of live streaming?

Some zoos and parks have a feed of their zoo animals doing zoo animal things, like eating, grooming, sleeping, and probably just being all-around cute.

The Animal Adventure Park holds live streams of their animals. Last time I checked in, I was watching some giraffes chew on what I can only describe as a nutritious pillow. The streams aren’t 24 hours, but they do go for quite some time.

One of the most famous zoos in the world, the San Diego Zoo, has one of the most amazing live stream setups for zoo animals. Once you drop by their live cams page, you can choose your cuddly creature of choice. They have cameras in enclosures for the baboons, penguins, pandas, koalas, and tigers, just to name a few.

Most of the time, you’ll end up watching just the habitat for extended periods of time, but much like the train live streams, it’s the anticipation and build-up that gets me hooked.

Another channel that features animals is called Explore Live Nature Cams, and they seem to shoot in parks and riverbanks. You’ll get to experience nature in its more raw form, from the comfort of your own home. In the stream I tuned into, I was watching a grizzly bear (or what I assume is a grizzly bear) catch and consume some fish. For 30 or so minutes, I was cheering him on, as he endeavors to catch more fish. I even felt bad for the guy after a couple failed attempts and then BOOM, he snags one right out the air.

As our bear protagonist moves away from the river to indulge in his fishy treat, another bear comes out of nowhere and fights him for it. It’s some heavy drama if you ask me.

Your company may not have cute animals, but there’s bound to be something interesting to live stream. It doesn’t have to be a 24/7 always-on kind of thing.

Funerals Services

It doesn’t get any more unconventional than this.

When a loved one passes away and some of their family members are unable to attend the wake or the funeral, they can choose to simply just watch the live stream of the wake or funeral. An ever-increasing number of funeral homes have been offering live streaming at a tiny cost and it’s being met positively. Around 20% of all funeral homes in the United States offer such a service.

Funeral live streaming lets friends and family pay their respects in some fashion even if they’re from a different country or are unable to travel, but another side benefit to live streaming is documentation.

When holding a service, it’s great to be able to go back and hear all the wonderful things people have to say about the deceased. Memories are going to be shared, stories are going to be told and a recorded live stream will be the best way to relive all of those.

Know any other weird, unconventional live streams?

I’ve covered a few here, but I’m sure there are a lot more streams out there that are just as unconventional as the ones I’ve mentioned here. 

Mukbang was supposed to make it into the list but that’s been around for years, and it’s considered a bit mainstream now. What are your favorite off-kilter streams? Let us know in the comments! And oh, keep it clean!

From an outside perspective, streaming might seem like an easy gig. After all, most viewers see streamers playing video games all day, and they think to themselves, “Oh, he’s living the dream.” Little do they know, streaming as a day job involves a lot of pressure, and it isn’t as easy as it may seem.

Mental stress is a very real thing that can affect anyone, of course, not just specifically streamers and content creators, but because some parts of society expects them to be living the easy life, their mental health issues might be dismissed.

Effects of Mental Stress

Caring for your mental wellbeing is vital. Psychological stress can affect you in many ways, some more obvious than others.

When you’re starting to feel the strain of the grind and the pressures it brings, you may begin to experience anxiousness and inexplicable nervousness. You become easily distracted, tend to worry too much, and your sleeping pattern may start to change.

When stress levels get too high, you may go through a whole range of mental and physical symptoms. You may start feeling excessively fatigued for no good reason. Stress makes our bodies produce hormones that act as sedatives, which helps calm us down during times of extreme duress. When these hormones occur in large amounts for extended periods of time, they make us feel exhausted and in some cases, even depressed.

Depression is serious and should never be treated lightly. Everyone experiences periods of sadness, but when it becomes chronic and recurring, it may be time to do something about it.

People experiencing depression are always irritable and generally, lose interest in things that they used to do. This headspace can be troublesome for a streamer – what started as a project done out of love and passion will begin to feel like a chore.

Besides being excessively tired and having trouble sleeping or staying awake, depression can also manifest itself in physical pain such as headaches, muscle cramps, or digestive issues. It can even affect your appetite in either extreme direction.

Depression can make people see life through a different lens, making them want to stop doing things they used to enjoy and affecting the way you make decisions. In extreme cases, patients may wish to inflict self-harm. If you’re starting to feel like you want to harm yourself or others, reach out and ask for help. There are a number of hotlines in many countries that offer such services. Here’s a list of international suicide help hotlines.

Stress can also manifest itself physically. One can experience abnormally fast heart rate, dizziness, restlessness, shortness of breath, and hyperventilation.

When you start experiencing these symptoms and they seem inexplicable, then you should consult a doctor.

Prolonged stress also leads to burnout. Burnout happens when stress becomes overwhelming and you’re finding it hard to do anything because you’ll feel exhausted and frustrated and helpless. Burnout leads to a lack of energy, which means way less productivity, which then leads to less streamed hours, and potentially decreased income.

You’ll know you’re experiencing burnout when you feel a general lack of energy, and you don’t feel like doing anything, even getting out of bed seems like a herculean task. It may not even happen suddenly. It could just be something that gets worse and worse over time.

Burnout can lead to fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, reduced immunity, frequent illness and a change in sleeping and eating habits. Anybody experiencing burnout also feels emotional duress such as feelings of self-doubt, defeat, detachment, among others. Victims of burnout also feel a general lack of drive and motivation.¹

Sources of Mental Stress for Streamers and Content Creators

Like with most healthcare, prevention is always better than cure. The first step is to identify the source of stress. For most people, familiar sources of stress include work and specific life experiences.

When it comes to working, it could be long hours or dangerous work conditions or just being generally unhappy with the job. Then there are some life events like the death of a loved one or the looming shadow of financial obligations, or to a more severe extent, traumatic events like natural disasters or violence.

All those sources can affect everyone and we all have to be careful to take care of our mental health, but there are certain sources of stress specific to aspiring and career streamers and content creators.

Beginners struggling to take off might find it challenging to find a footing. Sometimes just speaking to an empty chat room in and of itself can be stressful. If it’s something you’ve decided to try and do your full-time job, when it isn’t going as planned, it can be a source of undue pressure and anxiety.

Just getting people to interact with you can be difficult. Lurkers and channel jumpers won’t usually interact with a budding streamer.²

The pressure to stick to your streaming cadence can also lead to additional stress, although doing that is vital to a streamer’s success. In 2018, popular then-Twitch streamer, Ninja, lost about 40,000 subscribers after going on a two-day break³. With him being Ninja, it probably was easy for him to bounce back, but smaller streamers might have a much harder time doing so. But maybe it was the right call to go on break. It all depends on how much care you want to put into your wellbeing.

Another source of stress can be less-than-ideal physical health.⁴ Gaming streamers who are seated all day may experience some health issues related to general sedentariness. Mental wellbeing is easier to achieve when the approach is holistic, so one has to look after one’s physical health, as well.

How Can Streamers Improve Help their Mental Health

After identifying potential stressors, what can you do to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, both mentally and physically?

Here are a few tips:

Once you’ve identified your main source of stress, remove it if you can.

Of course, this may not always be possible, especially when the main stressor is very much part and parcel of your life, like bills or health issues, or even just the unrelenting monotony of following a 16-hour streaming schedule. If that’s the case, then you’ll need to do other things to deal with the realities of life.

Keep physically active.

When you’re not physically active, it can negatively affect your mental health and mood states. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete; you just have to make sure you’re paying attention to your body. Keep a regular exercise schedule, as light as it may be. It can be something as simple as taking a brisk 15 minute walk every morning or a quick 5 minute HIIT session every day. It’d be much better if you follow an exercise program with professional help so someone can monitor your progress. Think of it like grinding out levels for a legendary piece of armor.

Just standing up and doing some stretches every half hour will help you with your energy levels. You can even just do some yoga poses. The good thing about that is, you don’t necessarily have to stop your stream. You can let your viewers watch you exercise. You can keep your mic on so they can hear your pained grunts. Not only will it be good for you, it’ll also be quality entertainment.

Eat properly.

You don’t have to follow a crazy diet, like limiting yourself to a piece of dry chicken breast and a half a piece of steamed asparagus every meal. You just have to make sure you eat at a regular schedule and you eat enough to satiate you.

The timing and volume of your food are important, but so is the quality of your food. Maintain a well-balanced diet to give you enough energy to maintain that streaming schedule, to keep your energy levels up to be entertaining for your viewers.

Eat less of the stereotypical food for gamers like energy drinks, cheesy junk food, and fizzy lime-flavored soda pop, and have more fiber, more vegetables, more fruit, more protein. Avoid trans fats and saturated fats.⁵

Plan your breaks.

You are a human being. You are not a machine. Heck, even machines need to be turned off and maintained every now and again. You have to make sure to take time to rest and give yourself to recuperate.

First, you have to decide how long you want to stream and play. Maybe try to use your analytics to see when your viewership is highest and plan your streaming hours during that time. Give yourself a set amount of streaming hours, and a set amount of recuperation time. It can be as simple as taking a 15 to 30-minute break after a few hours of streaming, and make sure to stand up every 30 minutes of sitting down to prevent blood pooling in your legs.⁶ That goes for everyone, not just streamers! Anyone sitting down on an office job or just gaming or just lounging around should stand up every 30 minutes and let their blood flow normalize.

TL;DR

Mental stress can turn the wonderful activity of streaming into a chore and drain your passion. Too much stress can lead to burnout and depression, which can affect your mood, your health, your relationships, and your career.

Make sure to take breaks, exercise, eat properly, and only stream if you enjoy it enough to keep doing it for extended periods of time. If you feel like your stress is too much to bear, then don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Always make sure to take care of yourself, mentally and physically. It’s the best way you can keep grinding away and streaming. It’s the best thing to do for yourself and for your viewers and fans.

Monetization – one of the primary reasons why people get into streaming in the first place. That’s the dream, after all, isn’t it? Being able to do something you love while making some money on the side is something a lot of streamers aspire for. But what does it take to get there?

You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to where to stream your content, but since Twitch is one of the bigger platforms right now, so let’s start there. After getting your stream setup ready and finding your audience and your voice, there are a number of ways you can make money as a Twitch streamer. Let’s go over some of the most popular ones, starting with the most basic ones and going into some that are a little more creative.

1. Twitch Donations

Donations are what they sound like – some money your viewers decide to give you, usually in exchange for an animated alert or a shout out. You can set this up via PayPal or any other payment method. With a third party service like Player.me, you can set up alerts and donation trackers to gamify your donation goals. Make it easy for your audience to give you some love by setting up a donation button on your Twitch page.

2. Being a Twitch Affiliate

To become a Twitch Affiliate, you’re going to have to satisfy a few criteria first.

• 500 minutes or more of stream time in the last 30 days
• An average of 3 or more simultaneous viewers in the last 30 days
• Have at least 50 followers
• Broadcast 7 unique days in the last 30 days

Sure it sounds simple enough, but it takes quite a bit of dedication and you’ll have to stand out in a sea of your fellow streamers all vying for that precious Affiliate status. Here’s what you get with the Affiliate status:

• The Subscribe button becomes available for your viewers. A new affiliate can make up to 50% of each subscription cost.
• You can be given Bits. Bits are essentially a virtual currency that your viewers can buy and give out to their favorite streamers. Twitch pays you $0.01 per Bit you’re given.
• You can make money off any game sales done through your stream, like an affiliate program. So if you’ve got a good following, might be a good idea to play a highly sought after game. Affiliates earn a 5% commission off every sale.

3. Being a Twitch Partner

A Twitch Partner is like a Super Saiyan version of a Twitch Affiliate, meaning you get all the perks for being an Affiliate alongside some special perks.

To become a Twitch Partner, you’ll need to satisfy the following criteria:

• Stream for at least 25 hours in the last 30 days
• Broadcast 12 unique days in the last 30 days
• Have an average 75 viewers for the last 30 days

Besides getting everything an Affiliate gets, Partners get access to ads. As a Partner, you have control of the frequency of displaying the ads. You’d get paid a flat rate for every 1,000 impressions.

Be careful about putting out too many ads, though, because your viewers might not like that too much.

4. Sponsorships

When you get popular enough, you have the opportunity to use your infamy to get brands to notice you. Popular streamers can become very good brand ambassadors, especially if your followers share a lot of overlap with the target demographics of some brands.

Twitch allows sponsored content. Just make sure you’re honest with your viewers that they’re watching a sponsored stream – it’s good to keep a good relationship with your community.

5. Patreon

You can customize your Twitch page to include all kinds of links and content. You can put in all your sponsorships, links to your social media, or even your website if you have one. That’s the perfect place for you to link to your Patreon.

A Patreon page is essentially another way for your viewers to support you. They can pick from different tiers with corresponding rewards. Make sure to make it worthwhile for your Patreon supporters by offering exclusive content, which can range anywhere from special bonus footage from your streams to exclusive streams just for them. Make them feel special!

And there you have it – 5 income sources from being a Twitch streamer. Just remember – it takes charisma, charm, talent, and dedication. Good luck and happy streaming!

Ever had the urge to stream your console games? Sure, you could stream them from your console directly to Twitch or Mixer, but what if you wanted to stream an older game from a PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii-U? Or maybe you wanted to personalize your stream? By streaming your console through a PC, you’ll be able to do all that. There are distinct advantages to hooking your console up to a PC.

In a previous blog post, we talked about the how. Today, we’ll attempt to talk about the why. Here are some benefits to streaming PlayStation or Xbox games via a PC.

Overlays

When putting your console stream through XSplit, you’ll be able to add a lot of your style and personality into it by adding a custom overlay. Putting an overlay on your stream can really make it stand out from others streaming the same games.

You could get free pre-made overlays or customize your own over at Player.me.

Alerts and Widgets

Whether it’s a donation or a new follower or a new subscriber, alerts are great for everyone involved. It’s a quick notification for you, so you can respond appropriately, and it’s really fun for your audience to be able to interact with you and influence your broadcast in some way. It just gives your stream that much more interactivity.

Just being able to add all manner of widgets and apps is a great way of adding that extra layer of fun for your viewers and fans. Whether it’s a chatbot or the ability to customize your chat interface, it makes your stream that much more interactive and enjoyable.

Choice of Gear

With consoles, you’re pretty much stuck using the proprietary equipment these platforms provide and support. On a PC, though, there’s a wider range of choices for microphones, cameras, or other peripherals you might want to use.

Check out some of our hardware partners here.

It might take some work and some extra hardware to do, but you’ll find that there are distinct advantages to capturing your console gameplay and streaming from a PC.

Got any more questions? Let us know in the comments below!