Twitch pros, feel free to ignore the basic stuff and jump straight to the interview we did with Marili, aka Fairyliveshow. Fellow Twitch newbies, stick with me, and we’ll figure this out before diving into the interview.
What is Twitch?
Twitch is a live-streaming platform. It originally started predominantly as a platform for video game live-streaming and eSports broadcasts but has since evolved and is being used by a wide variety of content creators to host shows. You’ll find pretty much everything on Twitch, from music broadcasts to talk shows to the aforementioned gaming-related content.
Fans can watch live and use the chat and even emotes to interact with the host, who can, in turn, react to any comments live during the broadcast.
The platform actively fosters the creation of communities, with successful streamers often gathering a huge following of like-minded fans. Fans can also become subscribers to support creators they like financially as well.
What is TwitchVision?
Twitch user Fairyliveshow is one of those content creators. Her first name is Marili, and she usually runs a Twitch show called “The Comic Book of Twitch”, where “Each stream is a new experience, a new story written by Fairy and her community….”
Inspired by the recent Eurovision Song Contest, Marili and her team decided to try something new. They set out to organise a song contest entirely on Twitch, called TwitchVision, where other creators could submit songs, and the audience got to vote live to crown the winners.
Our interview with Fairyliveshow/Marili
Marili reached out to Walls.io for sponsorship, and we were more than happy to branch out into something new to us and find out how Twitch streamers could make good use of our social wall tool. After all, we really want Walls.io to be of use to anyone and everyone.
The Walls.io social wall was embedded on the TwitchVision website and shown live within the stream and during breaks. Afterwards, we talked to Marili about how it went and how the social wall worked out for her, her fans and the show.
For those of us new to Twitch, could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you usually do on your channel?
I mostly introduce myself as an entertainer and not as a streamer because what I usually do on Twitch is create shows and interactive events highly focused on entertainment and fun. My channel is “the comic book of Twitch,” an interactive live comic book with lots of different shows, party games with the community, challenges, and a different experience for every stream.
What is TwitchVision? How did you come up with the idea, and how did you organise it?
TwitchVision is an annual song contest for Twitch creators that I had the pleasure to host and organize with my team. The idea came out of the blue when my business partner and I were talking about the Eurovision Song Contest and thought about creating a show like Eurovision, but for Twitch music (and non-music) creators.
We opened up a form for Twitch creators to submit their original songs. At first, it was very difficult because I’m not a music streamer and because this was the first time we were hosting the event. The first few days, we didn’t get a lot of submissions, so I was worried if we were actually going to have people to participate. But on the very last day of the deadline, the submissions exploded with over 90 in almost 24 hours.
When my mods team and I watched the applications one by one, at least 40 of them were absolutely amazing. That exceeded not only our expectations but also the timeline of the event. The show was planned to last for about 5 hours, but after we got so many great submissions, we had two choices, either cut many amazing songs and creators or extend the length of the show.
So we took the risk of making it a 9-hour show, giving at least 35 creators the opportunity to have their spotlight and have their song in the competition. As it was the very first time for a show like that, lots of lessons were learned. Now, we’re already getting ready for a 2- or even 3-day event next year, with semifinals and finals included.
During TwitchVision, after each creator introduced themselves, they presented their song via a recorded video clip. After all the songs had been presented, the audience had to distribute their points (in the format of Eurovision) to their favourite creators to pick the three winners!
It was a great event, and the feedback was amazing from both the participants and the audience. So at this point, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all my team who helped and worked hard to make it happen!
We created three different promotional campaigns (no paid ads), which we shared on our social media channels targeting different people. At first, we had a “call for participation” campaign for creators, then an official teaser with all the participants included, and then an event countdown to build the hype among the audience. We also sent many different assets to the participants to use and invite their audience.
TwitchVision was a fun competition that had to do with creative people, great music, and lots of different creators and communities. So I thought it would be a great idea to include a “social wall” section within the show to engage the audience, interact with their posts, and encourage them to support their favourite songs by posting about them and getting featured on the TwitchVision wall.
There was a separate section of the show (between breaks mostly) where the best posts using the relevant hashtag were featured on the wall and commented on, encouraging people to create not just any posts but creative and cool posts because only the best of them were going to be featured. That was so much fun and added an extra motive for the audience to participate.
It helped both as additional promotion for the show and because it included the audience and gave them an extra spotlight during the event besides the voting part. It was an amazing and brilliant asset for the show.
The social wall is fantastic to use both live, to react to the posts immediately, and as a different section of the stream to check out the wall at your own pace. The latter worked better in TwitchVision’s case because it was a highly demanding show, and we needed all the attention for the competing songs and creators. But in any other fun show, the live interactions would work perfectly!
I saw you also ran a raffle giving away some goodies (among them a yearly Walls.io license). What purpose did the contest serve for the show?
The viewers had a very active role on the show by cheering, creating posts for the social wall and the most important thing: voting for the winners. The voting part was a bit more complex than the usual voting because it was a point system. So to make it fair and not give the highest points to just one contestant, we had a giveaway only for the people who were giving all their points to 10 different songs, not just one. That motivated them to vote fairly and reward more songs than just one or two, and it worked perfectly!
Implementing a social wall for the show was brilliant, boosted the audience’s motivation and engagement, and added a fun section during breaks. The potential of the social wall is huge, as it can be implemented in many different and creative ways on shows, live streams, and even gameplays.
The wall themes were also very interesting because you can choose your own style and work with it. Plus, the moderation feature helps a lot with filtering the irrelevant or not-so-great posts from the wall. It’s a great feature I highly recommend to everybody who wants to enhance their shows and engage their audience.
…you want to boost fan engagement
Incorporate your social wall into the live show itself, ideally in predefined sections. Show the wall on the stream and talk about interesting posts that are coming in, comment and reply to your fans.
Fans will be happy to see their posts featured on the social wall, but if their favourite creator points out their contribution during a live show, that’s a whole other level of appreciation being shown. This can also motivate fans to keep sharing and posting away with the hashtag.
Encourage them to keep posting using the hashtag. Not only is it an added communication channel on top of your chat. It also helps boost your reach when your fans’ followers see them posting about your show on social media.
…you want something interactive to show during your streaming breaks
Everyone needs a break. Even if your show isn’t 9 hours long like TwitchVision. Putting up the social wall during your streaming breaks is a great way to keep people entertained and engaged and give them something to talk about in the chat while you’re away from the keyboard for a moment.
…you want to promote your show and stay in touch with fans when you’re not streaming
A social wall is a great add-on for a Twitch broadcast, but it’s also a fantastic tool for whenever you’re not currently hosting a show. Much like Discord servers, which many Twitch creators run for their fans, a social wall allows fans to stay in touch and interact with each other in between broadcasts. However, unlike a Discord, it takes a lot less upkeep work, as people are using their existing social media accounts. Thanks to a well-promoted hashtag and social wall, they can easily find each other online.
And speaking of promotion, a social wall also allows you as a creator to stay in touch with your fans and serve them all the information they need in one spot. Promote your show, update them about your schedule, ask for contributions and much, much more.