Twitch is all about the streamers, just like Instagram is all about the influencers. If your brand wants to make waves through influencer marketing, the single most important aspect of your campaign is which Twitch streamers you choose to represent your brand.
But finding the right streamers is easier said than done. There are 2,000,000+ streamers on Twitch — 27,000 of whom are active partners.
What are you supposed to do — just guess? That may work, but we prefer highly-educated guesses surrounding Twitch influencer marketing as opposed to fumbling around in the dark. This resource details all of the various aspects to consider when working with Twitch streamers to represent your brand.
Consider Game Audiences
It may seem counterintuitive, but rather than focusing on individual streamers right off the bat, you really want to focus on individual games instead.
Here’s why:
The majority of streamers have one or a few games that they play almost all of the time. This can be a marketing tactic on their part — they tap into a game’s natural viewer audience to build their names up.
For example, famous streamer xQc got his start on the game Overwatch. After his channel started receiving thousands of viewers during every stream, he eventually started branching out to other games. Now he is considered to be a personality streamer, which means he plays anything and everything, and people watch him regardless of what he’s playing. However, if he had taken this generalist approach at the start, it’s unlikely that he would have managed to build up a fan base as quickly as he did.
So, as a brand, it’s smart to focus on one game that appeals to your target audience and focus on streamers that play that game in particular. If you have multiple sponsored streamers within a single game, viewers will be hard-pressed to ignore your promotion as they look for streamers to watch.
Gaming companies rarely release the exact demographics of their users — but with a little research, it’s not hard to tell who is playing which games. For example, younger children tend to gravitate towards fun and simple games without MA ratings. Millennials tend to prefer more complex games, such as strategy games, or games with MA ratings such as GTA V, etc.
Head to the category page to get started. Keep in mind that while popular games have more viewers, they also have more competition. Focusing on streamers within a more niche game can offer better results at a reduced cost — and allow you to aggressively position yourself as the promotional centerpiece, rather than being one of several companies vying for the attention of viewers.
Explore “IRL” Categories
Technically, the IRL (in real life) category no longer exists on Twitch. In an attempt to branch out from gaming into general livestreaming, they separated the IRL category into 13 separate categories. They are as follows:
- Science & Technology
- Art
- Sports and Fitness
- Just Chatting
- Talk Shows & Podcasts
- Makers and Crafting
- Tabletop RPG
- Music & Performing Arts
- Special Events
- Food & Drink
- Beauty & Body Art
- Travel & Outdoors
- ASMR
These categories allow all sorts of brands to use Twitch as a marketing channel — even if their products and services are completely unrelated to gaming.
If your brand doesn’t mesh well with gaming, but you still want to explore Twitch as a marketing channel, consider focusing on one of these IRL categories instead of a specific game.
Dig Into Metrics With Tools
Once you settle on a game or IRL category, it’s time to start exploring the streamers themselves. Although there’s nothing wrong with doing some manual research, different tools exist that speed up the process immensely, such as Twitch Tracker and Sully Gnome.
These tools show you a variety of metrics, including but not limited to:
- Followers
- Viewer Hours Watched
- Peak Viewers
- Hours Live
- Growth (by day/week/month)
However, these tools are limited — and often provide inaccurate metrics. Check out the IZEA influencer search tool to speed up the process and receive more reliable data.
Watch the Channel
Speaking of due diligence, once you find a streamer with a good mix of metrics, it’s wise to actually watch the streamer for an extended period of time to see what you’re signing up for.
Understand that streaming is a tricky business — streamers need to entertain their viewers for hours on end, which means they are usually in a casual state of mind for the duration of their “performance”. This means that their true personalities shine. The question is, do you want the true personality of your desired streamer representing your brand?
All streamers will act cordial and professional when you contact them for a sponsorship — so you need to actually watch them to see how they behave normally. Then, it’s up to you whether or not the personality suits your brand.
The streamer doesn’t have to be sunshine and roses at all times — but do an accurate assessment. Is the streamer getting frustrated often? Does that frustration lead to unattractive verbal outbursts? If one of those outbursts were to make it onto Reddit or another social media platform and go viral, would you want your brand showing up as being associated with it?
Lastly, take note of what’s going on in the chat of any particular streamer. Live chat is admittedly difficult to moderate — but it’s up to the streamer to keep things clean. If viewers are allowed to swear or say nasty things in chat, your brand will be associated with whatever is being said. It’s not a good look.
Check for Controversy
A streamer might seem perfectly cordial one day — but you never know what he or she has done in the past. It’s an unfortunate fact of being an online personality — if something slips, you’re associated with it forever.
Do a rudimentary Google search to make sure your streamer of choice has no glaring controversy to worry about. Query strings such as the following can be helpful:
- [name of streamer] Reddit controversy
- [name of streamer] forum controversy
Consider Promotion Types
What type of promotion are you trying to do? Different methods will work better for different types of streamers.
For example, if you find a streamer who barely ever talks or interacts with his chat — then it’s probably best to stick with simple overlays.
However, if you can find a true entertainer — someone who is managing the difficult task of playing the game and constantly interacting with his or her chat in a genuine manner — then perhaps a more comprehensive promotion might be appropriate.
Take a look at our rundown of four highly-effective Twitch marketing campaigns for more ideas.
Consider Cost ($)
Last but certainly not least — how much is your streamer asking for your desired promotion?
Everyone wants to sponsor the big names. But the big names also have many companies coming to them for sponsorships.
A smaller streamer will usually offer significantly better value. However, there’s always a tradeoff. Since big streamers have more experience with sponsorships, they’re usually better at promotion as well. Which only makes sense — practice makes perfect, after all.
Don’t fall victim to tunnel vision and focus solely on cost — but it is, of course, something important to consider when making your decision.
Overall, due to the nature of livestreaming, there are quite a few factors to take into account when choosing one or more Twitch streamers to represent your brand. But with an accurate assessment of things like their personalities, viewer metrics, sponsorship costs, and games played, you can position yourself to make a big impact on this oft-undiscussed social media platform.
