Facebook and Instagram are usually brands’ go-to platforms for marketing and customer engagement. However, a new, equally powerful platform has emerged as a dominant player: Twitch. Consistent engagement on Twitch allows brands to scale themselves by building lasting relationships with their target audience.
Figure 1: The growing market size of Twitch. Source
So, what is Twitch? Twitch is a live video streaming platform owned by Amazon that allows creators to interact with a like-minded set of viewers. Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Twitch prioritizes live video. It offers a highly engaging atmosphere, enabling viewers to chat with the streamers in real-time, allowing a more symbiotic relationship.
The interactive environment on Twitch has attracted many brands seeking to build a tight-knit community. Though Twitch marketing is still in its infancy, it has massive potential for marketers. Therefore, even legacy brands, like BMW, Wendy’s, and Old Spice, are leveraging this social channel to create a meaningful bond with customers.
In this blog, we will be sharing simple Twitch engagement tactics for a successful brand presence.
5 Simple Strategies For Positive Engagement Metrics On Twitch
There are over 30 million daily active users (DAUs) on Twitch and approximately 2.5 million watching live streams at any given time. The whopping numbers testify that Twitch has a powerful community. Many of these users are your existing or potential customers, interested in your services and products. Here are 5 simple engagement ideas on Twitch to connect with your customers.
1. Social driven causes
Figure 2: Streamers’ dashboard depicting the amount raised so far. Source
Championing a noble cause is the easiest way to win the hearts of customers and create a positive brand impression. Johnson & Johnson would be a classic example here, donating around $227 million to charity in 2017 for health-related causes. Such acts of kindness safeguard brands from coming across as self-centered, money-oriented companies, touting their products 24/7.
Fortunately, Twitch offers you a dozen ways to practice philanthropy, as it believes in giving back to the community. Fundraising and charity streams are popular on this social channel. Live streamers have raised over $83 million — and counting — for a myriad of charities, like cancer research foundations and children’s hospitals.
In 2020, Twitch took the initiative to connect people to charities that help the victims of COVID-19. Many Twitch users donated to charities like Direct Relief, Save The Children, and Feeding America. Twitch even raised approximately $2.77 million for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO (World Health Organization).
Implementing charity campaigns will help you build an emotional connection with your customers and boost your engagement.
2. Live events
Figure 3: A streamer hosting a live event and interacting with the audience.
Live events are the heart of Twitch, attracting viewers in droves who spend around 44 billion minutes per month watching live streams. Twitch outshines all its rival live-streaming platforms, the most-visited platform to watch live streams.
Sure it started off as a primarily gaming-driven platform. But today there is an audience for all types of content on Twitch, though the strength varies. All kinds of digital events, be it music festivals or award shows, have a vast viewership and substantially boost engagement on Twitch.
Figure 4: The F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix. Source
The F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix by Formula1 is a popular live event on Twitch. The event was launched as a substitute for the real-life races that were postponed due to the global pandemic. The head of this event stated the objective was to offer “light relief in… these unpredictable times.”
The idea behind these live events is community building. If you are looking to create a community — a family of religious buyers — make Twitch your go-to platform. It is a safe space to support noble causes along with your customers and interact with them, apart from entertaining them.
Staying connected with your customers becomes easy with live events since the interaction is the core of Twitch live streaming. Such events give an opportunity to know your audience and engage in a real-time dialogue with them — your customers can immediately respond or ask questions through the chat window, and you can talk back to them. This enables brands to build a loyal fanbase.
3. Jump on new trends
The social media landscape is ever-shifting with fleeting trends subject to the customers’ transient whims. The birth of new platforms, such as Twitch, is a living testament of the same. Besides, the global pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns also stand as evidence. The only certain fact is that change is inevitable.
The best course of action to stay afloat in this volatile market is to adapt to the new trends. Therefore, be mindful of the sudden changes, followed by new opportunities and ways to overcome challenges.
- Constantly evaluate the type of content receiving higher engagement on Twitch and utilize it smartly.
- Follow the profitable streamers and be open to collaborating with them.
- Examine the needs and interests of your target audience and build innovative campaigns to entertain them.
Never blindly follow the trends to gain more viewers. Besides, never force your brand to be on Twitch. Instead, only adapt to the changes relevant to what you offer, and you will have a stronger presence on Twitch.
4. Unboxing new products and running giveaways for viewers
Experiential marketing has been the most common way of promotion. It refers to offering customers a positive brand experience by immersing them within a product, thereby sparking their emotions. This builds brand awareness and drives brand loyalty. However, experiential marketing seemed impractical at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it relied on face-to-face connections with customers. Virtual events and competitions, such as unboxing innovative products and running giveaways, substituted experiential marketing.
Unboxing on Twitch is similar to unboxing videos on YouTube, wherein creators open new products live and share their first impressions. Brands often send their products to the streamers to unbox before their followers. This generates awareness, thus sales. The streamers share promotional codes or affiliate links in the chat window that viewers can use to buy the products.
Figure 5: Example of a giveaway on Twitch
In addition, many brands also run giveaways to boost their Twitch engagement and encourage followers to take certain actions, say, subscribing to the Twitch channel. The best part, though, is that partaking in a giveaway on Twitch is effortless, as users only have to send a message to enter. The chat window is accessible to all users, regardless of the device they watch the live stream on. Therefore, the Twitch engagement rate on such giveaways is higher.
5. Partner with influencers
Figure 6: An influencer promoting Uber Eats
Twitch is home to millions of streamers with shoals of followers. Therefore, it is an ideal social media platform for influencer marketing. The idea behind this approach remains the same — influencers promote brands. The only difference is that endorsements are live-streamed on Twitch.
Many brands partner with high-performing streamers on Twitch who live-communicate the brand’s mission, vision, and values to their audiences. Experienced influencers seamlessly endorse a brand’s product, integrating it into their content. Such mutually beneficial collaborations instantly expose brands to a new viewership and offer monetary benefits to the influencers.
Partnering with an influencer will benefit you if you cater to the younger Gen-Z audience. Studies reveal that almost 73% of Twitch users are under 35. Meaning the demographics of Twitch skew towards the younger generation. This 16 to 34 age group believes in authentic marketing. Therefore, influencer marketing is the best-suited approach to grab their attention.
Here are some tips to facilitate successful collaborations:
- Partner with streamers who align with your brand and cater to a similar target audience.
- Collaborate with influencers having a higher follower count for more visibility.
- Ensure the streamer you engage with has a regular broadcasting strategy. Such influencers usually have a close community, thus, a higher viewer engagement on Twitch.
- Check how well the influencer communicates through Twitch Chat along with engaging through the live stream.
Unfortunately, most brands are often too occupied to assess if they are partnering with the right influencer who is a perfect fit for their campaign. We understand that choosing the best-suited streamer can be a pain. And creating a brand channel from scratch and nurturing it to get more followers is an arduous task in itself — so that is not an option!
So, what is the legitimate and effortless way to collaborate with Twitch influencers? The answer is Atisfyreach.
Atisfyreach is an AI-based platform that connects brands with ideal influencers who can help you grow your brand in leaps and bounds. Our platform is redefining influencer marketing by facilitating hassle-free collaborations.
Ready to meet an influencer who can catapult you towards success? Register today!
