With 7 million unique streamers going live every month, Twitch attracts an average of 35M daily visitors which makes this one of the largest live video streaming platforms.
That’s why gaming companies like EA Sports and men’s grooming brands like Old Spice, businesses are partnering with Twitch influencers to expand their reach.
The only challenge is that Twitch influencer marketing differs from influencer marketing on other social platforms (for example, Instagram or Facebook).
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- Who uses Twitch?
- What is Twitch influencer marketing?
- Types of influencer collaborations on Twitch
- Best practices for Twitch influencer marketing
- 5 Mistakes to avoid
Understanding Twitch Audience
Not every brand needs to be on Twitch. The reason is Twitch attracts a specific kind of audience. Let’s look at the breakdown.
Demographics
- 67% of Twitch users are between the ages of 16-34 years.
- More than 70% of online users on Twitch are males, with a gradual increase in the number of females.
The United States attracts the majority of Twitch users, followed by Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
User behavior and preferences
- Apart from gaming, the platform has diversified to include categories like home, beauty, music, cooking, parenting, etc. For example, the “Just Chatting” category attracts more viewers than popular games like “Grand Theft Auto” and “Counter-Strike.”
- Weekends garner higher viewership, while weekdays are less competitive and provide an increased chance of discovery.
- Peak viewership often increases during tournaments, new launches, charity streams, and exciting influencer collaborations.
What is Twitch Influencer Marketing?
Unlike other platforms, Twitch influencer marketing is all about promotions on live streams. There are no pre-recorded videos or images.
Most of these live streams last well over an hour. This allows influencers to create long-form content with product insertions that don’t seem forced or unnatural.
For example, Red Bull partnered with popular Twitch gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. The influencer marketing campaign involved several live streams and events where Ninja played popular games while drinking Red Bull.
The result was 20 million impressions and a boost in popularity.
Twitch influencers have an audience that is usually more invested and engaged. This is because an average user spends 95 minutes every day on Twitch, forming deep and meaningful connections with their favorite influencers.
It doesn’t come as a surprise then that 64% of all Twitch users purchase products recommended by influencers.
Types of Twitch Influencer Collaborations
Twitch influencer collaborations can take many forms, depending on the campaign’s goals. Here are five common types.
- Product placements: Influencers create content with natural product promotions. For example, a gaming influencer may use specific gaming gear and talk about it while playing a popular game.
- Product unboxing and reviews: Brands generally send a product to the influencer and the influencer is unboxing and reviewing the product while live streaming. For example, a beauty influencer unboxing a new lip tint and showing what it looks like.
- Giveaways and contests: These contests and giveaways generally target brand engagement and awareness. For example, a product can be given away for free to a random viewer who enters the contest by following the brand and influencer on Twitch.
- Collaborative streams: Multiple influencers team up to stream together and play a game, talk about a product, or have a joint Q&A session. For example, two gaming influencers entertain their audiences with joint gameplay and commentary.
- Exclusive content or early access: Influencers are given exclusive access to new games, product features, or content updates before they are made available to the public. For example, generating buzz and excitement when a beauty influencer unveils a new range of products.
Best Practices for Twitch Influencer Marketing
To create and launch successful Twitch influencer campaigns, here are some best practices recommended by our team.
Find the right Twitch influencers
Before you start looking for influencers, here’s a set of criteria to select the right influencer.
- Niche and audience: If your niche is gaming, dig deeper. Which games does the influencer cover? Do the audience for these games align with your target audience?
- Engagement metrics: Look at metrics like followers, average concurrent viewership, number and type of comments, etc.
- Influencer activity: How active are the influencers? Do they regularly conduct live streams? Twitch streamers who go live consistently usually have a dedicated community.
- Creative fit: Has the influencer previously run collaborations with similar companies? Can they naturally fit your product into their live streams?
Next, use these 3 simple ways to search for Twitch influencers:
1. Use a creator discovery dashboard
We have a creator discovery dashboard you can use for discovering Twitch streamers at scale. The dashboard has 40+ filters and you can be as niche or as broad as you want and still get precise results.
Once you select these filters, you can either select “Creator has Twitch filter” or search for the keyword Twitch in the “Link in Bio section” for Instagram and TikTok or “Link in channel description section” for YouTube.
Here’s how I found over 3K Twitch creators with verified email addresses in the gaming niche:
Find Twitch influencer that align with your criteria
2. Use Twitch’s search bar
You can search influencers directly on Twitch to find specific channels related to your niche. For example, here’s how I discovered the top channels related to fitness.
3. Search in Twitch’s directory
You can also find popular streamers by game or content type, directly on Twitch. For example, you can find different genres of games in Twitch’s game directory.
Set clear goals and KPIs for your campaign
Your campaign goals determine the type of influencer to partner with, the kind of content to create, the KPIs to track, etc. Your goals could be to increase brand awareness, encourage audience engagement, drive sales and conversions, generate high-quality content, or build a community.
Depending on the goal, you can set your KPIs.
Here’s an example of a S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-bound) goal and its KPI:
Goal: Achieve a 10% increase in Twitch followers within two weeks of the influencer campaign
KPIs: Follower growth, engagement growth
Reach out to Twitch influencers effectively
You can contact Twitch influencers directly via whisper (private message on Twitch) or, for a more professional approach, email them.
Here’s an outreach email template that got us an average 15% reply rate.
Hey {first_name} –
{rep_name} here from {brand_name}.
Really glad we connected on Twitch. I’ve been a fan of your content for a bit and truly appreciate {personalization content on what you liked}.
We’re rolling out some exciting stuff at {brand_name} that I believe you might find interesting. We’d love to discuss potential collaborations.
Can I send you some more info?
{rep_name}
Provide a clear and engaging brief
While most influencers know their audience best and what resonates with them, it’s always a good practice to provide them with a general direction with a solid brief.
Here are the things your brief should contain:
- Campaign overview: Briefly introduce your brand, product, mission, target audience, campaign goals, and KPIs.
- Campaign deliverables: Specify the type of content needed, specific requirements such as hashtags, and links, when the product should be mentioned, and the timing of the live stream.
- Brand guidelines: Describe the brand voice and tone, visual guidelines, and do’s and don’t’s.
- Ideas and examples: If you have campaign examples or have previously run successful campaigns, share those to give the influencer concept ideas.
- Feedback and approval process: Detail the process for idea approval and the main point of contact for the campaign.
Measure and analyze your campaign
To measure the success of a particular live stream, you can ask the influencer to share their “Stream Summary Page” available in their creator dashboard. This shows metrics like average viewers, maximum viewers, unique viewers, unique chatters, followers gained, etc.
You can even use Twitch’s built-in analytics tool to find which moments in the influencer’s stream got the most follows, subs, peak viewers, etc.
If your goal is conversions and sales, you should use tools like Google Analytics to collect information on traffic and clicks. You can also calculate the total revenue generated from the campaign using unique links that influencers can share during the video or pin in the comments.
Once you generate comprehensive performance reports, compare them with your original goals and KPIs and write optimization pointers for your next campaign.
3 Successful Twitch Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Here are 3 examples of some of the best Twitch influencer campaigns, highlighting different strategies and approaches.
Doritos X Twitch Rivals
Doritos, a popular snack brand in the US, collaborated with Twitch Rivals (a head-to-head competition starring the platform’s favorite gaming streamers) in North America.
The brand featured more than 2500 streamers who integrated Doritos into their live streams with on-screen graphics, chatbots, and a Doritos chip emoticon.
The campaign received 35 million views, and the brand strengthened its association with esports and the gaming community.
UberEats X Ninja
UberEats partnered with popular gaming streamer Ninja for a fun challenge. For every kill he made on Fortnite, he would win his fans a 1% off on their UberEats order. The brand gave him a time limit – he could keep playing from the moment he ordered Quinzo’s through their service till it reached his door.
Within that frame, he got his fans a total of 25% off on their orders. The fans could use the code to get the discount.
While this code was going to be valid for three days, UberEats received such a great response that they had to end the offer in a single day.
Old Spice X Imane “Pokimane” Anys
Old Spice is a men’s grooming brand known for its ludicrous ads. The brand collaborated with popular Twitch influencer Pokimane to wander around the woods and take up challenges the viewers suggest.
The result was fun content, such as playing games with Old Spice-themed overlays and conducting interactive polls related to the brand’s products.
This helped Old Spice connect with a younger audience and drive engagement.
5 Mistakes to Avoid in Twitch Influencer Marketing
While the strategies mentioned help create effective campaigns, these are some mistakes you should avoid in the process.
- Wrong influencer fit: When selecting an influencer, take a holistic view. Don’t just look at their niche. Consider whether their content matches your brand values and whether there’s alignment in your target audiences.
- Ignoring qualitative metrics: Looking at the follower count is a great start. But it’s equally important to look at metrics like quality of interaction and comment sentiment. How are people responding to their streams? What is the influencer-audience relationship like?
- Setting vague goals and KPIs: Launching a campaign without clear goals and KPIs can make it difficult to measure success. It also makes it difficult for the influencer to develop content ideas, get product placements right, and form CTAs.
- Ignoring content quality: Poor content quality, such as inadequate lighting, sound, or stream reliability, can make the association look unprofessional and deter viewers from engaging with it.
- Not having clear contracts and disclosure agreements: To ensure things are legally binding and both parties involved are on the same page, you must put in the time to draft clear and comprehensive contracts and agreements.
To Sum Up
Good news is that 80% of Twitch users positively receive brand sponsorships. So, by following the Twitch influencer marketing strategies and tips mentioned above, you can create influencer campaigns that get you in front of a wider audience.
If you are looking for an all-in-one platform that can help you find the right Twitch influencers and connect with them, schedule a demo call to get started.
Our team of 40+ experts can also understand your requirements, find you the right influencers, and conduct outreach on your behalf so you can take it forward once we make the connection.
Search and find Twitch influencer that are ideal for your brand
FAQ
The exact cost depends on factors like the influencer’s reach, industry and niche, campaign scope, and campaign duration. But you can estimate a range between $200 and $2500.
To find Twitch influencers in your niche, directly search on Twitch or use community platforms like Quora and Reddit.
If you want a deeper analysis and a very niche search to find exactly the Twitch influencers who are ideal for your brand, use our creator discovery dashboard.
Access and search our database of 300K Twitch influencers using more than 40 different filters. You can go as broad or as niche as you want, create your custom Twitch influencer list, and export it with verified emails for all influencers.
Allow influencers to have creative freedom to integrate the product into their content naturally. Plus, provide influencers with information about the brand and product can also help them communicate authentically with their audience.
Find influencers with similar interests and lifestyle to your target audience.
See the type of content they post, and research their previous partnerships and how they resonate with their audience to ensure a good fit.
Using our dashboard you can search Twitch influencers by hashtags, and keywords in bio (for example mom, dog mom, yoga practitioner, etc).
You can also find Twitch influencers that already have brand collaborations or promote affiliate links.
You can leverage Twitch’s unique features, like Twitch Prime or Bits, by incorporating them into your campaigns.
For example, you can offer exclusive in-game items for Twitch Prime users or run interactive giveaways using Bits. This way you can enhance viewer engagement and provide added value to both the influencer and their audience.
