One2fan Blog

Engaging Your Audience: Tips for Going Live on TikTok

Why do users like to watch live streams? The main reason is the lack of communication in everyday life. Looking for it, people go to social networks, find creators whose content and personality they like, and then watch live streams to communicate with their favorite creators and other fans in real-time. It's like making friends with those who have the same interests as you – they will understand your passion, taste for music and for certain content.
All this means that one of the most important things that will help a creator to attract viewers and turn them into your subscribers, and then fans, is to offer them communication and interaction during a live stream. You have to get people interested in talking to you and show them your interest in them.

Only in this case people will stay to watch your live stream and will return to you over and over again. People will also show you their appreciation for communicating with them – they’ll subscribe to you and even send you Gifts which can then be converted into money and be withdrawn.
We've created this article to help you to interact with your viewers effectively. Here you'll be able to learn:

  1. What are the main tips for engaging your audience?
  2. What is better not to talk about while being LIVE?
  3. How to interact with the audience to receive gifts and attract new followers?
  4. How to interact with the viewers who have sent you a gift?
  5. How to сommunicate with an audience who speaks a different language?
  6. What to do if you get bad comments in the stream chat?
Keep reading to become a pro TikTok streamer! 🤳

1. What are the main tips for engaging your audience?

Viewers can leave comments during your LIVE video and a creator should follow the chat and respond to everything that he or she sees there. Basically, it’s almost everything you need for success.

But sometimes the situation is the following: you may go LIVE and even have some viewers but they will stay silent because they can be afraid to write something or they just don't know what to write to you. Remember, that you’re the host here and they are your guests so it’s your job to encourage interaction.
Here are 7 main tips to keep your audience engaged:

• Greet everyone who joined your live stream

The greeting at the very beginning of the stream does not have to be personal: it is much better to address all the viewers at once and say "Hello", "Good morning" or "Good evening" to them. Show that you are happy to see viewers on your stream. To motivate them to stay and write comments, ask your viewers something: for example, how they are doing.

It’s also a good idea to tell them what you’re going to do while being LIVE – it’ll help you to keep viewers engaged.

Remember that there’s an endless feed of LIVE videos on TikTok, so you have to repeat your greetings and what you’re going to do from time to time. If you do not have a lot of viewers, repeat it more often to engage people who are scrolling the feed of LIVE videos.

• Ask questions

We have already mentioned above that during the greeting it is worth asking your viewers how they are doing to motivate users to write comments. It's a good practice to ask questions during the whole stream. Show your interest to your viewers and ask them simple questions about what’s going on in their lives, whether they like what you're doing, how they feel while watching you.

You can even ask them what they want to see from you during your live stream. It can be some particular action or, for example, a live battle.

Getting answers doesn’t mean that you should do it immediately, especially if it’s something more complicated than to dance for a couple of minutes. Be smarter – tell viewers that you’ll do what they’ve suggested a little bit later or when they send you a gift to motivate you.

• Share something interesting and personal

The perfect way to win your audience is to be open with them. Tell your viewers about your day (especially, something funny – people love being entertained) and your mood.

You can share a funny story that has happened with you before going LIVE, especially if it’s connected to your preparations for meeting with them. And even if something like that didn’t happen, just invent it.

It is a perfect ice-breaker that can help you to awake interest in your viewers to what is happening on your stream.

• Address your viewers by their nicknames

Successful communication is always personal. If it’s possible, call your viewer by his or her nickname. It makes people feel special.

If you can’t read a nickname, you can ask a viewer how to pronounce it or how you can address him or her. You can also apologize if you’ve read something wrong.

You will most likely find viewers who will watch your streams constantly. It will be useful for you to know how their nicknames are read or how they want you to address them. Even if some of these viewers don't give you gifts, they will come to the stream and write comments, which will help you promote your profile.

• Mind your body language

Nonverbal communication (the way you look, move, and react) is just as important as what you say.

Your posture has to be “open” so that people have an impression that you’re welcoming and friendly. Try to keep your shoulders back and your head up, especially when you’re addressing your viewers.

The way you look, move and react can let your viewers know how much you enjoy streaming and interacting with them. If they see that you are tense, stressed, or even unhappy, they can leave your stream and go where they are welcome.

• Make an “eye contact” with your viewers

Eye contact is also a part of nonverbal communication. It displays honesty, improve understanding between people and – what's really very important when you want to engage your audience – helps to build bonds. Eye contact encreases empathy between individuals and awakens a sense of friendship.

It’s hard to make eye contact when you can’t actually see anyone, but if you watch straight to your camera, it’ll give the impression that you are really looking at your viewers.

Long eye contact makes us feel favored – one of the best feelings for those who are looking for communication on TikTok.

• Smile

TikTok users come to the platform because they are looking for positive emotions, trying to escape from the daily routine. And a smile is something that attracts people and improves their mood.

A smile releases endorphins – happy hormones – not only in the body of the person who’s smiling but also in people who are watching.

It is also an indicator that you’re happy to see your viewers, their comments and their Gifts. Seeing your smile, the audience understands that you appreciate them.

Communication is essential in attracting viewers and engaging your audience on live streams. You should always keep an eye on everything that people are writing to you and answer them.

Of course, if you have a lot of active users and many comments you can miss some of them. But still try to answer as many people as you can. And even if their comments and questions are repeating, answer them with a break and show them your personal appreciation.

A way to engage your viewers may depend on the type of stream you’re going to have. We have outlined 7 types of LIVE videos on TikTok and shared our ideas on how to engage the audience in our article How to Go Live on TikTok.

2. What is better not to talk about while being LIVE?

As with real life conversations, if you don't want to earn a bad or controversial reputation, some topics are best left out while being LIVE.
These 2 topics should always be avoided:

  • Politics
  • Religion
TikTok users are watching live streams to entertain and not to analyze world events and news. Your viewers can be from different countries and cultures, and if you do not want to lose their attention and appreciation, you should not do anything that can be offensive to them.

Threats, degrading statements and hate speech are also taboo for your talks during a live stream. TikTok is an inclusive and supportive community and everything that violates these principles can be removed. This also applies to live streaming as well as to uploaded videos.
To learn more about what is inappropriate during live streaming or about TikTok’s content in general, check Community Guidelines.
Every viewer can support you and help you to earn money. At the same time, anyone can report about you violating TikTok’s Community Guidelines. Your LIVE video will be suspended and your account can even be blocked. That’s why you should respect everyone just like you want them to support you. TikTok is known for its great community, so let it stay this way.

3. How to interact with the audience to receive gifts and attract new followers?

You should pay attention to everyone during your live stream, no matter if they send you gifts or not. Every viewer and every comment increases the activity of your LIVE video which is very good for TikTok’s algorithm. LIVE videos with big activity are recommended to even more users increasing the chance of earning more Gifts.

Any viewer to whom you answered a question today can send you a gift tomorrow. But only if you are friendly and attentive to him or her. Be friendly and welcoming to anyone and people will follow you and return to your LIVE streams again and again.

LIVE videos are not only about interaction with your audience but also about getting gifts and earning money.
There’s several strategies that will help you:

• Offer your GIFT senders something exclusive

It can be some action that you perform only after receiving a certain gift or a certain number of gifts.

For example, say that you will go down in the splits if someone sends you a Paper Crane or that you will try the hottest sauce for 20 Fires.

And even if you relate something while being LIVE, say that you will share the details or the ending of an interesting story or share something personal only when you receive a gift.

• Tell your viewers what gifts mean to you

There’s nothing wrong if you explain to them that the money you withdraw from TikTok helps you in creating content.

Say, a viewer said that he or she liked your outfit. You can tell him or her that you bought this outfit with the money from your fans’ gifts. You can also say that this money helps you to work less and go LIVE more often, shoot more videos and so on.

Thus you’ll show your appreciation and give your viewers a signal that your content depends on them.

• Do something that your viewers suggest

Sometimes you can see that a viewer can suggest that you do something in a chat. He or she can ask you to do or say something. If it doesn’t violate TikTok’s Community Guidelines and you see that other users support a proposer, you can say that you’ll do what was suggested but only if you receive a gift.

For instance, if a viewer wrote that he or she would like to see you twerk, say that you’ll do it for one Galaxy.

Your viewers will see that you listen to them. At the same time, you will motivate them to send you more Gifts. So, it's truly a win-win strategy.

You can implement only one strategy if it works well with your audience but usually creators use all of them and switch these strategies from time to time to make the most of their LIVE videos. And do not forget to ask your viewers to follow you if they like what's happening on the stream and want to see more of that kind of content.

4. How to interact with the viewers who have sent you a gift?

We’ve already said that you should interact with everyone who is watching your live stream. But to motivate people to send you gifts you should pay special attention to those who have already done it.

If you have a lot of viewers and your chat is very active, make Gift Senders your priority: react to their comments and answer their questions faster than to other viewers.

But do not ignore everyone else! We do not want viewers to go to someone who is ready to communicate with them and appreciates them for writing comments. You should be attentive to everyone because a viewer today can send you a gift tomorrow!

The most crucial thing in interacting with Gift Senders is to thank them. Show your appreciation even for the smallest and the cheapest gifts.

You have to create an image that you’re grateful to everyone and that the cost of a gift doesn’t matter to you. Of course, everyone wants to receive a Lion but remember that an engaged audience will send you several gifts and their overall price can be even more that the price of a single Lion.

Besides, show a personal touch to every person who sent you a gift: say “thank you”, reading their nickname (if it’s possible, of course). It’s also a great idea to say “thank you” using the language of your Gift Sender if you know or can suppose where he or she comes from.

You also should show some reaction to the gifts you’ve received. It can be a smile, clapping your hands, a jump or a small winning dance.

Your reaction to a more expensive gift should be brighter than to a cheaper one, so that a sender feels that he or she is more special than everyone else because he or she lets you earn more. Again, the audience should see that you appreciate all the gifts, but the more expensive ones are surprised and delighted in a special way.

The main secret in interacting with Gift Senders is the following: your communication with them should not end after the end of your live stream.

It’s a good idea to keep in touch with them after your live stream because this personal approach can turn them from one-time donators to regular ones.

You can find nicknames of your donators and write to them a message showing your gratitude after the stream. You should try to maintain your communication constantly.

These are 2 ways to do it:

• Warn your top donators about your upcoming stream before anyone else

It's to your advantage to make them attend your every stream so that you can get more gifts from them. Apart from warning, you can adjust your streaming schedule to suit them – it'll give you confidence that on each of your streams there will definetely be viewers who can send you a Gift.

• Offer your top donators some exclusive communication and content from you

Do not hesitate to tell them a little more about yourself. You can send them exclusive photos and videos, tell them about something special to you or even ask for their opinion. Offer them to decide something about your content or live stream to show your appreciation of their opinion. For example, you can offer them to choose your outfit for the upcoming stream or let them choose the format of your LIVE video.

5. How to Communicate With an Audience Who Speaks a Different Language?

It’s no big deal! TikTok LIVE chat has a built-in translator that will help you understand what viewers have written to you or asked about if they use a language you cannot understand.

There is nothing to worry about if your knowledge of the language is not perfect: most often the audience likes it when a creator shows them that he or she is not a perfect human being but trying to communicate with them. They see your efforts and want to cheer you up, not only with messages, but also with gifts.

You probably won't need to translate a big piece of text while being LIVE, but here's a life hack: get a second phone ready and keep it next to you while streaming. If you need to translate any text, you can use Google Translate. It can also voice the translated text for you!

It will be useful to learn at least a couple of phrases like "hello, how are you?", "thank you!" and "bye" if you see that, according to statistics, an audience that speaks a certain language watch your videos and streams regularly.

You should also try to thank your GIFT senders in their language if it’s possible. Such a personal approach touches people and they are very pleased to hear at least a couple of phrases in their native language from their favorite creator.

If you want to thank your top donators or your most dedicated fans and decide to write them a private message, also use their language. You can offer them to switch to English (or another language you know) in a conversation, but saying hello or thanking your top donators and fans in their language is always the best choice – just use a translator.

6. What to do if you get bad comments in the stream chat?

Unfortunately, unkind comments are not uncommon on the Internet. Luckily, TikTok let you manage comments you receive while being LIVE.

TikTok can filter unkind or community-flagged comments. You also are able to review them to decide whether you want to approve or hide them.

But if you will do it yourself (if you do not have moderators), it will distract you from the stream, and therefore from communication with your viewers which is significantly important. So, it’s better to let TikTok filter unkind or community-flagged comments by itself.

The best thing you can do is to delete unkind or offensive comments and block users who send them to you.

You can ignore what was written in these comments but if you’re in the right mood, you can reply. If you know that a lot of your viewers are already your fans, they can defend you by themselves – their answers to each other will increase the activity on your stream.
You should not violate TikTok’s Community Guidelines by yourself or your LIVE video will be suspended. Moreover, TikTok can suspend your account's abilities which is not good. So, if you decide to answer bad comments you should do it in an appropriate way.
Answering bad comments is not a safe path for one more reason. Trolls might get angry and start sending complaints about your videos. In this case your videos will be hidden from other users and until the appeal is resolved, the videos will not be available. It actually can kill the activity on your account. That’s why the best choice is to delete unkind comments and block users who send them.
You also can switch on a setting to filter comments during your live streams and set up to 200 keywords or phrases you want to block and hide from LIVE. Think about some offensive words and phrases you can get and put them on the list before going LIVE. If you find other words in the comment section you haven’t thought about, you can put them in the list after going LIVE.

Bad comments are a common occurrence on the Internet. Remember that the problem is not in you or your content. And do not be afraid of trolls: they can be easily dealt with.
Communication and interaction with the audience are essential components of a successful stream. This is a way to attract and engage viewers, as well as motivate them to send gifts and subscribe to your profile.

It is communication that viewers are looking for when they scroll through an endless feed of TikTok LIVE videos. Answer all comments and questions, ask questions to your viewers yourself, and try to make your interaction as personal as possible.

Communication will let you find your most devoted fans and earn money (if you want to learn more, how you can actually make money on TikTok check our article 5 Ways of Making Money on TikTok).
2023-05-03 09:30