To a streamer looking to make it big, there is one thing thatmakes or breaks you – your audience. Everyone is trying to increasetheir viewership, but with so much competition you have to beactively aiming to increase your view count.
By intelligently using the strategies outlined in this article,you will maximize your chances of success and reap the benefits ofan increased fan base.
Once you have established a fair sized fan base, you will notonly find your channel growing at a much higher rate but become acandidate for many appealing advantages: partnerships and sponsorsto name a few.
1. Promote Your Channel In FacebookGroups:
With over 2 billion monthly users, Facebook can be a great wayto find potential viewers.
A huge proportion of video games and esports will post contenton Facebook, so many gamers will have an account that they useregularly.
You can use this to your advantage; the more people using thesite, the higher the amount of people who could see youradvertising.
Currently, there are already many active Facebook groups withsome boasting tens of thousands of users.
There are groups simply for gaming and others forsmaller sub-categories such as by genre or individualgames.
It is best to advertise in a variety of groups for maximumexposure as there are advantages and disadvantages for both.
For example, general gaming groups will have a higherpopulation but smaller sub-genres means the members will be morelikely to be interested in your content in particular.
A drawback to using a pre-existing group is you will have tofollow their rules. This may mean you can only advertise on acertain day, you are not allowed to post direct links or a simpleban on promotion.
There is also the chance you may inadvertently break a rule andbe banned or have your ad taken down simply because it’s at theleader’s discretion. There will also (most likely) be directcompetition which can make it difficult to have your advertisementnoticed over anyone else’s.
Particularly if it is already a tight-knit community, you mayfind that most people are uninterested as they already havesomething similar to watch and are unwilling to even give you timeof day.
Alternatively, you could create your own group. This could beprivate (requiring an invite) or public, but in this instancepublic would probably be the best option as you are simply tryingto increase your view count.
This method may be slower than a pre-existing group as it maytake time to grow, however it does mean you can create your ownrules and could also be useful to you in the future when attemptingto engage your community.
No matter which option you chose, it is important that youradvert is concise and clear. It should also be eye-catching but notoverly excessive.
It is also important to check your ad thoroughly before posting;it would be embarrassing to later find out you made a silly mistakeand may reflect badly on your professionality, turning people awayfrom your content. More information on creating ads can be foundhere.
2. Use Reddit To Promote Your Channel:
Similarly to using Facebook, strategically posting in subredditscan be an effective method in increasing traffic to your channel.Although it does have a significantly lower user count thanFacebook (51 million unique users), it is veryengaging for users having only a 25% bounce rate.
A huge proportion of these are gamers, r/gaming has over 20million subscribers, which only makes it easier to find yourtargeted market.
As of 2016, the average reddit user was a male aged between18-29. It’s no coincidence that this is also representative of theaverage gamer and by extension, your target audience.
One thing it is important to note is most reddit users do nottake kindly to someone joining solely to advertise. Whilst thereare some places, such as r/twitchstreams, where this may beaccepted, joining a gaming community and only posting promotion isill-advised.
As such, it can be a good idea to make a few posts beforehand.Start to interact with the community, in particular thoseinterested in the genre/game that you play, and try and form somepositive relationships.
Reddit is distrustful of new accounts so if you immediatelybegin to try and promote your channel there is a high likelihoodyou will be banned on suspicion of being a bot. This blogsuggests posting for around three to four weeks in each subreddityou plan on advertising in.
Personally, I feel this could be considered excessive, but woulddefinitely dissuade anyone from promoting their channel for thefirst week. Try and create relevant content to your channel andpost your very best – you are trying to convince users that you arean interesting person worth spending their time watching.
Ultimately, internet success will result in some haters, but youdefinitely do not want to be creating avoidable anger before youhave even had a chance to grow.
It is also crucial to be respectful and follow the rules at alltimes. Unlike Facebook, where people will usually use their realnames and post pictures of their daily lives etc., on Redditsomeone can remain completely anonymous and such feel moreconfident to troll or try to provoke a reaction.
It’s vital that you do not rise to this as it will only resultin problems later on. Some subreddits will adamantly banany form of advertising and others may have strict restrictions onwhat is allowed.
You must respect this; attempting to go against these willsimply lead to your post being deleted and a warning/ban.
When it comes to the actual advertisement, you should followsimilar guidelines to using Facebook. Generally, it is considered arelatively informal website so do not be afraid of using somegaming slang.
As long as it is not too obscure and still transmits theimportant information, there should be no issues with using theoccasional abbreviation so long as it is a healthy mix of both.
Too little and you may come across as cold or trying too hard;too much and you may come across as immature. As always, make sureyour advert is as eye-catching as possible.
If you have a unique name or a short catchphrase that users knowto associate you with this can make your channel more memorable andhelp you stand out.
3. Answer questions on Quora
A criminally underutilised technique, by answering appealingquestions on gaming you can easily garner thousands of views – fewpeople would object to a quick plug at the end of a well writtenanswer.
Quora is a question-answer website with over 600,000people following the overall topic of Video Games.
4. Upload Videos on YouTube
What do Ninja, Shroud and Sodapoppin all have in common? Theyhold the top three spots for most viewed Twitch channel of 2018(individual streamers) and they all have a YouTube channel wherethey post stream highlights and other related content.
Ninja even featured prominently in YouTube Rewind 2018 despitebeing mostly focused on Twitch. The appeal of posting Twitchhighlights is it takes little complex editing, you will likely havehours of footage if you stream regularly and it does not require ascript or any pre-planning.
Once you get popular enough, you may even find fans doing thework for you. Popular streamer xQc has a dedicated fan channelcalled Daily Dose Of xQc who posts stream highlights (andindirectly lots of free advertising).
As a streamer, it’s unlikely you will have time to complete thehours of editing that making very high quality YouTube videos cantake whilst maintaining a consistent stream schedule.
It’s virtually impossible to do both, so be careful not toinvest too much time into it over Twitch. YouTube has a few commonalgorithm tricks to increase exposure and ultimately views:frequent uploads, videos over 10 minutes and smart tagging being afew (more can be found here) however you might find some of theseare irrelevant to you as a streamer.
It’s likely that most your content will be recycled from yourTwitch channel, but YouTube does have some advantages. It does nothave to be viewed live and allows you to edit clips (you can easilymake your reactions funnier with a filter, sound effect ormusic).
It can also allow you to create compilations of the mostinteresting moments of your streams, attracting new viewers as theywant to see more content and interact with you directly.
For the actual advertising in your YouTube videos, this willvary on the style of video. If it is simply the best clips from arecent stream, you can leave a link in the description and possiblydiscreetly on the screen as an overlay.
If your audience is being promoted your link so much that it isdistracting them from the video, they may become frustrated andleave your video prematurely with no intention of ever watching thestream.
If it is a unique video created purposely for YouTube, youshould mention your Twitch account before or after the video (andlink your audience in the description) but do not make this last tolong – a few seconds at most and preferably not during everyvideo.
5. Use Twitter To Send Traffic
Twitter is a very important platform for gamers, announcementssuch as hiatuses, signings, teasers and other major information isoften announced here before anywhere else.
As such, as a streamer you want to have as large a Twitterfollowing as possible. Because you are limited to a small amount ofcharacters (the most popular choice for longer tweets istwitlonger) you need to make every word count.
Twitter is an odd platform in that it can be formal and informalsimultaneously. As a streamer, you will mostly be wanting to postlight-hearted, funny content. There are many examples: hauls,pictures of pets, jokes, gifts, reaction to gaming news, unusualdaily events, speculation and the occasional random statement toshow your originality.
However, you may also be expected to respond to more difficultevents like a death in the community or severe controversy. In bothcases, sincerity is the key to a good tweet.
Do not be afraid of slightly adjusting your online presence,most big streamers have an exaggerated streaming persona to attractmore viewers with more interesting reactions, but you must knowwhen to drop this at times when it would be inappropriate.
Between this, you may also want to have an alert every time thatyou stream. Whilst you can simply post the link or say the samething every time, if you want to maximize clicks it’s better to bea little more creative. Present your stream in a unique way; tryand make a pun, quickly summarize your goals for today or somethingthat will set your audience theorizing.
It is a very good idea to have a link to your Twitch in your bioor in a pinned tweet so that it can be rapidly accessed by anyonevisiting your page. It’s also wise to have the same handle onTwitch and Twitter so you can easily be found and recognized as thesame person. If you have to have another name, try and incorporateyour tag or use the same profile picture/header.
As you become more popular, you may begin to receive harassmentvia DMs or be closely scrutinized by people waiting to see if youwill accidentally say something controversial in a tweet.
It is usually wise to keep politics and deeply personal issuesoutside of your public account, and you must be careful to protectyour privacy.
Particularly if you have sponsors, you need to be careful not tosay anything offensive online. You can take the occasional, subtlejab at haters but do not address anyone directly or name and shame- this is more likely to ruin your reputation than theirs.
6. Get Involved In A Community of Streamers
Particularly if you are first starting out, joining a communitycan be incredibly helpful in your journey as a streamer. It can bea great way to receive advice and tips from fellow streamers and isa good way of giving back; a community allows people to learn fromeach other’s mistakes.
Having a genuine discussion with someone who understands thestruggles of trying to grow can be refreshing and help you puteverything back into perspective. They could even help you find asolution, or at the very least knowing you are not the only onefrustrated by the speed of growth allows you to cool off.
Another benefit is some communities may have agreed on a hostingschedule. This will lead to you getting exposure to an entirely newaudience who will be more likely to give you a chance – if theyknow a streamer they already like endorses your channel they aremore likely to listen to what you have to say.
You could even find a potential partner for collaborations;combining two audiences will lead to rapidly increased view countsfor both of you and if you have particularly good chemistry andcontinue to stream together this can be one of the easiest ways togrow on the platform.
Some Streaming Communities To Get Started:
Reddit r/twitch
Pwning
7. Stream As Much As Possible
At the end of the day, you can use all of these strategies, butwithout perseverance you will not get anywhere. All streamersencounter hardships: whether it be unsupportive families, financialissues, little confidence or illness. Almost every big streamer hasbeen in some form of controversy, and yet they have bounced back,moved on and continued streaming.
It’s not even just streamers: you hear stories of youngprofessional gamers who have been cut off from the internet, musicartists having to choose between food and transport and authorssuffering through depression whilst writing. Everyone who has hitit big, no matter the industry, has had struggles they have had toovercome.
Even if you aren’t getting many views at the moment, you havezero chance of growth if you quit. No one starts out instantlypopular, but if you work hard, have genuine passion and give ityour all, your chances of success increase dramatically.
If you have a true desire to grow on the platform, you need tobe patient. Continue streaming, have realistic expectations and bethankful for every single viewer, follower and subscriber.
Have positive interactions with fans, focus on creating the mostenjoyable environment possible (no matter the size) and rememberthat your worth isn’t determined by a few numbers on a screen. Ifyou are proud of the content you are producing, how you areimproving and growing as a person, then viewers will feel ittoo.
