Twitch Streaming: Beginner Tips and Tricks
About me:
Hello! I’m Jasmine and today, I’m taking over XP Fantasy’s blog to share all my tips and tricks on building a Twitch following with you. The XP Fantasy team asked me to write a guest post when they realized that many of their users were avid Twitch viewers and some were contemplating making the jump into streaming!
I have been streaming Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Twitch for almost 9 months. As a dedicated and lifelong player of the cozy simulation game, I was obsessed with the release of the newest Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch back in March 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic putting a pause on my school, work, and social life, I found myself investing hours into the game.
My sister, who previously streamed FPS games on Twitch, encouraged me to start streaming Animal Crossing because of two big reasons — (i) a huge Animal Crossing community existed on Twitch (1.7 million followers to be exact); and, (ii) I really had nothing better to do with my time. I borrowed my sister’s streaming equipment, including a gaming laptop and a capture card, and I began streaming in June. Since then, I have been incredibly fortunate to have fostered an inclusive and inviting community with 3000+ followers. I have also grown a successful network with other well-known Animal Crossing streamers and have completed many milestones, as I am currently on the path to be a Twitch Partner.
*It is important to note that I am sharing my tips and experiences from an Animal Crossing streamer’s perspective, where the Animal Crossing Twitch community is much smaller and less saturated than other categories. Some of my experiences and interactions may be different from variety streamers (whose focus is on retaining viewers through the different games) and FPS streamers (where there is a high saturation in that game category); but nonetheless, my personal advice is quite general and applicable to all areas of gaming and streaming.
Beginner Tips to Grow and Build Your Following:
As a brand-new streamer…
As a new Twitch streamer, regardless of the game(s) you choose to play, your main goal is to hit affiliate requirements. As a Twitch affiliate, you can grow your community with perks like channel points redemptions and subscriber emotes.
This is also how you are able to receive payouts from subscriptions and bits. The requirements consist of:
(i) streaming for 8 hours total;
(ii) reaching a minimum of 50 followers;
(iii) maintaining an average viewership of 3 viewers; and,
(iv) must be met over a 30-day period.
A common (and important) piece of advice I often give to new streamers is to network. There are many ways to network through Twitch, including raiding other creators at the end of your stream, hosting live streams while you are offline, and being an active member in other people’s streams and chats. Networking with other streamers can lead to forming trustworthy bonds where in return, you can receive raids, hosts, shoutouts, and positive word-of-mouth. This will ultimately open the door for one streamer to share/lead their community over to you. However, it is essential that you do not confuse networking with self promoting. A big no-no in Twitch chats is trying to directly or indirectly self promote; examples of this include blatant statements like “Please help me get more viewers” or slyly trying to bring up your own stream like “Wow I’m only 3 followers away from 50”. If it is welcomed by the streamer or they ask about your stream journey, then that is fine to share.
As a fairly new streamer (post-affiliate)…
Congratulations on becoming a Twitch affiliate! Your main goal as a new affiliated streamer should be growing your community, which includes viewership, followage and subscriptions. Some things you might consider doing are creating a Discord server, organizing giveaways/prizes, and playing with viewers. In addition, you will now be able to create channel points redemptions and unlock sub emotes, which increases interactivity with your community.
Some tips I have are presenting your stream in interesting ways, like having a “click-worthy” title, that could persuade people to click into your channel or potentially raid you too. In my experience, I have found that viewers like to celebrate with you. My most successful streams have either been when I was celebrating something, like my birthday or a milestone, or when I was doing something people wanted to support, like my 24 hour stream. Reminder, you are still working on networking and supporting other streamers with raids, hosts, shoutouts, and being active in others’ chat.
More tips and advice:
Another tip I have is trying to find a consistent stream schedule. A consistent schedule is beneficial because loyal viewers will remember when they can return to your chat and you can also remind people by saying “I stream on these days / I stream at this time”. It might be a bit difficult to find a good stream time that you can repeat weekly, so I recommend at least announcing a time you will always stream around (daytime vs nighttime) or specific days of the week that you will stream on. I also encourage you to share your Twitch with your friends and ask them to support you by making a Twitch account, following your channel, and lurking in your chat. It could also be a good idea to play games with your friends to keep you engaged in streams if chat is slow, or also inviting fellow streamers that you meet to play as well.
A common mistake is sometimes ignoring the chat for long periods of time, so frequently checking chat and making sure you have not missed someone’s message allows viewers to feel included. In addition, you will quickly learn what “lurking” is (which is when someone tunes into your stream but leaves it on low volume because they might be doing something else). Lurkers are good! They are supporting your stream and overall will still contribute to your view count. My last tip is regarding Twitch Prime subs. If a friend or a viewer has an Amazon Prime account, they are able to link their Amazon account to Twitch, and are able to get one free Prime subscription per month. This is a great way to gain additional support!
Starting to stream on Twitch can be a bit slow at first and it is common to get disappointed if you are not reaching the requirements and statistics you want. However, don’t give up and try to keep pushing yourself and meeting others! Once you find a great community that you enjoy sharing your games with, streaming can become a really valuable and exciting experience.
If you want to check out my Twitch streams, here’s my channel! Also, be sure to check out XP Fantasy here and join their community Discord!
