“Get a real job?” Well, live streaming is very much a real job and here’s your cheat sheet to getting started as shared by KUMU’s Community Campaign Manager, Blessy Ann Villafuerte at NYLON Manila’s Career Fair.
There’s been an exponential growth in the live streaming community, especially these days when the only thing that connects you with the world is through the glory of the Internet. It’s okay to feel like you’re talking to a wall sometimes when you get started because you can’t see the audience face to face, but Blessy Ann Villafuerte, Community Campaigns Manager of live streaming app KUMU says that it’ll come naturally as you go in her talk at NYLON Manila’s Career Fair. Read on below for her cheat sheet to live streaming!
READ MORE: Introducing the First Ever NYLON Manila Career Fair
1. CHOOSE THE PLATFORM THAT BEST REPRESENTS YOU
Unlike before, live streaming didn’t have as much platforms compared to today where you have options like KUMU, YouTube, TikTok, and Discord. Blessy Villafuerte advices that it’s important to choose which platform suits your personality. If you’re into singing, gaming, or the arts, there’s a live streaming platform that’s meant for you. “It’s important because it will give you a vibe of what the community will be.” Always check their guidelines and terms or what the audience will expect from you. “The first thing you have to remember is your comfortability.”
2. ALWAYS CHOOSE A CONTENT YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT
When you like something, you can talk about that subject for hours and hours. It’s the same as choosing your content for live streaming. What are your interests? Hobbies? What can you comfortably showcase? Whether it’s unboxing K-Pop albums, dancing or pop culture, think about what you can offer to the audience as they’re a huge part of your growth. In Blessy’s live streaming journey, she went from just hanging out with her friends, to singing and makeup, and eventually, hosting a game show.
3. WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE FROM OTHER CONTENT CREATORS?
Getting creative has been the competition between content creators in the past years. How do you present yourself? How do you engage with your audience? You have to make your content enticing because people will always want to know what’s new about you? Always keep in the mind that it’s the type of content that people will want to talk about. In the beginning, Blessy admits that she was pretty shy and timid. She didn’t even have a tripod at first. She used to just place her phone on a tumbler, but now she has three tripods, two phones, three ring lights, and two laptops that she used during her talk.
4. THE AUDIENCE IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR STREAM.
“Mahalaga ka, pero mas mahalaga ang audience,” shares Blessy. What’s the purpose of showcasing your talent if the audience is not with you? It’s important to engage and acknowledge your audience so they’d become your loyal listeners. You can connect with co-streamers too because you’ll never know what you can learn from them. Expanding your market helps! Just like the other streamers who have been earning P100,000 a month. How?!
5. CHILL AND HAVE FUN
Blessy Villafuerte also shares that some of the streamers that she knows used to just chill out as a hobby, but afterwards made live streaming as their way of living. “It was a way for me to build my confidence.” Engaging with your audience may sound a little frightening at first, but don’t ever forget to have fun. What Blessy thought was just a simple stream became her passion as Kumu’s Community Campaigns Manager that lets her train new and upcoming people.
You can watch the recap of Blessy Ann Villafuerte’s talk on getting started with live streaming below:
