There are around 8 million Twitch streamers.
They all have different ideas about how their channels should function.
Some of them just want a little fun, others want to make partnerships with brands or rich companies, and there are a few streamers who want to build a strong Twitch community, as well.
Networking represents the solo promotion of a Twitch channel, so the user gains more attention from the Twitch community.
How to Start Networking on Twitch
1. Start making friends on Twitch (but avoid streamers with a lot of users because they don’t have time for you)
2. Team up with other streamers
3. Bring networking to other social accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Discord, YouTube, etc.)
4. Create a unique brand
But, no matter what their ideas are, they all need to boost their network and strike up new acquaintances.
Therefore, I am here to present you with an article that will explain to you how to network on Twitch!
Table of Contents
What Is Networking on Twitch?
Networking can denote various things.
However, if I have to explain the goal of networking in a few words I would say that it is the best weapon for making friends on Twitch and getting more attention from the Twitch community members.
Of course, the first thing which comes to our minds that is related to networking is when two or more streamers make videos together.
Namely, thanks to collaborations, “small streamers” (those with a small number of followers and viewers) can promote their channels.
Moreover, if they are streaming with other Twitch streamers who have a huge fanbase, they can count on a larger audience from other channels that might begin to follow their work.
If you have various social interactions with your viewers and other streamers, you might, eventually, begin to collaborate with huge brands and end up earning a lot of money from sponsorships.
That is probably the most cost-effective type of networking.
The second important thing to know about networking is that it links streamers and people with various interests and professions together.
In other words, Twitch streamers often need someone to edit their videos, insert special effects or simply tell them more about a certain topic.
We all know that there are ghostwriters that help streamers create their content, as well.
Therefore, I can say that there is a place for everyone at Twitch if they are willing to network.
Moreover, if you contribute to someone’s content, you will at the same time increase your reputation on Twitch and build relationships with other community members.
How to Network on Twitch?
In order to start networking on Twitch, you have to connect with other streamers and eventually befriend them.
A good way for beginners to start is to act as viewers, not as streamers.
Namely, if you watch other streamers and join their chats, you do not want to intimidate him/her or his/her stream audience by repeating that you are a streamer who is looking for new viewers.
It can only be counterproductive because bear in mind that you are looking for a deeper relationship with other streamers, and not for a few viewers that might take a look at your work.
Only by achieving meaningful relationships can you count on someone’s true and continual support.
Therefore, act as a viewer that you want to have in your chat.
The following things will also be extremely helpful if you want to become friends with other streamers.
1. Make Friends
Involve yourself in conversations with other streamers and their Twitch communities, or in other words, make friends.
Avoid streamers with a large number of viewers
First of all, I do not recommend you try to get in touch with or impress streamers with a few hundred or thousands of viewers per stream.
There is only one reason why I do not recommend this.
It is because not everyone in their chat gets the attention he/she deserves, so there is little chance that you can strike up an acquaintanceship with a streamer or his/her community.
So, do not waste your time with this pretty daunting task and a bad idea if you ask us, especially if you are just at the beginning of your streaming career.
On the other hand, if you are more persistent than other people, there is a slight possibility that your advice, comment, or joke will be noticed by the preferred streamer.
Nevertheless, whatever you choose I wish you good luck, but I suggest you focus on other streamers and other channels with fewer viewers.
Find streamers with potential, but without a large number of viewers
Many streamers create great content, but unfortunately, they have a small number of viewers or followers.
By small number, I think like around 100 or less.
If you see that you have the same interests as the preferred streamer or that he/she represents exactly what you want to see in other streamers, feel free to start talking with him/her.
For example, If you play games that a streamer likes or if he/she talks about the things that you too are interested in, feel free to act absolutely friendly and genuine towards him/her or his/her community.
You can offer your pieces of advice from time to time, as well.
In fact, Twitch can be a really cruel place sometimes, so most streamers value friendly and productive chat.
Step by step, you will make a connection, and eventually, build a friendly relationship with the streamer you like.
After some time, you will get in touch with his/her community, as well.
So, his/her community will start to watch and follow you too.
It is quite possible that your new viewers will share a good word about your channel, so you will get a free promotion within other communities also.
In return, the other streamer will get the attention of your community, no matter how small it is.
It will still be a good beginning of a mutually beneficial friendship.
Therefore, if you succeed in making a mutually beneficial friendship and in attracting a community from someone else’s channel you have started pretty well.
Constantly expand the number of streamers that you are friends with
After striking up the first acquaintanceship or making the first friendship, it is time for you to find new streamers and communities that you might like.
Therefore, expand your horizons and find other streamers with similar interests.
I advise you to find streamers who are playing video games that you like, and in whose chat you might say a few good words that can attract a streamer to become friends with you.
Moreover, there will be situations when you or some other streamer, who is a friend of yours, will need something or someone.
For example, you or he/she might be looking for a good graphic designer or editor, so someone from her/his or your community can recommend one.
Therefore, thanks to meaningful conversations, your own number of viewers and followers will gradually expand, and you will be able to network with a few streamers that are in fact your friends.
What can be better than streaming, chatting, and networking with your friends?
2. Start Streaming with Others
After you have met with other streamers and become friends, it is time to create new streams.
If you have a deep friendly relationship with some streamer, begin to think about collaboration with him.
That is the most important segment of networking with someone.
Although streaming together might look like you are helping each other to gain more followers, it is actually a tremendous source of fun.
Moreover, if two streamers are streaming together it means that their audience will be a mix of two communities.
Therefore, interaction will be different, which means that there will be various perspectives on the way you play games or topics you two are going to talk about.
What to stream?
Stream games and gaming tournaments
First of all, if you have a good connection with someone you can stream literally everything.
However, in order to reach a greater audience, you need to find a specific game that is trending at the moment of streaming.
Namely, there are periods when a new game or patch is released, so the community on Twitch goes crazy about it.
We all know how games like Fortnite or League of Legends influenced the network.
Most streamers knew that if they were streaming the aforementioned games, they would gain more followers.
Therefore, I recommend you organize competitions between the streamers you are good with and show your own skills.
It would be beneficial for each streamer that participates.
Moreover, you can find other streamers who are like-minded and who like playing games at the tournaments.
If you see that you are on the same wavelengths you can even end up with new friends.
What is the most important thing about streaming and networking like this, is that you do not steal someone’s viewers or audience.
You basically team up with them to strengthen his/her community and play games you like.
The Twitch audience and other streamers will know to appreciate that, and their common sense will tell them that you can be trusted.
Furthermore, if afterward, you want to stream with some other streamer he/she will know that it will be for the benefit of both.
Raise funds for charities
At the same time, this is probably the best and the worst reason for networking on Twitch.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who need some kind of help, whether we talk about medical help, money, food, or home.
On the other hand, those who are into streaming can raise a lot of money thanks to networking, donations, and advertisers.
Moreover, other streamers can spread the word about a charity event on their social media or groups (Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook groups).
Therefore, the streaming community needs to provide a great example and help.
As I said above, you can organize gaming tournaments, but this time the profits will go to charity.
There are tons of other ways to help via streaming, so find people, start networking and make good deeds!
What to talk about in a stream (If you do Q and A)
Share an opinion on something
If there is a trending topic be free to call another streamer and talk with him about it.
That way, your audience will get an opportunity to meet you better and see what your thoughts are.
Eventually, if you say something interesting, you might become a trending topic as well, and other streamers might comment on your statements.
Moreover, you can always share the highlights of a stream on other social media, but I will explain that later.
Make a live interview
After some time, you can team up with other streamers who have something interesting to say, and make an interview with them.
Of course, it would be good if a streamer you are interviewing has a lot of followers because some of his fans might become members of your audience too.
On the other hand, even if you host “small streamers” you can gain new followers and get more attention.
Namely, it all depends on how you have planned the interviews.
You can literally make gonzo interviews as long as there is no breaking of Twitch ToS.
Make a tutorial
Whether you are explaining how some parts of your equipment work or creating gameplay, tutorials offer you a lot of space for networking.
In other words, tech hardware and software companies are always looking for streamers who are willing to advertise or just talk positively about their products.
In return, they will offer financial compensation or their products to a streamer.
Moreover, they often allow streamers to organize giveaways where they present games, game keys, or some PC equipment.
Create a spontaneous session
Talk shows are always popular.
Therefore, spontaneous sessions give you enough room for creating shows where you can answer questions about yourself or some other topics.
The spontaneous sessions are basically a mix of every type of stream.
In order to produce better quality content, you can call other streamers to talk, ask you questions and eventually play PC games with you later.
3. Network with Streamers’ Social Media Accounts
Networking from Twitch needs to be expanded to other social media.
If you prefer to cooperate or co-stream with another streamer, do not mind advertising it on other social media such as these:
Discord
A Discord server is a place where people with shared interests can talk freely, without any worries that someone might ban them, as long as they respect the rules.
And, guess what? A streamer is a guy who creates rules on a Discord server!
Therefore, when you have made the first contact with a streamer you like on Twitch, join his/her Discord server, become an active member and continue to deepen your friendly relationship.
You can talk about his or her future streaming plans, for example.
It goes without saying that you should not emphasize that you are a streamer too.
In fact, mention that only if another streamer asks you whether you are a streamer yourself or not.
The best networking is one between friends, so become friends first, and only then can you think and talk about plans!
Be free to join other Discord servers, as well, and see what other streamers and communities do.
However, bear in mind that talking or hanging out on too many servers might be too tiring and overwhelming.
Therefore, choose those servers where you can make the best connections with the community.
YouTube
YouTube is still more popular than Twitch, so it is a perfect place to make more people interested in what you do and create.
Self-promotion on any platform takes hours of work, so do not think that success will come overnight because of YouTube’s popularity.
I recommend you make a connection with other streamers from Twitch and start working on the YouTube appearance.
First of all, the best things to post on YouTube are highlights and clips from your Twitch videos.
They are short and effective, and they can tell potential viewers what to expect from your typical Twitch stream.
Moreover, you will have to network with people who are into editing in order to make the videos good.
And where to find better editors than from your own community!
On the other hand, if there are no editors in your community, other streamers that you are friends with, will find what you need in their communities.
Secondly, you can post a reaction to a video of some other streamer from Twitch or even YouTube.
If you want to promote your Twitch profile you can comment on the ongoing Twitch dramas (it seems that there are always dramas…), and as a result, many YouTube users will eventually start to use Twitch.
Hence, they might become your viewers and members of your community.
Furthermore, you can create a false drama with some of your Twitch colleagues, and promote it on YouTube.
It seems that it is a popular way of getting new followers today.
However, this kind of networking can have negative effects on your own community because viewers and followers might unfollow you due to the lack of trust in your words.
To sum up the story about the aforementioned social media, you should network with other people on Twitch and promote the results of your work on YouTube.
Another way to socialize with your fellow streamers is to follow them on Twitter.
Some might follow you back, while some might not.
Generally, Twitter offers you a plethora of possibilities.
Firstly, you can update information about your streams.
Namely, you can post when you go live, or when you start networking with other streamers.
Secondly, in order to succeed, Twitch streamers need to act collegially, so be prepared to advertise other Twitch streamers’ channels and streams.
Beware that most people who follow Twitch streamers have their own Twitch accounts.
Therefore, you can comment on other streamers’ tweets, and thanks to that reach his Twitter community, as well.
Finally, short videos about streaming or highlights are always welcomed on social media.
So, post them, as well.
More and more people begin to use Instagram every day.
Therefore, it has become one of the most important social media.
So, if you are not so sure about using Instagram, just take a look at the streamers like Ninja or Allie Strasza, get out of your comfort zone, and create an account!
Always remember that hard work needs to be advertised on each social media.
Therefore, be free to post your own pictures, share links to your or others’ streams, and connect with the Instagram audience.
4. Become a Brand
As I said above, your reputation is crucial for networking.
Other streamers will want to connect and work with you only if you value them and their communities.
Your channel must be a place where streamers will act naturally, without pretending to be someone else in order to gain new followers or likes.
And always bear in mind that you are the only one who can make them act in a natural manner.
So, if you want to become well-known as a person who makes the best shows, base your collaborations on friendship and not on interest.
Moreover, I strongly recommend you hang out with other streamers outside of your streams.
After some time of successful networking with other streamers, you will see that your community will grow, your name will be known literally as a brand on Twitch, and opportunities for earning money will appear.
Conclusion
Twitch is a great place to express yourself and meet other users.
Moreover, there is a bunch of talented people who are willing to cooperate and make great things.
So, make use of the pieces of advice I have shown to you and improve the networking.
To sum up, bear in mind that networking with other channels is always better than having a one-person account that might bore your audience after some time.
For more Twitch streaming tips, check the video below!
