Increasing your Twitch following can be hard, especially when you just started with streaming. Every time some viewers hop in your stream, they're watching but not following. If you're lucky, they'll leave a message but in the end they don't subscribe. Does this sound familiar to you? Time to change this right NOW.
Are you growing your Twitch followers list at a rate you’re not satisfied with? Let’s get you to know how to increase your twitch following for FREE.
And I say for free because there are so many providers of bots. Websites that claim to offer you ‘real’ people in exchange for money. Saying things like:
‘’You can choose to buy real Twitch followers… from as little as 2,000 and as many as 100,000.’’ What?! After my research, I found that the websites that offer this gain a lot of traffic too…
100,000 instant new followers. Because there are immediately two stages full of people who want your content. Nonsense.
I feel it’s my job to show you that you are being fooled. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get real viewers by this. These providers like to widely use the word ‘’real’’, but these are not real people that are honestly interested in your content.
You might think: ‘’But then I will have social proof that I’m a good choice to watch, and I will appear higher in the search results.’’ Really? Do you want that kind of fake social proof? With the chance of completely losing all your progress with REAL viewers.
No, we will do it differently.
Let’s get into it!
A Short Story About My Twitch Following…
When I finally started streaming after being too afraid for years, I earned Twitch affiliate quite fast. Men… I looked like a scared deer when looking into the camera. Anyway, viewers told me why they wanted to watch me (instead of others). And why they followed me. All my hard-learned lessons will be discussed in today's article.
Maybe you want to reach Twitch affiliate, so you can do more things with your stream. Or you're already a Twitch affiliate, but you want to grow faster and attract more loyal viewers.
Well, in both cases: you’re in the right place.
I want to use my knowledge and Twitch experiences to help you out. You will know what to do to increase your Twitch following. For free, and no-nonsense.
Firstly: Why Are You Streaming On Twitch?
Maybe you say: ‘’I expected to get some tips, not questions’’. But this question will help you to increase your twitch following. When you know the reason why you’re streaming, you can first of all say this to your viewers. You can put this in the description of your channel. Or write it in your banner.
- Viewers want to know why you’re streaming on Twitch
Do you want them to teach something? Deliver entertainment? Or help your viewers in some other way? When you know the 'why' behind your streaming career, you will also help yourself stay motivated. Because especially as a beginner, you will experience lots of streams with almost 0 viewers.
As long as you know why you’re streaming, and what sets you apart and makes you unique from others, it is easier to keep going when results are disappointing, and to be confident in everything you do on stream!
Interact With Your Audience!
The second tip is to interact with your audience. NO matter what your goal is on Twitch, you want to interact in some way to make watching you interesting. Unless you're an absolute pro player that doesn't need to respond at all because people will watch you because of your skill. But I even advise pro players to interact with their audience.
- Viewers are looking for interaction
After all, that's why they’re following a LIVE stream. Otherwise, they can also watch a video, right? Or watch a stream back. In most cases, people like the opportunity to interact with the streamer. Hence they go on Twitch.
One of the main reasons why people started following me on Twitch, is that they say that I genuinely care about my audience. How did I do this? By making sure I see them. By asking about them. In short: by being honestly interested in my audience and interacting (enough) with them.
This makes them build a relationship with you, and therefore they will want to come back to you. It is as if they have met a new friend. Your Twitch following wants to feel welcomed, to feel at home in your stream. To feel safe and appreciated.
Decide What Kind Of Twitch Following You Want
And this leads me to the next tip to increase your Twitch following: decide what kind of Twitch following you want. Because your followers, are the members of the home you created for both yourself and your viewers. Maybe their love is so strong for you, that they don’t care about who else in the community. But this is usually always true:
- Viewers want to feel at home in your community
I am not a pro player, I am not an entertainer. Or someone who makes jokes all the time. What made someone watch, is that he said ''It feels like a warm bath I jump in, after a hard day of work. I feel relaxed, welcomed, and I love your vibe.'' Fun fact: he currently is my boyfriend. But anyway, let's move on with what I'm trying to say here.
If I could describe my right Twitch following in one sentence:
My Twitch following wants to relax and chill after a busy day, talking with me and others, feeling welcomed and appreciated - to feel better than before they watched the stream. Not to watch my oh-so-great skills.
Make Sure Your Twitch Following Belongs To Your Community
But what if you're a nice and friendly person, but you have some loyal viewers who are very aggressive and pissing everyone of who's new? When new viewers see you interact with them, or see you laugh at them, they feel like they don't belong in the same group. Because if you like those types of persons, why would they feel welcomed?
Make sure you do everything to make your Twitch following feel at home in your community. Be authentic, be real, and remove or ban people who don't belong in your community. When don't they belong there?
If they make you or others feel uncomfortable in any way.
Building a community on discord is a good way to start building your ‘home’. Assign roles to maybe some of your best friends or people that you trust to keep an eye on the behavior of the members.
Penguins and walruses can live together, but sometimes it happens that the walrus eats the penguin… Will others feel safe in this area? Probably not.
Use Good Quality Equipment For Your Twitch Following
You don't want to sound like if you're with your head in a fishbowl. Or to have any squeaking annoying sounds (yes, some mics can act weird). Make sure it is pleasant to listen to you. And therefore:
- Viewers appreciate a good quality microphone
A high-quality microphone can transform your voice into a radio voice. Trust me, it's way better for streamers to use a separate microphone instead of the microphone of their headsets. Microphones that come with headsets, actually worsen your voice. You will sound worse than how you sound in real life.
And this is not fair to you and the quality of your stream. If you can sound good, make sure you sound good. You will be surprised how many streamers don’t make use of a separate microphone. They just activate their headset microphone and think they can go on with it.
Do yourself a big favor, and get yourself a premium microphone!
One I highly recommend that I've been using for years (still in great quality btw) is the Blue Yeti microphone. The quality you get for the money is awesome. When you decide to purchase through my website you will financially support my website at no extra cost to you. My website is meant to give value to the lives of others. I only recommend products that I review and thus know they are beneficial to YOU!
If you’re not used to looking for a separate microphone, the price might not be attractive. But it is completely normal for a microphone to maybe cost more than your headset. Once you experience the difference, you will know it was worth it. It helps to increase your twitch following for sure.
For example, you can record yourself with your headset microphone, afterward with your Blue Yeti: and hear the difference! It will blow you away.
Use Special Features To Increase Your Twitch Following
It might not be the best way to let people truly enjoy your content, but it can give them a chance to get to know you better – and to eventually stay. How? Because you have something special to show or to give to them, and this can make them follow you. To come back later and benefit from this.
You can say what you have to offer them in your stream, put this in your title, or your description.
- Viewers like to come back for the special feature you have in store for them
And this can be any kind of thing. A giveaway, an event, the option to speak to you in person, influence on what kind of game you’re playing or what decisions you’re making. People always think: ‘’What’s in it for me?’’
You can make use of a poll too when you're an affiliate or partner. This is a great way to involve your Twitch following into any questions you have, or decisions you want to make. Simply do this by going to your dashboard, click the plus icon on the right, and add a poll. Once you’ve done this, you can manage this by clicking on ‘manage poll’ on the right.
Personalize! Make Yourself Distinct (When You’re Affiliate)
When you’re an affiliate (or partner), you can make use of extra features to make yourself unique. Think about badges or personally customized emoticons for your chat. Your Twitch following can also earn channel points, which they can return for something you do for them. You can create the reward for their channel points yourself! Very funny.
You can create fun rewards like:
- Change the RGB lighting in your room
- Drink some water (always healthy!)
- Do a dance
- Give a personal shout out
- Turn the chat to emote-only mode
And anything else you can think of. Find features that suit you, and that you can do repeatedly. Imagine 40 viewers claiming a reward at the same time… Luckily, you can set a limit so you can control how many rewards you give them each stream.
- Viewers like a unique environment
Do things that others aren't doing. Spend time creating an offline banner, give attention to your titles (make them attractive), and maybe use a customized stream overlay.
Looking for a good and legit place to find stream overlays? You can find many designers on Fiverr who want to design for you (in return for some money)!
Stream What YOU Enjoy!
Are you thinking: ‘’What do you mean? I stream for my viewers, not for myself.’’ Yes, you’re right, but let’s put it this way. If you only play games your Twitch following wants, games you don’t enjoy, your viewers will eventually notice that on stream. On camera. In your mood.
- Viewers like it when you enjoy your stream
Enjoying your stream plays a crucial role in your success!
You will have to interact with your Twitch following, spend time answering their questions, but you don't have to listen to them about what you should stream. Always stay true and loyal to what YOU want to stream, not what others want to. You can stream what others want, as long as you enjoy it.
Twitch is the perfect place for sharing your excitement about something you truly enjoy, or to talk about a hobby that you like. Your right audience: people who ALSO enjoy anything you do on stream. And this is the type of audience you want to attract.
Use CTA’s To Increase Your Twitch Following!
And this is a great one. CTA means: Call To Action. You want your viewers to get into action and to click on the follow button. I know from experience that sometimes it can be easy to forget to follow someone I actually enjoyed. The next day you're like: ''How was that person called? I don't know anymore…''.
- Show your viewers a follower goal
A great way of doing this is by using a ‘follower goal’. This is very easy to do in Streamlabs OBS. Under sources, click the plus sign, and add a follower goal. You can further customize this yourself. Choose the colors, and select your goal. Do this in small steps (and based on how fast you’re growing). It has to be realistic for your audience as well.
When you just started, and you have a goal to reach 10,000 followers – new viewers will feel like they can’t contribute much to your twitch following by giving you 1 follow. Especially when they see that you don’t have many viewers watching you. It doesn’t seem realistic and they might think: ‘’That person overestimates himself (or herself).’’
When you have a few hundred followers, you can decide to put a few hundred more in your goal, for example.
You can also make use of ‘stream labels’. Here you can decide what you want to show: all-time top donator? The most recent follower? A subscriber count? Anything is possible!
Raid Another Streamer!
To attract more followers, you can also decide to join someone else’s stream with a raid. What does that mean? A raid is a great way to end your stream and increase your twitch following. Simply type /raid channel name. So after /raid, you type the name of the channel you'd like to raid.
With a raid, you pass your viewers to the channel you’re raiding. The streamer will get a notification that you join his or her stream with a party of x members. This way, both the streamer and his or her viewers know that you are a streamer and that you're doing something kind to them.
- Viewers will likely follow the streamer who’s been raided
Often when I did this myself, I found that the streamer came by my stream to personally thank me. Some of these streamers even became my loyal viewers. Who expected that lol. Anyways, they often return the favor by raiding you as well. Or the streamer asks the chat to give you a follow back. The results: an increase in your twitch following!
Also, I have raided countless streamers who didn't notice I raided them at all, or they didn't thank me later. So don't be disappointed when they don't raid you back.
See it as an easy option you can use to increase your twitch following. You can also ask your viewers if they know a channel to raid.
Most Of All: Be Consistent & Patient!
If you want to take streaming seriously, you can't ignore being consistent. Only when you stream frequently, you will increase your twitch following as fast as possible. If you're streaming once in a while, let's say: once per 2 weeks, you're probably not going to build a loyal audience.
- Your viewers want to know what they can expect
When you’re loyal to your viewers, your viewers will likely be more loyal to you. Determine on what days you want to stream. Don't stream every day, as this will probably exhaust you. I have done this for a few weeks, but it started to feel more like 'work' instead of something I enjoyed.
I was working at day, going to university, and streaming in the evening. Sometimes I had such a busy day that I just wanted to RELAX in the evening. Streaming takes quite some energy, especially when you want to interact with your chat. So I found that streaming a few times a week was the best way to keep it fun for both myself and my audience.
Find the best way that works for you, and try to stick to it. Sticking to a schedule where you stream less, is better than not sticking to a schedule where you should be streaming more.
Ask yourself the question: do you want a schedule? It brings some pressure, believe me.
I hope these tips were useful to you! If so, I’d love to see a comment. I will make sure I respond to you.
Stay blessed!
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