How to get more followers on Twitch: Dos and don'ts

Grow your Twitch channel and get more followers with this guide. If you’re a small streamer just starting out, these tips and strategies are for you.
How to get more followers on Twitch

You’ve just started your live streaming career, or you’ve been streaming for a while, but the results aren’t meeting your expectations? Maybe you’ve thought about getting more followers on Twitch and wonder why one streamer succeeds while others don’t. In this article, we’ll cover good (and bad) ways to grow your Twitch channel and increase your followers.

Why should you grow your Twitch following?

When we speak about live streaming, the first platform that comes to mind is probably Twitch. That’s no surprise — it's a live streaming industry leader, possessing 73% of the market share. If this number is not impressive enough, look at this: Twitch hosts 30 million daily active users and each month, 7.6 million streamers broadcast at least once. On the one hand, it’s a challenging task to stand out from such an immense crowd. But on the other hand, there's a bigger chance to find like-minded people.

Monetization is another great benefit of streaming on Twitch. There are multiple ways to make a profit, such as donations and ad revenue. Another option is to become a Twitch affiliate. The affiliate status allows you to earn revenue from subscriptions, enabling Bits, and game sales. Live streaming can be a very lucrative profession — let's look at who has the most followers on Twitch and how much they earn. According to some estimations based on data such as viewers and subscriber count, live streamers that earn the most per month are:

Being a top streamer is great, but what about others? Well, even if you have a small audience of up to 100 subscribers, you can earn about $500 a month. Not bad for a start, but you can try out our tips and increase your chances of growing your Twitch channel.

How to get more followers on Twitch

There's no doubt Twitch is a good place for streaming, whether you treat it as a hobby or as a full-time job. Check out our nine tips to help you boost your follower count on Twitch and make your streaming efforts more successful.

1. Create a remarkable profile

If you want to get more followers on Twitch to watch your broadcasts, start with setting up your profile. The first thing people will see is your channel's logo. Graphics play a significant role in your attractiveness to viewers.

  • Your logo should be distinctive and easy to understand both on desktop and mobile versions. Find your style — it can be minimalistic like Ninja's or xQcOW's or just your funny face like Shroud's.
  • Add your social pages and schedule on your cover image. The style should also go well with your logo, building your consistent, recognizable brand. Don’t hesitate to use additional tools, such as Placeit or Visuals by Impulse
  • Keep your bio short and precise. Think of what makes you unique and what you want to share with potential viewers so they get to know you a little better.
  • Add panels on your page. Here you should share all the important info, such as social media links, sponsors and donations. Panels should match your general page style, so customize them to create your channel's unique image.
  • Don't forget to add an offline image so people won't face a flat black screen when visiting your page.

2. Define your niche

Structuring your content is crucial for becoming visible. Help viewers find you by choosing the proper categories and tags. You can start by analyzing which ones are popular, along with how many people are streaming and watching them. Get the right balance — categories with no viewers won't help you grow your Twitch channel, but choosing the most popular ones can be very challenging at first. Make sure you're competitive and have something to offer to your viewers.

Adding relevant tags — like IRL, MOBA, or speed build — will also help people find you by interest, so don't forget to use them. You should also manually input the info about what you’re currently streaming, and remember to change it if you’re switching between games.

Tip: If you change the topic while live streaming, don't forget to adjust your tags so you’ll meet the audience's expectations and get more attention.

3. Set goals

Having created your profile and defined the niche, you need to identify what you want to achieve. Do you want to get more views and followers on Twitch or create more content or develop a particular niche? Before you set a goal, remember that it should be attainable. 

For example, if you're a new live streamer and want to grow big on Twitch, getting 10,000 subscribers in a week may not be achievable. Break your goal into smaller steps to make achieving and measuring your success easier. To make the process more exciting and engaging, share your goals with your audience and reward them for helping you achieve them. There are various types of goals and ways to define and set them.

4. Use high-quality equipment

Let's talk about the tech part of live streaming. You need your viewers to hear and see you communicate with them. The perfect Twitch streamer setup requires high-quality hardware, a good internet connection and software.

Hardware

If you want to grow your Twitch audience, you'll need a good camera and a mic. Even if your cam is not the best one, you can upgrade the live stream quality with proper lighting. You don’t need a huge setup — even one key light will be a game-changer. The mic is even more important — people can bear not-so-perfect video, but if they can’t hear you, you won’t be able to communicate. If the endless number of options makes you dizzy, you can find out more about cameras, microphones, and other gadgets and choose what suits you best in our list of best streaming equipment for every budget. 

Stable connection

Apart from the mic and camera, a good internet connection is a must, too. Significant latency and lags can irritate your viewers enough that you will lose them. Find out more about the perfect upload speed for broadcasting on our blog.

Software

To go live on Twitch from a PC, you’ll need live streaming software such as Restream Studio or OBS Studio. The software lets you set up and control all aspects of your broadcast, including your background, chat overlay, screen layout, alerts and more. Read our guide to the best live streaming software to see which one will work best for your needs.

5. Create a consistent schedule

Going live at random times can bring you some audience in the short term, but it’s not the best way to grow a loyal community. So, if you want to get more followers on Twitch, create a consistent schedule. Add your schedule to your profile page and share it on your social networks so your viewers know what to expect and can adjust their timetable to watch your broadcasts. You should also give some thought to your live streaming category, the region you want to reach, and your stream goal.

  • Category. Analyze when your target audience is online. For example, if you live stream games, weekends may be a great choice, as most people are at home and can join you.
  • Region. Setting the time for your broadcast is crucial, and it shapes your audience drastically. You can set your regular live streaming time to reach people near you or get more viewers from other time zones (for example, if you live in a big country like the U.S., you can cover states in different time zones or even neighboring countries).
  • Stream goal. If you want to get more Twitch followers, the most obvious way to achieve this goal is to stream as much and as often as possible. However, daily live streaming can lead to burnout and fatigue, so instead of being online 24/7, start several times a week and experiment with your live stream video length.

6. Interact with your viewers (and other streamers!)

To grow a big audience on Twitch, you should make your viewers feel comfortable and involved. 

  • Interact with your chat: Talk to your viewers, answer their questions, and keep the conversation going.
  • Keep talking: That's all live streaming is about! Your audience is unlikely to enjoy dead silence or just the noise of your breathing (unless you're an ASMR artist). Prepare a plan of what you want to talk about to avoid awkward pauses.
  • Make it more dynamic: Involve the viewers by conducting contests, mini-games and quizzes. This kind of interaction will boost their interest and engagement level, resulting in more followers.
  • Diversify your content: Let people get to know you during Q&A sessions, show them your setup, or even do something completely new, like sharing how you cook your favorite dishes. 

And remember to communicate with other streamers! Finding new friends among live streamers makes your road to success easier and more fun. Co-stream with your friends or raid them and multiply your audience. Together, you can create a community, and other channels' viewers can get to know you thanks to your colleagues.

7. Reuse your stream on other platforms

With Restream's Upload and Stream, you can schedule, upload, and stream your pre-recorded broadcast to multiple platforms simultaneously. It will not only help you grow your Twitch channel but also build awareness on other platforms. It’s also a great tool to cover several time zones at once. Schedule your pre-recorded live streams for different times to see when and where your content gets the best feedback.

8. Post on every social media

Repurpose your content on other platforms to get more Twitch followers. You can also post notifications of your upcoming live streams on Twitter, share broadcast highlights on Instagram, throw polls on your Facebook page, or create teasers on YouTube — the sky's the limit. Don't restrict yourself to Twitch only. Unleash the power of social networks.

9. Avoid common mistakes

To err is to be human, but it’s also human to learn from others' mistakes. We’ve already mentioned some big mistakes to avoid above, so let's just briefly recap:

  • Going live without preparation
  • Poor quality streaming
  • Lack of interactivity
  • Ignoring the repurposing potential

Some people try to get more followers on Twitch by generating fake viewers or followers. At first, it might seem tempting, but remember that if you get caught, your channel will be immediately banned. 

Wrapping up

Twitch is one of the biggest live streaming platforms globally, which makes it very attractive both for viewers and creators. However, as a home to hundreds of thousands of live streamers, it can be challenging to become famous and be successful on Twitch.

But fear not! If you want to grow your channel, follow these tips to raise your chances of success. The most important things you can do are:

  • Create a remarkable profile
  • Define your niche
  • Set goals
  • Get a high-quality streaming setup
  • Be consistent
  • Be interactive
  • Benefit from other platforms

We hope these tips will help you achieve your goals!

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