This article is an advanced guide to Twitch Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Get Started in Asia. Previously we shared an introductory guide to marketing on Twitch, answering questions such as “What Twitch is?” and “What marketing solutions are available on the platform?” In this article, we will discuss more in-depth topics, share Twitch marketing tips, and answer questions such as: How do I pick a suitable streamer? How do you approach Twitch Chat? And more…
How do I pick a suitable Twitch streamer?
When choosing a Twitch streamer, there are several important aspects to consider:
- Understand your goals
- How do the streamers interact with their community through Twitch Chat?
- The community they have cultivated
- How brand-safe they are as a person
Here is a Twitch marketing tip: A smaller streamer with 400 active viewers but a highly active chat and community, can offer a better marketing opportunity than a bigger streamer with 2000 viewers but a less engaged chat. The viewers in the 400 viewer stream will be much more engaged and receptive to any ad that ‘their’ streamer promotes or shares. The para-social nature of the relationship between streamers and their audiences uniquely lends itself nicely to an advertisement. As a result, the viewers welcome ads as it benefits ‘their’ streamer.
However, this requires some qualification, as the key is to take your goals as an advertiser into account in any given campaign. If your goal is to spread awareness and build a particular brand image, then, of course, the 2000 viewer stream is likely more suitable, as there are simply more impressions to access. However, if your goal is to sell a specific product and immediately get conversions, a tight-knit community should be your go-to.
Twitch Chat is everything.
The relationship between the brand and Twitch Chat is by far the most important aspect of any campaign. Treat the Twitch Chat as one coherent person/entity who also shares a relationship with the streamer. If the Chat sees a brand as any threat or problem for the streamer, the community will become very defensive, and you will be unable to achieve your goals.
Respect the Chat – They know they’re being marketed to, and they aren’t necessarily against that fact but do not try to be coy or too smart about any given campaign/ad. Do not try too hard to be relatable, or they will put you in your place as a ‘corporation’. Furthermore, if your brand has been a part of any recent or significant known controversy, avoid using Twitch as the Chat will find out and will bring light to it.
Know the audience – Twitch users spend more time, on average, on Twitch (i.e. an average of 95 minutes per day) than any other platform (i.e. 49 minutes per day on YouTube). Twitch is unique in its ability to keep lots of people engaged for long periods. With this in mind, they will be seeing and watching the same ads repeatedly, to the point where certain ads become memes themselves within each community if people find out they have the same ads as each other. This high frequency of repeat exposure should inform the creatives and guide you to a solution that suits this kind of exposure.
What is the solution? Short-form. Single key messages. No story.
With the short attention spans of the modern generation, the essential tip for twitch marketing is to keep your messages short and repetitive to drill home your key messages. If you try to bombard your audiences, even on Twitch, despite their better than average information retention rates, it will annoy them that they have to read so much and forget it all.
Similarly, it is highly advisable to avoid too much story-telling, as the kind of people you are marketing to on Twitch are highly self-aware and know you are attempting to sell to them. Therefore, they won’t pay attention to a story and would rather simply want to know why your product is good – it is as straightforward as that. The only exception to this is film and television trailers.
How can we do traditional ads?
Simplicity is key – with regards to traditional ads. Bear in mind that the viewers are exposed to the high density and repetitiveness of advertisements. Hence a simple message with the product/brand in a good light will be the most effective means of embedding yourself in the minds of the consumers. In addition, interacting with the Chat in a way that reiterates the brand/product over and over is key to a definitively successful campaign on Twitch.
Furthermore, a proven and effective Twitch marketing tip is to keep the Chat entertained and generally in a positive mood. Have bright and catchy music. Depending on the category you are advertising to, the genre may change. For example, in e-sports, catchy electronic music has shown to be most commonly well-received. Generally, electronic music is a good bet. The reason is that there is an overlap in people who like electronic music and play video games and the fact that a lot of electronic music is without lyrics helps with ad information retention.
What kind of products can I sell on Twitch?
Contrary to popular belief, you can sell just about anything on Twitch. The users are people too, and this matter comes down to integration and positioning. While yes, if the product is tech-related, the audience is much easier to sell to as their interests align with the product. Yet this doesn’t prevent successful marketing for FMCG or luxury goods on Twitch.
In terms of integration and positioning, please ensure it makes sense if you integrate gaming into your ads. Some of the worst ads seen on Twitch are ‘gamer’ ads where the brand shoe-horns the concept of gaming into the advertisement to try and appeal to ‘the gamers.’ Only consider including gaming in your message if you can integrate the product in a sensical way. For instance, the following is an example to avoid:
The response from the chat was clear. No. This may come as a shock to some, but smelling better does not relate to your gaming performance.
Here is a quick and beautiful example of how you can integrate gaming into your advertisement:
The through-line is simple: Red Bull energy makes you play better. Does it? We can imagine that plenty of gamers can relate to long sessions surviving on nothing but the caffeine in a Red Bull. So ostensibly yes, this ad is a perfect example.
In conclusion, the successful ingredients to Twitch marketing are: picking the right Twitch streamers according to your goals and their community, respecting the Twitch Chat and keeping the Chat entertained, and finally sharing simple and straightforward messages that reiterate the brand/product.
