Twitch tips for streamers: How to grow your Twitch channel!
How to grow your stream
Grow your audience, community and stream on Twitch
A 10 step list to create successful content
You and your brand - who are you and what is your channel?
This first thing to do is decide what kind of content you are going to create. Are you streaming or recording or both? The next part is what are you going to stream. Games, chatting, music? And what kind - this can be genre such as FPS or MMO, and then also filter down to general play, speed running, PVE, PVP and more. Read about picking what game to stream in our blog.
Deciding who you are and what you are going to create is your first step, and helps you create a consistent message across all the platforms you choose to use.
I'm going to throw an extra mention in here - PICK A GOOD CREATOR NAME. Something that is catchy, easy enough to spell, and is consistent across your content and social media platforms. It is much easier for people to find you on multiple platforms if you have a name that is the same across your online forums. Remember that this name will also be present on all your stream overlays, OBS overlays, and stream layouts.
Choose your platform(s)
I would recommend here that you check out both our video shorts series on YouTube, TikTok or Reels, and our blog. These go into far more detail about choosing the right platform for you. Picking the right platform based on your content and goals is hugely important.
Provide viewers and your community with "valuable" content.
As a streamer, you will need to pick your area for entertaining - which is just as important as what you are creating.
The Entertainer - Whether it's laughs, chatting, stories or reactions.
The Community Builder - Offering a safe space, a family feeling.
The Skill Shot - High skill, high level, competitive, speed running.
The Educator - Information, reviews, learning, support.
These are just some of the categories, you can see more on this here.
Create a schedule.
When you are building up an audience, consistency is key. Create a schedule that is repetitive and does not change - if people are expecting you to be on their screens on a Thursday at 12pm every week, they will show up. Not everyone will be able to guarantee this, and try not to over commit yourself, but try your hardest to stick to it. The benefits of having a pretty static schedule are huge, they help your viewers know when to tune in, and will also help you attract more new watchers. And if there is a day that you cannot make, just be honest with your community! Showing this humility will make your more personable to them as well.
My added point here is - rest. Please allow yourself, your body and mind ample time to recharge. And remember, every creator is different. A healthy creator is a happy creator, and you will make better content.
Promote your stream and content.
Get your name out there! Post your content, spread the word, and communicate with your viewers over social media and other platforms. Also, use your content to make content! Promote past streams and videos to bring in more viewers. Promote yourself and your brand through eye catching stream overlays and animated Twitch overlays, as well matching this branding onto your social media accounts. Using effective overlays for streaming and social platforms will create a recognisable brand that is visual based.
We have some tips on promoting via social media on our YouTube here.
Equipment
Get yourself some reliable and trustworthy equipment. Invest in quality pieces but stay within your budget. When you are first starting, choose pieces that will work for you and when you grow you can replace as you are able to. You'll need a good webcam, a clear microphone with noise cancelling, streaming software such as OBS, StreamLabs and StreamElements, and also possibly recording equipment and stream graphics (check out our Elements store for stream overlays and stream overlay packs).
Build and interact with your audience
Your viewers are important to you, and it is only with them that you will grow. Interact with them and make them feel valued. Take your time to answer questions and get to know them by responding to chat and giving opportunities for audience participation. You can also purchase or commission stream overlays for your channel. These can create another level of participation, viewers will like to see animated Twitch overlays that track goals, alerts with their names on screen after donations, widgets that celebrate milestones - there is a huge amount of potential for interactivity using stream overlays for your community.
A community is created within your channel, and a loyal viewer base will keep coming back.
Collaboration with other streamers (and brands).
Support each other! Getting together with other streamers will allow a chance to build up both viewer bases - remember your viewers can have more than one tab open to watch content. Through teaming up, you create a great environment for entertainment, reach new audiences, try new games and you will build relationships with other creators. Streaming can be quite isolating, so making friends who know the struggle of the highs and lows of content creation can all round make you a better creator.
Eventually, you will also be able to add brands into the mix and partner up with some names that you use, support and enjoy.
As an added bonus, it is always fun to be able to meet creators you know and want to get to know at industry events!
For more on these different relationships, head over to our Reactor episodes to learn more.
Analytics and improving
Looking at the numbers is a good way to see how your content is doing across all platforms. Social media platforms all have their in-built analytics reports, use these to see how your posts, previous content, go live notifications, followers and engagement are doing. See what works and what does not.
This is the same for your streams and video launches, Twitch and other streaming platforms have robust reporting options with goals and trackers. Use these to see what content is doing well, what times are better for you, your viewer numbers and more. Whilst I don't recommend looking at these numbers whilst live, they are a good idea to use to reflect on your content - just do not let the numbers discourage you, use them as a learning tool.
Be patient.
Streaming and content creation success does not happen overnight. Growing a stream takes time, persistence, hard work, determination, consistency and sometimes a little bit of luck. Do not let anything discourage you, do not expect immediate satisfaction or results. Improve, learn, experiment, and keep trying. The most important this is, love creating content. This path is not for the feint hearted - you are running a small business that includes creating content, marketing, networking, editing, recording, technical set-up and more.
Be patient, be persistent and create amazing and enjoyable content.
TLDR;
So there it is, 10 steps to keep in mind when pushing towards growing your stream!
Over the past month and coming months we will be posting in depth videos on this subject and other related topics such as "What to stream" "Which Platform" "How to set-up your stream" "Which microphone" and more on our TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
Head over to our channels for more educational, advice and tips for streamers and creators. This includes Twitch setup, twitch overlays, stream overlays, where to stream, technical tips such as OBS tips and updates, Streamlabs and Streamelements set up, and much more!
I am groot,
Em
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