9 Ways to Get More Twitch Followers

Becoming a known streamer on Twitch, even one with a modest following (around 50), takes time. So before you begin streaming, ensure you have the stamina and patience. When you are starting from zero, it can take a lot longer than you think.

If you’ve steeled yourself and made a personal commitment that you’ll keep at it, here are some solid tips to get yourself regular followers on Twitch.

Stick to a Consistent Schedule

The most important piece of advice to follow is to have a schedule everyone can rely on. That means picking a day AND a time you’ll be streaming. You don’t have to stream every day, but if you decide to stream on Fridays at 830 PM, then commit to that schedule. It takes a while, but it can become part of the routine of your followers, and it’s far easier for you to plan any prep work you need to do before a stream starts.

Stream for at Least Two Hours

Plan to stream for a couple of hours each time. Twitch recommends at least two hours or longer if you have the time. This allows you to get over any initial nerves for each stream and viewers to get to know you and become followers. Also, if people come late, there’s less chance you are wrapping up. Finally, some viewers tend to stumble upon new streamers by searching for specific games or topics, and the longer you’re online, the greater the chance they find you.

Engage With the Chat

Each stream has a chat feature, and while it can become another item to pay attention to (there are trolls everywhere looking to cause problems), interacting with your audience makes them part of the stream rather than passive viewers. Viewers who feel valued become loyal viewers and can make your channel a lot more fun.

Promote on Social Media

While Twitch will be your streaming platform, you must ensure you can reach your audience regardless of where they gather. We’re not suggesting you spam them with endless promotions; just give folks a chance to see your stream by reminding them twice. So, if you plan to stream on a Friday, create a post about the topic of the next stream and post it on Thursday. On Friday, 10 minutes before you start a stream, post a heads-up note that you have a stream coming up and you’d love for them to visit. If you ever get to the point where you are streaming daily, you can skip the day-before post and only send out a note 10 minutes before you start to stream.

Have a Wide Social Media Presence

Speaking of social media, having your accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon, and Instagram is a good idea because you want to reach as many people as possible. Don’t rely solely on Twitch to reach a possible new follower.

Utilize the Raid Feature

Raiding another stream takes your live followers and sends them to someone else’s stream. It’s a way of sharing a channel you like with your followers. It’s fine only to have a few people watching your stream when you raid someone else. Being a known raider makes you more likely to be raided.

Create a Discord Server

Having a place where folks can gather to chat about your type of content is ideal. Discord makes it easy to set up and foster a small community you can communicate with more easily. Folks who join your Discord are the people you can rely on (at least some of them) to become regular viewers of your streams.

Create an Attractive Twitch Layout

Spending the time and effort to design a quality graphical layout for your stream, such as creating a Twitch layout in Photoshop, will attract more viewers to it in the Twitch search results and communicate dedication and professionalism to those watching. A good layout should include a webcam in the upper left or right corner, a chat box for those watching in fullscreen, and your social media usernames in a list or rotating slideshow. Adding special widgets that display the latest followers and hosts also will encourage action from viewers.

Collaborating With Other Streamers

Once you’ve established yourself and have a modest following, you can begin to reach out to fellow streamers to see if they’d like to work with you in some collaborative way. That could mean streaming together, working on a project, or anything you both come up with.

What About Giveaways?

Giveaways are tricky. You have to be careful they don’t appear to be gambling (e.g., raffles in which entries are based on subscriptions to the channel or otherwise paying you money). Because of the complexities, only investigate this idea once you’ve established yourself and have more time to look into the details around giveaways. Besides, giveaways will mostly be out-of-pocket expenses, and your money should be used to improve the stream.