Stay in touch with your viewers when you can’t stream
If you’re hitting the road this summer, check out our four-part AFK Series featuring tips for using Twitch to your advantage when you’re going to be away from keyboard. You’ll read about putting your channel page to work for you, engaging your audience while you’re away from your full streaming rig, and preparing for your eventual return (because, sadly, all good vacations must come to an end).
When you stream, you build a community, and that doesn’t just go away when you’re away from home. We’re online all the time anyway, and with the help of some tools on Twitch, it’s easy to stay in touch with your viewers even when you’re not streaming.
Keep reading to learn more about…
Use Clips to keep in touch on social
Most streamers already use social to keep in touch with viewers when they’re away from the stream, and when you’re looking for something to post between vacation selfies and dank memes, you can use the new Clips Manager to find and share your best highlights.
Clips have great replay value. Sort by Views to get more engagement out of your most popular clips, or to boost an underappreciated gem.
Clips don’t expire! Sort by Created to revisit memorable moments (or even the fails you might prefer to forget).
Share the love. If you can squeeze it into 140 characters, throw a shout out to the person who made the clip so you can show your community that you appreciate their support.
Visit the Clips Manager at https://twitch.tv/manager/clips and click here to learn more.
Hang out in chat while running a Vodcast
Vodcasts let you host a live watching event with your viewers. You can hang out in chat while replaying past broadcasts or premiering new uploads (maybe videos you scheduled before hitting the road!).
If you have some spare time while you’re AFK, get a Vodcast started from the Live tab of your dashboard, then use the Twitch mobile app to chat with your viewers.
Include ‘Vodcast’ in your stream title. This helps viewers know what to expect when they join your channel (we’re also working on updates to differentiate Vodcasts from live streams). You can call out that you’ll be in chat hanging out with your viewers or let them know if you’re doing a Q&A during the Vodcast.
Stay active in chat. The best Vodcasts offer something new to viewers, even if they watched the stream when it was live. When you hang out with your community live in chat, you can share new takes or insights on your past broadcasts. If you can’t stick around in chat for the entire length of the video, remember to update your stream title.
Pick a video that you can talk about. If you’re used to live streaming, it might take a while to get used to chatting in your own channel (or even watching yourself). Make it easier on yourself by making sure you pick videos that will give you plenty to say — recent streams you remember well, new uploads, or games that were particularly challenging.
Get more info in our Guide to Using Vodcast.
Have you tried running a Vodcast yet? How do you stay in touch with your viewers when you can’t stream? Use #AFKsummer to send your best tips our way, and we’ll share the best ones on Twitter or even in a future blog post.
If you missed last week’s post, check it out here: Put your channel page to work while you’re away.
Stay tuned for next week, when we’ll talk about how you can use our brand new mobile app to stay in touch with your community while you’re AFK.