Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Guide to Live. This is your hangout to talk about live streaming with people who really know
[00:00:14] Speaker A: what it's like, because, let's face it, no one really knows what you're talking about when you say you're a live
[00:00:19] Speaker B: streamer, but we do. So I'm Tara, and across from me is my co host, Ben, and together we make up your Guide to Live.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Today we are talking about how creators are often told to. To be consistent because the algorithm likes it. And we're questioning that a little and talking about the deeper reasons of why being consistent, having good frequency as a live streamer works, how repeated exposure comes into play, and all of the good stuff about why consistency works and not being driven by the algorithm to go do it. So let's get into it.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Season two.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Season two. Yes, we have.
We have taken a break. It's been about a year since our last podcast, and we've been gathering up lots of new information and topics to talk about for season two. And this is our first episode back. Episode back. Yes.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Can I tell you what I've learned?
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: Outside of live streaming.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: In that time, I've discovered drinking water.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: You mean drinking water?
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Yes, The. The literal and metaphorical sustenance of life. I realized I just wasn't drinking enough and it would make me grumpy.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm so glad that you started drinking water because I have noticed that when I look over, you're. You're typically drinking coffee, like, coffee all day long. And literally, coffee is a diuretic. So the fact that you've realized that you're not drinking enough water is great. You haven't cut back on the coffee, but you're drinking more water now, so that's good.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I think you. You have to be able to have a bit of both.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Yeah, you should. You should be able to have a. Is. It's all about balance.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Have you got anything you've discovered?
[00:02:04] Speaker B: I have discovered that I am really.
I'm. I'm really into miniatures and. And unboxings. Like, literally.
Like, I. I've always thought I. Like, I've always played with toys. Like, I've always been a collector, but I'm like, I've realized I'm a.
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Specifically of small stuff.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Small things. Like, I feel like I'm giving my inner child the. The stuff it never got to get when it was a child. When I was a child, I didn't get the dollhouse and the miniature stuff. Like, and so I always wanted it. Obviously I, obviously I've learned this because I'm like obsessed with it.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Yeah, you are.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Miniature toys in expensive balls.
Yeah. There's definitely something to be explored in the opening of the balls and the, the like the mystery part of it.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: The surprise.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: The surprise. Maybe for future episodes.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: How do mini balls and blind boxes relate to Live Stream?
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Hey, if there's an analogy, I will find it.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
So we, we like to keep it real here on the Guide to Life.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Like we keep this real.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we do.
And we haven't recorded for a while, so it seems only fitting that we talk about consistency and perhaps chastise ourselves.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: Yes. Give ourselves a nice, like, what do you call it? A.
What do you call a punishment over in, in England if you get in trouble?
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: A bollocking.
Give ourselves a nice bollocking.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: There's a podcast that I listen to called Three Bean Salad where it's three British guys actually, and their listeners write in and they say, okay, we got a bollocking from this person.
I like that. It's good.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: That's funny.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: And I'm also aware to American is. It's sounds so weird.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Like for me it's kind of normal.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: But I mean it's normal for me too because most of the, the, the content that I consume is television from the UK and it's like a British detective show.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Of some sort.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Also, before we get into consistency, we keep it so real that for, for long term listeners of the, of the Guide to Live podcast, we have a couple of studio cats here and I'm keeping it so real that the chair that I'm sitting on has a little bit of catsick that's soaked in and I'm choosing to sit on that. So the cat gets the actual chair that's clean.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Right. And so for you American listeners of Sick Furball is a hairball.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Oh, like, yeah.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Vomit pukey vom.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: So the cat gets the clean chair. But I don't want to disturb. Right.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Because there's a studio cat, they have to have their peace.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: So let's get into consistency. And like here's the big question at the start of all of this. Right. Advice out there is be consistent because the algorithm likes it.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: And we kind of want to question that right out of the gate.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: It's be consistent and the algorithm will reward you.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Yes. Sending you to more people do this consistency thing. And, and the algorithm will be pleased and if you don't, it will be angry and it will Punish you. Yeah.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Well, that's a bunch of bollocks.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Well, I. I don't think it's completely untrue, but the kind of the why part of it is the bit that we need to unpack a little bit.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Because really the deeper reason is the algorithm is kind of mirroring and rewarding natural human behavior.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Yes. Yes, it is true. It does reward. It does reward if you hit certain metrics, Right. If you're doing calls to action and you're getting certain engagement, it does reward by sending you to more people. But that alone isn't what is going to allow you to grow as a creator.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: As a live streamer.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Yes. So. And it's. And it's also. It is giving more audience generally to people who are consistent. Right. But it's doing that because if you take live streaming out of the picture and you were trying to launch a music career or advertise a movie or open a corner store and you wanted to tell people about it, the thing that creates familiarity is repeated exposure.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Yes.
Yeah. 100%. 100%. It's about showing up and knowing that it's going to be this. It's. It's going to be there when you get there, you know, and it's in like. Because as a consumer, you think about it before you do it. As it's. It's an impulse. It goes to. It's like marketing 101 impulse. Okay, I have a thought. How. How am I going to cultivate that thought? I'm going to think about it. I'm going to anticipate the moment. And then when I go to get to the store and I go into the store and I walk into it. Here's a perfect analogy. I was craving candy the other day. We went to this new candy store that's like exotic Swedish candy. And it's like the bins and you put it in the bag. And I was like, oh. And I found these one particular candies so good that I'm like craving them now.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: I think that's something different. That's sugar. No, no, not repeated exposure.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: No, no, no. It was the texture, the flavor, how I ch. Like, there was a lot of components of why it was good. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go there and I'm going to pick this up and I'm going to take it on my visit to my friend and I'm going to bring it with us. And I got to the store and it was 1124 and it didn't open till 12. Oh, it was consistent. But I was early.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Oh, right, right.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: Yeah. But consistency, like, imagine if I got in there at 12 when it opened and it wasn't open.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Well, that's the problem.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: That is the problem.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: You were just eager beaver. You got that early and thankfully it was open.
So you felt secure in knowing that place that you'd identified as liking is. Is.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: And now going to be there. I know, to come back at 12.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: I'm going to be there now after that time and I know it's going to be open. That's consistency. But if I had showed up at a normal business hours and it was closed, I bet that's it. I'm never coming back here again. Because it broke trust. I broke trust. It's broken trust with me.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: So. So that's one example. And that's like a candy store, sweet store for the, for the British people.
But that doesn't really have a community element. So another analogy would be like a pub. I'm gonna come in with my English pubs. It's like, why do everyone knows, even if you don't go to a pub, you know that pubs have regulars.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: And like third spaces have regulars. And here's the key. A regular isn't returning to the pub because it unveils some revolutionary content strategy every Tuesday.
That's not what's happening. No, they return because one is there. Right. So the show up in the shops. Open.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: It's open.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: The people in the pub, the, the bar staff are there.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: And eventually the people that you met there are also there.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: So everybody starts to know everybody.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Right. And when you say third space. So let me, I just want to talk about this because some people may not know what a third space is. And a third space is like. So think of the two most literal physical spaces that you're in. You're in your home environment. And then if you work outside of home, you're in your work environment.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: And then where's your third space? There's another space you need to go as a human to kind of like get away from those two things because those are your two primary sources of like, where you hang out. And it's like you need a little me time or something else. Right.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Community time.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Community time, whatever it is separate of those two spaces. And that's your third space. So it's like it could be the gym, it could be the bar, it could be the restaurant, it could be the playground. The playground. It could be on the sidewalk walking and passing people that you see on a regular, like, they're there. Like, we walk down the sidewalk and there's people hanging out on the sidewalk every day. And they're the same people every day. And you walk by like, hey, what's up? How you doing today?
[00:10:07] Speaker A: You know. Yeah, could be the pickleball club.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: If you're into that. Like, all of these are third spaces and live streaming is a third space in itself.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Space. Yes. It's a place where people go to hang out. Yeah. Everybody knows your name.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: I mean, for real. Right. So if we. We regularly reference old television in terms of what we should be considering in this new format. Right, New, Old. In the olden days, television got invented one day and people just tried to figure it out and they got better and better at it. So we can take lessons from it. And that's a great example. It's old now. Right. Friends, like the. That was a TV show in a pub and they were basically showing community and that was part of the reason why it was so warm and friendly. You had all of the same feelings that you get from.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: You mean Cheers, not Friends.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Oh, Cheers. Yes.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Friends was in a coffee shop.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Yes. Same principle.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Same principle, exactly.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Just because you sang the theme tune to Cheers.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Yes. And you were thinking Friends. Yeah.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: It's funny, I had the Cheers logo in my head, the, you know, that kind of Seraphy font. And it's in. It's like hand drawn.
Looks like a. I guess it would look like the. A painting that you would have put on the window of the bar. That's what the Cheers was.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: So. So if we're saying it's not. You're not doing it for the algorithm. We're trying to build audience by being consistent so people show up. Right. So. So familiarity is the thing, algorithm or not. And we know this is true. Right. Like, Twitch doesn't really have an algorithm or didn't for a long time. Right. The discovery is very different. And that's a whole other topic.
We'll do a breakdown of like the. Probably the top six or seven streaming platforms in a podcast in this season for sure. So how people grew there was through consistency. You people would keep coming back.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: So because of the consistency, people knew what time that the streamer was going to be on every single day. Because of that is what brought the people there. It wasn't because they were on their phone just. Or they were on their computer, just like it wasn't.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: The algorithm wasn't rewarding them for the consistency. People were. They were Amassing an audience over time doing that. But there is something here to consider. So there is consistency that could be broken into frequency and predictability.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: And it's very important to understand the distinction between the two because it, it kind of feels like the same thing.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Kind of. But this is where people can get really confused and this could be the detriment of.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: Your live streaming career.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. It's like I'm doing a lot versus I'm doing something with predictability. Two versions is do you do three dependable nights that say Thursday, Friday, Saturday?
Right. In theory, if you're a full time streamer, you're looking at full time hours, five days a week, whatever you need and time off.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: But let's just for this example, three dependable nights where you stream Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, every. Every week.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Every single week for the year. Yeah.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Versus seven days a week. Sometimes.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Sometimes not.
Different days.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Different times.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Like that sounds like a nightmare. I'm getting anxiety thinking about that right now. Like you, you just explaining that to me is making me anxious.
Yeah, that sounds like a lot of anxious.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Making for both the streamer. Right. This podcast is for streamers. And like that version of showing up, it's still showing up. You're doing, you're doing more than 99% of people. If you're doing that, you're actually showing up. But then you're showing up in this inconsistent, chaotic way and it doesn't help you.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: The streamer and it doesn't help the viewer because like I said, I'm, I'm
[00:13:59] Speaker A: getting stressed out thinking, right, where are they? There's no. You can't build up this connection as well.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: People get upset and frustrated and their feelings get hurt quickly. Like if they show up and you're not live, they're going to take it personally. Like some people will take it personally to the point where it hurts their feelings. And they're like, fine, I'm done. I'm never watching them again. They didn't show up for me. They didn't show up.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Yeah. And yeah, I think it would be the same as television if Netflix said we're gonna release these series if Silo was. Came out every Friday, but sometimes it didn't.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Friday. Getting back to watch Silo, which is a Netflix show, which is kind of cool.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: No, it's Apple tv.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Apple tv. Like it would be a different experience. You wouldn't be as bought into that.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: So they are consistent with it. So streaming has to be the same
[00:14:47] Speaker B: it has to be. Yeah. I mean, it's the reason.
Schedules and television schedules, radio schedules. Like before tv, there were radio programs that came on. People would gather around the radio, like literally sitting around a radio, listening to the show that was on. You know, and if they showed up at a certain time and it wasn't on, I mean, I think that that's how it was in the beginning. And that's why some shows lasted and some shows didn't. And that's why the Grand Ole Opry and. And whatever that. Whatever that one show is that comes on, it was. It's a radio show and it still is a radio show to this day.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: Well, I mean, the grand old robbery is that. Yes, basically.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: I mean, I mean, listen, it's still happening to this day.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: It is a radio show.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: And it's because it's consistent. It's been consist since it started.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: It was at the Grand Odd Opera, where when I was first coming over to the U.S. i thought they said before the show started, went to Nashville, like, go out to see the Grand Odd Opry. You know, it's just a random show. And. And they came on stage and they said. What I thought they said was stand up for the US Military. Like as in like just to. To kind of salute and. Yeah. You know, like, respect. Respect. Yes.
But what they had said is, if you are in the US Military, stand up.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: And you stood up and you're like, I'm not in the military and I'm not US Citizen.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: So I just broken both of your
[00:16:15] Speaker A: expectations, you know, and there were probably. I don't know how big it is in there, a thousand people or whatever in this kind of sweeping bowl auditorium. And like 10 people stood up.
Big beefy guys and like serious women.
And then me and. But I couldn't sit back down then.
So I. I just stood and took it. Ye. Admitted I was like, I could pass for US Military. I'm good.
I'm retired. Don't worry.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's like a deer in the headlights. I didn't know what to do.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: I know I didn't.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Froze.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: I froze. Yeah. It was like, no one's near me. They're not gonna. They're not gonna say anything.
So if we're talking about consistency and we're saying, so you show up, it's not the algorithm that's rewarding you for consistency, it's human behavior that's rewarding you.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: What are they actually becoming familiar with? Because it's. We all know that feeling.
Familiarity.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: In a thing.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Well, number one, the first thing is human. Like if you want to get on a human development is your. The first thing a baby does is recognize faces. Like face. That's the first thing that you're going to become familiar with is someone's face.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: And me, of course I. I know I'm a facial recognition like phenom. Like I think I have like an algorithm in my brain that like I can scan a face and be like, yep, that person's related to that person or that person is not who they say they are.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So faces are the first thing we connect with.
Repeated exposure to somebody's face builds familiarity with them.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And then right after that is the next thing is auditory like sound the voice. Like your, your voice, what either the tone of it or this or like the overall.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Like your intonation, the way you talk,
[00:18:03] Speaker B: all of those things.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: And it might. That could also include like the sounds and the things in the room. We know this like just to. Just to kind of like prove how this or why this works. So the music industry relied on still does you becoming familiar with a song by exposing you to it. Right. And for the longest time that was radio, Right. So the record labels or the artists would pitch their songs to the radio and hopefully it's a good song that people like and it's kind of catchy. But they weren't pitching all songs. It was gate kept. But then the song gets played on the radio and there are things on radio called A list, B list, C list. So you would literally get put onto an A or a B or C list. And the A and B and C list was the amount of times that song got played.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Right. So depending like if you're on the A list, it got played more times than the B list. Yeah. And then down.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And you want to be on the
[00:19:01] Speaker B: A list, of course, more discovery.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: So. And those songs aren't necessarily inherently better than everything else. They're getting exposed. Because if. Because if that was true, everything would get played the same amount of time and the good stuff would just bubble to the top. There was a bit of human selection going on. And then they played this song over and over. And lo and behold, I'm into get lucky.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: That's conditioning, right? It's human conditioning.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: You get everybody get lucky.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: The same songs over and over again. Eventually they get stuck in your head, then you're singing them.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Yeah, that's it. It gets stuck in your head.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: We are designed to as Humans to kind of latch onto that. So that is the other thing, the sounds and the voice in the room.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Right?
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Yeah, but there's more than that as well.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Well, there's the. What, the room itself, like, visually, what you see, like the room that you've designed for your people to hang out in, like, it looks the same every time. Like, that's consistent. You know, there should be things.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: The pub.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Right. Like the way it looks or the way it feels, even like the ambiance of it. Like, that's all.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: The ambience.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: The ambience, yeah.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah. So the more you're doing it and then the more you're there, the more people become familiar with your. The you, the voice, how it looks in the room. So you could have an awesome set or set up whatever you're doing, but people will only become familiar with it and feel comfortable in that over time.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Right. And then. And then from those things is spawned and born this other thing. It's. It's birthed from that, which is the community itself. Like, people start hanging out with each other in the rooms and then they start having conversations amongst themselves. They're talking amongst themselves. Right, okay.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Talk amongst yourselves.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: The regulars.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Yeah, the regulars.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Where everybody knows your name.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Where everybody knows your name.
Yes.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: So again, if you're not there consistently, then not only are you not getting the person coming back, you're not getting the person coming back to see person A. You're not creating who was coming back. Right.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: Literally, the bar that was there has evaporated and it doesn't exist. Like, so now you're walking to that. Like, in a physical world, you're walking to the. The place that you go to, that third space which is, let's say, the bar or the pub.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: If you will.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: And physically there. It's not there. It's like gone. It's evaporated.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: And I don't think a pub would develop a bar would develop a culture where people wanted to go back if every time you went back, the bomb person was different.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:32] Speaker A: And every single person was in there who was different.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: Yeah. It would be weird.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: It was like, well, now I'm going into this new place every time. What is this? I don't know. I've got no familiarity.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: Right. We do that. We do that. We do that. When we go out of town and we say, hey, we're out of town on special occasion for novelty, let's go to this place where nobody knows us.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Yep. It's also experience Content wise, it's the jokes, the memes, the in jokes that you're also getting repeatedly exposed to.
[00:22:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: So many jokes come from the pattern of repetition.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Over days, weeks, months, we build up a language together.
And that is also.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: And that familiarity, culture within it. So there's a culture now. Like there's this one place in the Outer Banks that I love going to. It's called Bob's. It's like a. It's like a breakfast diner place.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: So American.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: But you go in number one, it's freezing cold when you go in there, because they don't want you to stay too long. They don't make it. They make it very uncomfortable. But the food is amazing, service is great.
But as soon as you walk in, there's a sign that says, eat and get the hell out.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: Oh, so that's their culture.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: That's their culture. And you accept it and you go in there and you have a great experience, but you. You have great food, great time, but you get the hell out when it's time to make room for more people to come in.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think as a good point, that it doesn't all have to be warm. We're not talking about warm, cozy, like community. It's easy to think, oh, like it's warm and cozy. You could have a live streaming community where it's a bit like that. Come on in, get the info. Giving you the daily news or whatever. The thing is, I'm doing the weather. What? Yeah, whatever. I'm giving you my thoughts for the day. And then when you're done, get out of here and get on with your day. Like that is also. Yeah, that's a version of this.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: Yeah, it is, exactly. Because there's different types of live streams, there's different types of information being passed. Like some live streams, like you said, just want to give you something so you can go about your day. Some places want you to come in and feel comfortable and put your feet up. Yeah, some. Some streams want you to fall asleep listening to them.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Right. Which kind of plays into ritual.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: So there's jokes and in jokes and things like that.
Like the more serious version of that is rituals that you will do together. And I don't. Doesn't have to be like spiritual rich.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Yeah, we're not talking about voodoo rituals.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, we're not talking about.
What's the one where you put pins in people?
[00:23:44] Speaker B: That's. That's a. It's a doll. It's a voodoo doll.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Voodoo. Oh, that is voodoo.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's voodoo.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Eventually we get into this thing that people coming back because you. The streamer is there. But.
And all of this nice stuff around it. But it's that people are there.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah. The people.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: So if you are hosting a community, that's really what we're talking about. And we can only grow that with consistency.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you have to. Because not everyone knows if you say you're going to. It's like if you say you're going to show up and you don't show up and everyone else shows up, the community doesn't exist. It just does. It can't exist.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. It certainly can't grow. You can get in a situation where you have a. It's. It's also important to not get into the trap. Like, you could have an inconsistent stream where you're not applying any of these principles and you have a core group of people who kind of show up. And that's like having friends. Right.
You know, you. You're busy. Sometimes a group call. Now you're doing a group chat, but you're the one on screen. And maybe it's like. That's a different thing.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Is not that I.
You are live streaming in that. But there's no growth or you're not
[00:24:54] Speaker B: going to monetize unless it's just from your friends and you're not going to grow.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: You're just not. Yeah, yeah.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Yes.
So.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: So don't do that. Don't you want to grow?
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But there is a caveat to this, to, like wrap this all up in a bow. Right. The consistency can also breed same.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And that can be a slippery slope, really.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Right. Totally. So we also know that people like novel stuff, which is why the pub does have a karaoke night and they
[00:25:37] Speaker B: have the pickled eggs of the day or the deviled eggs of the day.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Right. There's variety that's going on within it, within the whole structure. And the same is true of the live stream. So you're looking to build a consistent thing. So you're back. So it's. If somebody comes in, it's not totally different every time. It's also. As the streamer, it's easy for it to become like, oh, I need to refresh this.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: Yeah. That you. You can do that prematurely.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Very much so, yeah. So you.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: It's very easy to do that.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: You can do it prematurely. And I think our take on this is kind of really like on a weekly, monthly and quarterly cycle, there needs to be something that's changing.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Something Right. So it, like, say on a weekly. It's very. It's like theme. It's like. It's like the most superficial thing of the stream needs to change weekly. Right.
Where the bones and everything else is the same, the foundation's the same. And monthly, it's like, okay, theme. And then tent poles need to change like that. But then quarterly, bigger things need to change quarterly. Like change your set a little bit more. Like keep your format of your show the same, but change your background.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: You know, and the reason is because people who stick by you, the, the, the, the. The ones who have been there since the very beginning and will be there till the very end, they get bored. They need some kind of change.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: And that. And you're doing that for them. But you're also like, you're just creating something different in the whole zeitgeist of that platform as well.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like changing everything can feel really productive to, to you as the streamer, it's like, I need to do something. I've done this 200 times. This feels productive with change. But you're kind of. You can be quietly erasing all of the recognition that you've built with an audience.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Yeah, the recognition and then all of the little inside jokes and the. In the culture. You literally created a brand and a culture there.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. So. So resist the desire to change because you've done it a lot.
Right. Similar, just to use the music industry experience. Like, an artist would go on tour to play their songs, building familiarity and connection, and might tour for two or three years, and halfway through that, or two months into that, can quickly feel bored of playing the same songs.
But actually you're. You're delivering something. You. The professional in you, needs to deliver the thing to people over and over again.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: That's.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: That's the difference between being a live streamer and a community member.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: Right. Well, as a, As a consumer, if that was the band I was following, I would be. Feel a little bit like. I would feel like FOMO or like, oh, that's not fair if they did other stuff in a different location. Because I was like, well, what do I have to go to every single location to get all of that same experience?
It's like you're creating an experience, so you want that experience that you're putting out there to be similar for each person so that they can take it and interpret it in their own way with their own perspective. Yeah.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: And there are. You can play with this as well. So it's worth saying like, scarcity can be powerful as well, but.
But it is. That might be scarcity of a change that you do. It might be that people love it when you do a cooking stream.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Right. So you might do that once a month because scarcity is good, but it fits into your schedule and your programming as well like that. So kind of playing with it is super important. Nothing is inherently right or wrong beyond knowing that this human connection is built by familiarity.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: And that is human nature, not algorithm nature. Right.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: I mean, I don't know if you guys have watched the Bear. It's a show that I don't. I forget which channel or which streaming platform.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: The cooking show. Right.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah. The Bear. The restaurant. Yeah. I. When he opens the restaurant, it's. It's like every single night the menu's different. It's like people are pissed about it, they're mad about it. Like nothing. And the. In the business is failing because of it. And the minute he starts being consistent, the numbers start going up. So, you know, I know that some, like, some creators and some live streamers are like, I'm just gonna wing it. I'm just gonna go for it. I'm just gonna be myself all the time and not have any structure or anything. It's just whatever it is is gonna. And that is good in a way, but it needs to be contained and packaged.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Otherwise it can turn into the menu changing every night. And people are going to get frustrated.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: Yeah. So I guess, in summary, there's a balance here to be struck. You have to understand this core concept also not get, like, frustrated that you're trying to please the algorithm. I think that's the other part of this is like decoupling that part in your brain, knowing that the. So now we know everything that we've talked about today. The, you know, human experience, it now makes sense a little. If you kind of think about what the algorithm is trying to do. It's trying to reward people who do things that is known to be good to build community and familiarity.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: It's the artificial. It's the mimic of the. The actual raw reality of you just being consistent.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: They're kind of community. It's kind of saying, hey, could you do this? I'll reward you if you do this.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: But by the way, is fundamentally good for building community.
[00:31:14] Speaker B: It's like, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Right. The algorithm or the. Well, I think human experience.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: We know the answer.
Mimics it. It mimics it and it's saying, okay, if you. Mim. If if you do these things, then you're mimicking what is success in my. What I've been programmed to think is successful, which is natural human behavior. It's been taught that, right?
[00:31:33] Speaker A: And it's almost like. Just disregard that. If. If the algorithm thought annoys you, disregard it and think what would be great If I've just opened my new candle shop.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: Shop.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: Would I be. Would. Is being consistent good? Yes.
Is welcoming people in good? Yes. Is there building structures that people feel familiar with? Jokes in jokes? Yes.
[00:31:56] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:56] Speaker A: Is it. Is it good to change all of the time? No. Is it good to change a bit? Yes. Like that is your own algorithm.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: Yeah. That is an algorithm within. Within it.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm looking forward to being consistent with you, Tara.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: The Guide to Live is back, baby.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Yes, we are.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: If you like this, make sure you subscribe, drop us, follow, give us five stars, nothing less than a four, please.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: And if you have any questions, please reach out. We would love to answer them right here on the podcast.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Yes, yes, you can get the email for the Guide to Live in the show notes. So we're back.
We will see you on episode two, season two.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: Of the Guide to Life.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Bye.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Bye.
