If you are a gamer, you must have at least once considered bringing in your talents in front of the world and showcasing them to the best of your capabilities.
Starting a youtube channel is one of the best ways to do it, but it is a process that needs to be approached with a lot of care. You need to weigh the situation accurately and then come to a decision in terms of content, time commitments, investment, etc. Here is a guide that will help you figure out how to tread down this road better.
1. Live streams are the way to go
Being a YouTube gamer in today’s age comes with a lot of advantages since the platform has upgraded itself and made the features more flexible for creators. A lot of gamers have started conducting live streams on their channel to better interact with their audience while also making different and better content.
Live streams usually run longer than regular videos and are best seen live. Although, a lot of creators upload their live stream on their channel for everyone else to watch too, even the ones who weren’t able to see it at first. They are also a great way for fans and creators to interact with each other over a longer period of time.
2. Clear out unnecessary bits
When planning to upload your gaming videos or live streams online, try deleting unnecessary parts out of it because those parts might seem entertaining when watched live, but as an uploaded video, it might look like the content is dragging on.
To avoid this, try not to upload the video as it is; instead, filter it out to make it more crisp and watchable so that anyone who visits your channel can enjoy these videos, irrespective of whether they attended the live stream or not. You should consider using an online video editor to make your job easier rather than going for a complicated software that is expensive and time-consuming. Know more about such softwares.
3. Enable superchat
This is another fun feature that YouTube has introduced for its creators. Superchat is a feature wherein the fans of a creator can donate or send them money while their live stream is on. There is no minimum or maximum amount to this, but creators can still earn a considerable amount by enabling this feature on their channel.
But when you enable superchat, make sure you thank or give a shoutout to each one of the people making donations to you. Many creators also conduct fundraisers by means of this which have been highly successful in the future. This is a great way to monetize your content, but it can be difficult to establish since superchat works best for creators with a higher number of subscribers.
4. Invite fellow gamers
Collaborations are key, and when it comes to gaming, you have a fairly great advantage over other creators since gaming collaborations can be done at the comfort of one’s home. All gamers can connect on an online server and voila! All you need to do is shoot yourself playing games and upload it.
Collaborations are critical, and they not only help you but also help creators that come on your channel. It shows a healthy network of creators who come together to produce even better content. You get to explore a new audience, and so do your other collaborators, and that is one of the major keys for expansion. You might want to look into collaborating with creators who produce similar content to establish a common ground where you can agree on what to work with.
5. Experiment with different games
Certain creators are particular about what games they want to play and what they like to do, while others play all types of games and constantly dabble in different types of content. For such creators, it is easy to put out more content faster, and even in terms of quantity, they perform better.
Their consistency never falls, and their content is diverse. Specialization is good, but having a balance between a broad range of content and specific content can fare well in the long run. Whatever the case may be, if you want to reach a larger audience, try playing different games and not sticking to the same things all the time.
6. Make space for commentary
This point again comes in when one is talking about a video that is going to be uploaded later and not shot live. Commentary automatically makes your content better and more appealing to watch. Video editing can be done in a way that fits in more commentary by means of memes or comments in the form of text.
Have some time spare left for action and reaction so as to make your video more entertaining like a regular video rather than a hardcore gaming video. This is, of course, only if you are going for mass appeal. If not, you can always stick to your own terms and make content specifically for the gaming niche and audience.
7. Include better intros and outros
When it comes to editing the videos, there are a lot of details that go into the final cut to make it better. One of them is having a proper intro and outro for your video.
This can simply mean flashing your logo along with nice graphics in your video for the intro or having a nice salutation towards the end for the outro. Try keeping these under 5-10 seconds as they do not have to be the focal point of your video. Using an intro or outro maker available online for this can make your job quick and easy. But, make sure that whatever medium you use, your intros and outros are very engaging and retainable. You can explore some ideas from here.
Conclusion
Having a gaming channel can be a long and tiring process, but if you enjoy it and do it right, it can be equally rewarding too. As and when your channel progresses, you can invest in better equipment that will, in the end, benefit your content. Using ads, YouTube outro, and enabling monetization can sound daunting in itself, but once you start using these things, you realize how easy and helpful they are to operate. Gaming on youtube is a difficult task, but fun nonetheless, and with the right determination, you can ace every bit of it.