Quick Tips for Patron-Only Livestreams and Videos (Patreon)

Hi Grizzlies!

I thought I'd offer some information that may be useful to you, especially for patron-only livestreams that I host using YouTube as my server. 

Patreon is a magnificent platform to offer patrons many formats for perks, meaning: images galleries, links, videos, podcast episodes, announcements etc. YouTube membership can only offer video format and as you know, YouTube takes a 45% cut for everything generated on its platform. (This is why so many YouTubers rely on sponsors to be able to do it full time- I have declined all offers so far because I don't feel passionate about any of the brands that have approached me). 

Also, thank you so much for being here- your support means the world to me! Sometimes we have non-true crimey things like animal outings/commentary, vlog-styled videos, and behind-the-scenes updates. And other times we dive deep into true crime cases, where you get the full documents first, podcast episodes are exclusive to Patreon, and you get some of my additional thoughts that I am not able to just blast all over the internet. 

The one thing that Patreon lacks is the ability to host videos on their own server, so one has to host all livestreams and videos using a server like Vimeo or YouTube. If you are an O.G Patron, you have been here through the Vimeo days. I switched to YouTube because (1) Vimeo is an expensive monthly investment (2) And it does not integrate well with Patreon, which is extremely frustrating. So, I have chosen YouTube as my server to host all Patreon videos and livestreams. What this means is, I set up a livestream as an "Unlisted Link", which means that anyone with the link can view it. I then share that link here with you and ask you to please not share it on social media or anywhere, otherwise anyone can watch and tap into our private streams here. If I wanted the whole world, including haters to see it, I'd just make it public, hehe. 

While I am live, you can click the "YouTube" button on the bottom right corner, which gives you the option to "View on YouTube". This will make it easy to chat along in the livestream. After the livestream has finished, YouTube takes a few hours to process the stream for replay watchers - if you click on the video and are unable to watch the replay, just give it a bit of time, it will be there for you as soon as it's done processing. 

For all video uploads to Patreon, I first upload the video on YouTube and it's set to "Unlisted". I then share that link here with you. You can either click and watch on YouTube and leave a comment there, or if you want to me to easily see your comments, it's best to come back to the post on Patreon and leave a comment here. 

I prioritize reading Patreon messages and comments (YouTube comments, emails, etc. are very overwhelming, I always come here first) - but I am not able to reply as much as I would like- please know that I read every comment on here and will "heart it" once I have read it. I love reading your comments here and feel very supported and encouraged by everything you say. Thank you so much. 

I hope this helps! I know some of you have been struggling to chat along on a livestream and these tips should resolve that. I also have some hashtags that could make searching through published posts easier (I post about twice a week on here). For example, #podcast or #dahmer could lead you to the podcast episodes quicker than scrolling. 

And if anyone is confused, please remember that Patreon is completely separate to YouTube membership. The only connection between Patreon and YouTube is that I use YouTube as a server for livestreams and videos, but other than that these two platforms are completely unrelated and it's a totally separate source of support for my work, and one that I appreciate so much! 

Wishing you a fantastic day ahead! 

Love, 

Gisela. 

#howto #livestream