You’ve been partnered… Now What?
A simple guide and advice from a collection of current Twitch Partners and Staff:
Partnership is exciting! You’ve been working hard and putting in insane amounts of time! You went through hills and valleys to get here. You achieved your dream! Often this can bring on feelings of “Now what?” This is a simple guide and ongoing collection of advice from experienced partners and staff members.
1.) Have emotes and your sub icon made and ready for submission.
When your subscribe button launches you’ll want the benefit of having an upfront incentive during the hype of your first month. You’ll want to make the base 6 emotes and an extra amount for when you reach the milestones needed for emote slots to increase (100/250/500 etc). The slots disappear the second you fall even 1 subscriber under the needed amount. Note: They are not permanently locked until an emote has filled the slot. Even then if you remove an emote you lose a slot if you are under the milestone needed at the time. You will have to hit the milestone again to unlock the slot.
2.) Have a shirt design ready.
Have a design ready that you can launch on the first day/week of partnership. Ideally, you’ll want to prepare Partnership-aversary designs as well.
3.) Networking doesn’t stop once partnered.
Networking is surprisingly easy to do. It’s just making friends. Join channels, get known by their community. The caster will take notice, just like you do in your own stream. Form lasting relationships as your partnership will open more doors for you now, but you still need to put in the work.
4.) When partnered you’ll want to be streaming as much as possible!
But during this hype please remember to practice self care and set aside some “me” time. It will help prevent burn out and will keep you in a good frame of mind to help keep that hype train rolling! Note: You should be doing this anyway. A healthy mind is a happy mind.
5.) People will get caught up in the hype of your new partnership.
Do not use your first 3 months as a partner as a gauge of what it will be like from now on. People will unsubscribe and never return. They sub in the first month as a congratulations. Don’t let this get you down! Be grateful they even subbed the first month. You should know your average around 4–6 months into your partnership.
6.) Set up dual streams or multi streams with people around your channel size, continue to grow.
Merging communities is still one of the fastest ways outside of sheer genius and entertainment to grow your channel and make yourself a longer lasting community.
7.) Find a tax person that does W-9’s.
Tips are still income, they are not donations. You are not a charity. Patreon, GameWisp, tshirt/merchandise sales; these are all forms of taxable income.
8.) A sponsorship is PAID.
Receiving items is not a sponsorship, and an affiliates program is not a sponsorship. The company gets more out of affiliates and sending you free things than you do. Note: Even if receiving free gear (and not being paid) from a company you are LEGALLY required to disclose this fact when telling your viewers about it/doing a review.
9.) Don’t underestimate your value when it comes to companies.
If they give you a game code and you play it on stream, it is free publicity. Likely, more than 1 person will take your opinion and purchase the game. The money they gambled is now made back. More so if more people buy it. Same goes for products and merchandise.
10.) Find new ways to engage with your audience.
Always try to think outside the box and bring new ideas to your cast. People love consistency but they also crave new things.
11.) Broadcasters are your co-workers.
What you say in a public forum matters and companies/other broadcasters will look into this when considering a relationship. Just because it is the internet does not mean what you say doesn’t matter. It is still you, a human, typing things to other humans. A screen does not remove that fact. Have a professional and welcoming attitude to all and you will be more desirable to work with.
12.) Unsure about something partner related?
You can e-mail partnerhelp@twitch.tv and they are happy to help out and give information. Note: only for actual current partners.
13.) Know your strengths.
Use these as a selling point to companies. Until you can get one, you are your own marketing specialist & manager. If you are funny use that to your advantage in an email. If you’re good with statistics, then use your own to your advantage.
14.) “The only time you should be looking in someone Else’s bowl is to see if they have enough. Not to see if they have more.”
You must realize one thing coming into this: Fairness does not exist here. It is the entertainment business. Some people, despite who they are or how they act, will always have more than you. However, that doesn’t mean you should be jealous, envious, or blame other people. Resentment is like drinking poison hoping that the other person will be hurt. You will be the only one that suffers with that track of mind.
15.) Remember where you came from.
Change is not always bad! We are human! It is natural for us to adapt and form to what we need or want at the time. It is very easy to get a feeling of self importance and status. Remain as humble as possible because you can just as easily lose everything the next day if you are not careful. Keeping this in mind, always remain true to yourself and your fans will love you for it.
Author note: I only require credit when linking this or sharing it. You are free to share it in your channels as you wish, and even create a command! Do not screen shot only portions, and do not screen shot me out of the article.
Thank you,
Scarletr0se
