How to promote your Twitch channel like a pro: 11 secrets to streaming success

Ninja. AuronPlay. xQc. Tfue. Pokimane. KaiCenat. 

These are some of the giants of Twitch.

And you want to join them.

You, my friend, have quality content that you want to stream to the masses. To entertain, inform, and delight them.

But you might be struggling to reach them.

When it comes to Twitch, no matter how hard you try, it can seem impossible to get enough viewers and followers.

You might feel like this.

^(Source)

But you’ve got some quality streams. You just need people to see it for themselves. Then they’d be raving fans. 

You just know it.

What if you could turn this all around? 

Imagine having a thriving community of people who are so OBSESSED with your content that they’ll even watch you sleep (hey, it’s a popular category on Twitch).

A strong community of viewers could open up a whole world of opportunities for you. You could turn your passion into an income and connect with streamers at the top of their game.

Wouldn’t that be great?

But how do you promote your Twitch channel? How do you get thousands of people to watch your Twitch stream (let alone 20), and take your place among the giants?

Twitch can be a tricky platform, that’s for sure. But with the right advice, you’ll know how to grow your Twitch channel and reach streaming success.

By the end of this post you’ll know just how to gain traction on Twitch and get some eyeballs on your streams.

How to promote your Twitch stream

Read carefully to find out the secret recipe of going viral on Twitch — we cover all of it start-to-end.

1. Identify your Twitch target audience

As a streamer, you’re connecting with people. To market your Twitch channel, like any good marketer, you have to identify who exactly it is you’re trying to reach.

And get to know them like your best friend.

• Where do they hang out?
• What streams do they watch?
• What do they love?
• What social media platforms do they use?
• What times are they active?
• What problems do they have?
• Do they like ramen?

Knowing exactly who your audience is, what they like, and where they are will help you create an effective strategy to reach them.

And by knowing what your audience wants, you can create content that’s valuable to them. 

2. Stream consistently

To have a successful Twitch stream, your fans need to know when they can find you streaming. 

It makes sense, right?

If you stream at random times, whenever you feel like it, your fans won’t know when to watch your stream.

They’ll give up and watch another, more reliable streamer.

But if you stream consistently, viewers will be able to find your quality content and watch it consistently.

It helps to clearly communicate when your next streams are. You can do this with some professional graphics (more on that below).

3. Find the best time to stream

When you stream consistently, you need to make sure you do it at the best time.

If you have an established audience, try to time your streams around when they’re active. But don’t do it when they’re the most active, otherwise you’ll have too much competition. 

It’s a delicate balance.

If you’re starting out and trying to get new followers, stream at a time when there’s less competition (i.e., when your competition is asleep 😴). You can pick up a few new followers that way.

4. Be selective about your content

Similarly, you want to stream content that has less competition.

If you start out by streaming some live gaming on League of Legends, you’re going to be drowned out in the crowd.

But if you choose to stream a new indie game, you’ll have less competition.

And that means greater chances of going viral on Twitch and being discovered.

Plus, if you’re lucky, game producers might want you to show off their new indie games, and they can promote you on social media in return.

More followers for you. Yay.

So, choose unsaturated content for your streams. 

5. Create a professional-looking Twitch channel

The Twitch algorithm will reward you for a profile that looks professional.

But how do you make it look professional?

By using some sweet graphics.

I hear you sighing, but don’t worry. You don’t need to master complicated software or hire a graphic designer.  You can actually make professional-looking graphics in seconds on VistaCreate.

Create a brand kit to design your own brand style and make graphics faster. There are also templates for a Twitch profile banner, and an offline banner for when you’re away. 

Learn everything you can do in VistaCreate in our articles:

➡️ Repeatable success: The recipe for effective designs in VistaCreate
➡️ How to use VistaCreate: A guide to creating designs in minutes

Even just the graphics on your channel can give you the opportunity to draw in viewers; use the offline banner to tell your audience when you’re streaming, so they can tune in next time.

Express yourself and your brand with graphics. It’s another way to make an impression on people.

6. Promote your Twitch stream on social media

It might not come as a surprise, but if you advertise your Twitch channel on other platforms it’ll help you gain more followers.

Create some highlights of your streams and post them on YouTube. Share the funniest clips or some behind-the-scenes footage on TikTok and Instagram. Post a tweet when you’re about to stream, and your thoughts in between streams.

You can easily edit videos and quickly create effective graphics for different social media platforms on VistaCreate. 

Get creative on social media, and your Twitch audience will start to grow. Other platforms can be some of the best places to promote your Twitch stream.

Just be careful not to over-promote your Twitch channel on social media. This won’t engage anyone at all. You need to mix in quality content with some promotion. 

➡️ Check out our article, How to use social media marketing for your business: The complete guide, to find out more!

7. Use your website

Got your own website or blog?

Use your website to promote your Twitch streams. Just a few small changes can make all the difference.

Try adding a Twitch follow button on your site, or putting a link to your channel on your sidebar.

You can even blog about your streams. Any traffic you can generate for your blog post can then be redirected to your channel.

8. Engage with your audience

It’s essential that you engage with your audience. 

You’re talking to fellow humans after all! 🙋

Start a conversation with your viewers. Connect with them. Answer their questions, and have fun with them.

They’ll appreciate you for it, and they might just refer you to their friends.

The Twitch algorithm will boost you if you have high levels of engagement by recommending you to other users.

9. Giveaways and prizes

Who doesn’t love getting prizes?

Set up giveaways and contests with prizes for your audience. You can create some conditions of entry for the competition like subscribing to your channel, or watching a stream.

This’ll help increase your number of followers and viewers. 

The algorithm will also recommend you to users who like to watch streams that feature contests.

You can even do giveaways on other platforms like Instagram to grow your following there. This will spill over onto your Twitch channel too.

Just make sure that the prizes are things your audience really wants.

10. Partner with other streamers 

They’re your friends, not your foes. 

And they could be one of the best ways to promote your Twitch stream.

Forget about the idea of competition, and simply enjoy the experience of connecting with people. 

Be kind and genuinely support other streamers — and they’ll do the same in return.

Fellow streamers can recommend you, and their followers might just join your growing number of raving fans.

You can also partner with other streamers by…

Raiding like a viking 

Well maybe not exactly like a viking.

But do use the raid feature on Twitch. This sends all your viewers to another channel.

But why would you want to do that?

Great question. It can actually help you get an audience on Twitch. 

It’s a way of partnering with other streamers, helping them out by boosting their number of viewers. You’re simply being a good streaming buddy.

When you raid another channel, that person gets a notification about who’s raided them.

They’ll know you helped them out (and feel grateful to you for it 🙏).

And, you never know, they might just do the same for you. You’ll build up a solid partnership with another streamer and your followers will increase.

But remember, raiding is something that you should do at the end of your broadcast (so you don’t lose viewers while streaming).

Joining a Twitch team

It’s hard to do since it’s invite-only (unless you create your own team).

But joining a Twitch team can expose you to a whole new audience. 

You can discover teams through watching streams and collaborating with other streamers. Once you find a team that mixes well with your content, style, and values you can ask members if you can join.

But there are often high standards that you need to meet in order to join. 

Your channel needs to look professional (remember your brand graphics?), and you need to create high-quality content.

But by connecting with and helping other streamers, you’ll naturally stumble across teams and get invited to join.

11. Embrace the Twitch algorithm

The homepage is a nice bit of real estate on Twitch.

If you can get on there, you’re much more likely to get discovered by a new audience.

How do you do that?

By embracing the algorithm overlord. 

Thinking about the algorithm might make you tremble in fear. But do you know what the great thing about an algorithm is?

There’s a pattern to it.

And if you follow the pattern, if you do what the algorithm favors, then it’ll help you become discoverable on the homepage as well as recommending you to users.

That’ll really work some wonders for promoting your channel.

So how does the algorithm work? Well, it favors a lot of what we’ve covered today: 

• Views – Yes, it sucks, but the algorithm does promote based on how many people are watching your stream. But don’t worry about it; focus on the other factors for now.
• A chatty audience – You know the fast torrent of messages on the chat of your favorite streamer? Twitch sees that and recognizes that the streamer is popular. The algorithm will decide to boost them as a result. If you have a chatty audience, there’s more of a chance you’ll get discovered.
• Promotion on other platforms – If you promote your channel on other social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and the like, the algorithm will love you for it.
• Co-streaming – If you stream alongside another channel, you’ll be more discoverable. There’s also the added benefit of being exposed to the other streamer’s audience. It can be a way of cross-promoting Twitch streams.
• Raids – Twitch rewards you for being selfless and raiding another channel.
• Your type of content – Twitch looks at your content category niche, and what you’re streaming about, and recommends you to users based on their preferences. Also, using unsaturated content, like indie games, will make you more discoverable.
• Contests – If you create fun contests for your streams, the algorithm will recommend your channel to viewers who love that content.
• Professional-looking channels – Have you made your own emotes? Have you got some graphics for your Twitch channel? Twitch will reward you for a personalized and professional-looking channel like a mom rewards her teenager for a clean bedroom.
• Your personality – Are your streams simply hilarious? Or do you promote some thoughtful discussion? Whatever your personality, you’ll be recommended to users who like your type of streaming personality. 
• Clip-sharing – If your audience creates and shares clips of your stream, this will increase the chances of you getting discovered on the main Twitch page, even if your clips are watched on other social media platforms. The algorithm overlord knows all.

It’s all about community

Now you know how to promote your channel and get your amazing content out there in front of the millions.

But did you notice what ties all this advice together?

Community.

Partnering with other streamers, helping them, engaging with your audience — all of these center around community.

Isn’t that nice? It’s enough to make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

So get on out there and connect with your fellow humans.

And make your profile stand out with some snazzy graphics. Twitch will reward you for it.

With VistaCreate, you can create those snazzy graphics in seconds along with everything else you need to promote your Twitch channel. From designing a profile banner and adapting posts for different social media platforms, to editing video clips — it’s all there. 

And it couldn’t be easier.