Tips For Growing Your Twitch Channel | Pro Gaming Crew
Being a Twitch streamer is a joyous and rewarding experience that can take you to a world of endless high. Getting your first viewer makes your heart race with excitement.
Then they follow and come back for more, you exchange some laughs and opinions before the next new face pops in. Sure, there’s tons of gear buying and channel tweaking to whet your appetite but that is all to enable one of the arguably best parts about the human experience: interacting with others.
The instantaneousness of this interaction is what separates Twitch streamers from other content creators.
Having a fancy stream, though, isn’t enough these days. Gear is easy to acquire (or build if you don’t have the funds) and having someone on Fiverr put together a snazzy-looking overlay takes little effort on your part. So how can a Twitch streamer attract viewers and build a viewership that will keep coming back for more?
Well, you’re about to find out, dear Seedling streamer. Read on.
Twitch Tip #1: Talk into the void
Sick of hearing about interactivity? Get used to it because that’s why you’re on Twitch, right? Like we said earlier in this post, viewers on Twitch are looking for more than just another screamy playthrough of Dark Souls; they want to participate in the misery.
Whether there to mock, troll, console, or share a chuckle over repeated fails, Twitch viewers enjoy being part of the experience you’re broadcasting. This is why they won’t stick around if you’re just sitting there playing a game without uttering a single word or, worse, not responding to what they say.
Getting used to talking while you game is THE essential skill to cultivate from the very first day you click the “Go Live” button. That means talking to 0 viewers for potentially a long time. Fret not, though, for there are tons of things that you can talk about that will eventually lead to that sweet taste of viewer interaction.
Start by externalising your inner thoughts about the game you’re playing (or whatever you’re planning on doing on Twitch).
Why are you using one gun over another in Call of Duty? How do you feel about THAT character dying in Final Fantasy VII? Explain why spamming the same move over and over in Street Fighter V is your greatest pleasure.
People want to know either because it will help them become better players or because they may disagree and want to tell you why for hours.
You’re not just a gamer or whatever. You also have other interests, favorite bands, movies, books, sports and what have you. Tell the void about that stuff as well.
I spent a whole stream talking about my brother’s band and how much I admired his tenacity for sticking to his musical principles over selling out.
I enjoyed doing that and if there was someone watching they could definitely see that. To that effect, talk about your life as well. You’re a unique human being one way or another so show that off.
Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of the unpopular opinion and how that can generate both bad and good discussion. Ever wonder why people love to argue on Twitter?
We crave telling others that they’re wrong as well as just discovering why we potentially might be wrong ourselves. So, go ahead and tell the Fortnite kiddies that their game sucks.
Twitch Tip #2: Turn off the viewer count everywhere
This will be a short yet extremely critical Twitch viewership growing tip. There is nothing more disheartening to a budding streamer than seeing that 0 staring them in the face while they try to do their best to entertain for several hours. Turn it off.
It doesn’t matter at this stage and I’ll give it to you straight why: you’re not at the “numbers matter” stage of your Twitch streaming journey. It’s therefore pointless to have that number there. As we said earlier, you should be talking as though there are 100 people watching.
Focus on developing your broadcaster stage. Work on keeping yourself talking. Practice checking chat every so often so you don’t miss your first viewer. Try your hand at some bad comedy and laugh at yourself.
Being a good Twitch streamer is about growth and development. As you develop your craft and hone your skills, your Twitch viewership will grow with you.
Twitch Tip #3: Inject some Just Chatting segments
In a previous post I mentioned how Twitch is coming full circle back to the Justin.tv days and I stand by it. The Just Chatting category is always in the Top 5 categories of Twitch streams these days.
Remember the magic word, Seedling? Interactivity. That’s what it’s all about. It’s what drives the content that Twitch streamers have to offer.
You don’t necessarily need to run a full blown Just Chatting stream. What you can do, though, is plan regular intervals where you simply talk to your viewers or the void. Doing this will have a few knockon effects.
First and foremost, it opens up your proverbial door for people to enter and engage with you. Believe it or not, some people just hate interrupting others while they’re doing something. It wouldn’t strike me as odd if this applied to a live broadcast as well.
On top of that, your Just Chatting segment can put the focus on your viewers making your personality more inviting.
On that note, give a pure Just Chatting stream a shot. Even if it’s just for 30 minutes to an hour, you could be opening yourself up to a whole new potential viewership who may have yet to discover you because you’re buried in a category they may have never considered.
Exposure, dear Seedling, is what I’m getting at here.
Twitch Tip #4: Make content outside of Twitch
One of my favorite Twitch streaming content creators is the Stream Doctor Harris Heller of the Alpha Gaming channel on YouTube and what he constantly says is to create content for other platforms with the purpose of driving people to your Twitch channel.
If you think about it, it makes a ton of sense. Twitch as a platform is terrible for discoverability. Go ahead and experience the site for yourself as a viewer. Unless you’re specifically looking to find Twitch streamers with low viewership, the site does little to promote anything beyond the usual suspects.
The best way to make content is to take advantage of what you’ve already created when you went live. Twitch saves video archives of your past broadcasts which you can download, edit, and share on any other platform. Stick your schedule and link in there, add a funny spin, and voila! Content.
Twitch Tip #5: Make a schedule and stick to it
Another short one but oh so easily looked over. A Twitch stream is best experienced live. People have to set aside the time to come and take in all that is you. So, how will they know when to set that time aside if you don’t have a schedule that you follow as religiously as possible?
At this point I want to include an add-on tip: don’t stream every day. Firstly, you’ll burn yourself out, and secondly, you’re not going to grow a viewership as a Twitch streamer because, duh, the platform has almost zero discoverability.
Make a schedule for 2-3 streams a week, stick to it, and spend the rest of your creative juices and energy making content for other platforms and improving your stream.
There you have it, dear Seedling. Five quick streaming tips to get you started building your dream Twitch viewership. Now go out there and show them what you’ve got.
About the Author
Yannis Vatis AKA AkibanaZero, is video game enthusiast and freelance gaming writer with over 25 years of veteran gaming knowledge. He actively streams on Twitch and regularly uploads gaming videos on YouTube.
