The way of the Stream: Best Platforms to Stream Games

Streaming is one of the most exciting ways to create content around the things you love –video games, music, sports, or whatnot. It’s incredible because, unlike videos-on-demand (VOD), you can talk to your viewers in real-time. Which makes it 1000x more fun than talking and recording in front of a camera. 

Aside from having the opportunity to share your ideas, connect with like-minded people, and build a following, another great thing about streaming is the monetization potential. Like VODs uploaded on YouTube and other platforms, your stream can be a source of secondary (maybe even primary) income. 

Finally, becoming a streamer is an excellent way to develop yourself since it teaches you many skills. Streaming would teach you to be confident, charismatic, and a good presenter/communicator. Skills relevant in the real world, especially if you’re trying to make it big. 

Where to Start

If you’re interested in becoming a streamer, we’ve written several articles to make the journey easier for you. We also have classes you can enroll in, so you can accelerate your progress in becoming a master streamer. 

Check out these other articles on our blog to learn more about streaming: 

• 8 Skills You Need to Be A Successful Streamer
• 8 exciting ways to make money from streaming video games
• How to get more viewers on your stream: 11 actionable strategies to make your stream awesome
• How to earn from playing games: 10 awesome ways to monetize your passion for gaming
• How to Be a Successful Streamer: 14 Secrets to Success

This article will cover in-depth the best platforms to stream games you can use to jumpstart your streaming career. We’ll give you some pros and cons, plus tips on how to win on these platforms. So, buckle up, and let’s start our journey to find the best platforms to stream games. 

Twitch 

If you’re a heavy gamer, you should already be familiar with Twitch. It’s one of the pioneers in the live-streaming space, which is why it’s also the most popular and one of the best platforms to stream games. 

Pros: 

• Twitch has a large user base and engagement rate for gaming content. This makes it one the best platforms to stream games (if not the best!)
• The platform has a lot of tools and features that’ll help you build a relationship with your audience. It has tons of features where you can engage with your audience, and they can engage back. Aside from the typical chat function, you can also have chat overlays, custom commands for bots, and custom emotes. 
• You get multiple monetization options for your stream. Twitch’s platform is known to have different revenue channels for streamers. This includes ad shares, sponsorships, affiliate links, and donations. 
• Since it’s a gamer-first platform, they also offer excellent support for its creators. Plus, a large community of like-minded people.  

Cons: 

• Since it’s one of the best platforms to stream games, most streamers use Twitch as their primary channel. This means you’ll have much competition for viewers’ attention. 
• If you’re a non-gamer, Twitch is a “NO” for you since you won’t have many opportunities to earn since you’ll have a smaller audience base. 

Facebook Live

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. They have close to 3 billion registered users on the platform. Aside from that, they also have a wide array of audience groups, which makes it the perfect platform for non-gaming streams. And also one of the best platforms to stream games. The platform also hosts streams of different events, performances, and gatherings for its users to access.

Pros: 

• Since Facebook is used by almost everyone who has access to the internet, you’ll have a vast potential audience base. Giving you an enormous opportunity to make it big as a streamer. This is one of its best claims why it’s one of the best platforms to stream games.
• Almost all walks of life use the platform. This means that even your quirkiest interest might find an audience on Facebook live. The audience diversity is great for non-gamers. 
• If you want to be a full-time content creator, using Facebook live is your best bet since you already have the pages & groups function readily available. 
• Similar to Twitch, your stream has several built-in engagement tools to build engagement with your audience. 
• You can quickly grow your Facebook page & live traffic by using Facebook’s advertising platform. This helps you show your stream in front of more potential viewers. 

Cons: 

• Since it’s not a video-first platform, you’ll have minimal analytics and metrics on your content. 

YouTube Live

YouTube is the world’s largest video company. In terms of users, they’re behind Facebook, with more than 2.5 billion users globally. They’re known to serve all kinds of video content to their audience – from long-form videos to shorts and live streams. Typically, YouTube content creators use the Live function to cater to their existing audience. 

Pros: 

• Since YouTube has the second largest user base behind Facebook, it also offers you access to billions of potential viewers.
• Since YouTube is a massive platform, you’ll also have many opportunities to monetize your stream. Another plus is that you can turn your stream into a VOD, which opens up another revenue stream. This is one of the reasons why YouTube is one of the best platforms to stream games
• If you’re building a website or an online brand, YouTube helps you become discoverable on search. That’s because, unlike on Facebook, your content on YouTube is archived and indexed. Its search engine discoverability is also a reason why it’s one best platforms to stream games.
• One advantage of YouTube streaming is the feature to sell your own merch by pinning it under your stream. 

Cons:

• You’ll need more than 1,000 channel subscribers to do YouTube live on your mobile device. 

• Limited community-building functionalities since people can’t interact with you after the stream. 

The Best for You

Choosing from best platforms to stream games is still something you need to decide on your own. Each platform has its pros & cons – which you’ll need to evaluate based on your goals. 

To summarize, all three platforms have massive audiences and can help you reach your target viewers. The primary difference maker is the type of audience watching on these platforms. Plus, the amount of engagement and monetization potential you’ll have. 

For us, the best strategy streamers can do when choosing platforms is picking a combination of channels and utilizing each to its full potential. For instance, if you’re streaming Valorant, you’d want to do your live streams on Twitch & Facebook Live. Then, you can upload your highlights on YouTube and Facebook/Instagram as a VOD. This strategy allows you to tap various audiences across different channels. Making it easier to scale your following. 

Remember when Yoda said, “Once you start down the streaming path, forever, it will dominate your destiny, consume you it will.” to Luke? Yeah, neither do we. But we’re pretty sure that, much like joining the dark side, becoming a streamer will change your life too – fingers crossed that it’s for the better! 

So good luck in your quest, young Padawan. Think of us as your Yoda – but instead of being old and green, we’re young and yellow.

The changing world of brand influencers

In the past: brands used professionals as their brand influencers. People like scientists, doctors, and engineers appeared in ads to give credibility to a brand.  

But sometime in the past, those strategies stopped working because people saw too much of them and stopped trusting these paid professionals. 

But aside from that, consumer decision-making started to shift. From being functional buyers who buy for the features and quality of products. To lifestyle and aspirational buyers who purchase to ascribe to a particular lifestyle portrayed by celebrities. 

That shift paved the way for a new breed of brand influencers – celebrities.

After years of celebrities dominating every marketing channel, consumers started to lose their trust in these stars, especially since many people gained access to how much brands pay celebrity endorsers.

This gap created a need for newer brand influencers. 

Due to the increasing popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, plus the emergence of streaming sites like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook Live, many people started creating their own content, replacing traditional celebrities.

Nowadays, there are millions of internet celebrities all over the world – from social media lifestyle influencers to gurus, and entertainers. All have followers ranging from a couple of thousand to tens of millions. 

This massive reach and engagement encouraged brands to move their budget to micro-influencers. A 2019 study by Rakuten Marketing shows that brands spend 40% of their influencer budget on micro-influencers versus 28% on celebrity influencers.

The uprising of micro-influencers

Most micro-influencers create niche content based on their passions and interests. That’s why they can effectively reach people with the same interest. For instance, video game streamers like iamBrandon reach gamers who love to watch gaming content instead of TV. 

And because micro-influencers have a relatively smaller following (less than 50,000), they can engage more with their tribe. They are ultimately building a stronger relationship with their fans. 

As a brand, you’ll have your pick of influencers for your business. You can choose professionals like doctors, scientists, etc. You can also use traditional celebrities like movie stars and athletes. Or you can work with rising stars like fashion creators, lifestyle curators, internet athletes, or video game streamers.

Video game streamers as your brand’s influencers

Video games, gaming content, and live streaming have grown exponentially. Currently, there are 3.6 billion gamers worldwide (that’s close to half of the entire population!) There are also more than 7 million active live streamers across different streaming platforms like Twitch and Facebook Gaming. And in 2021 alone, 8.8 billion hours of video game live stream were watched worldwide.

This is why brands like PepsiCo, KFC, and Lexus have partnered with Twitch streamers to promote their brand to gamers! 

How video game streamers can help your brand influence consumers

Video game streamers introduce your brand to more people

One of your most important marketing objectives will constantly be introducing your brand to more people and increasing your potential customers because it helps your business stay on track for consistent growth. Working with gaming brand influencers is one of the best ways to show your brand to more people. 

Since there has been some drastic change in how and where people consume media, video game streamers can help you reach audience segments who abandoned television and other traditional media channels. 

As of 2021, there are 1.2 billion video game content viewers worldwide. And as we mentioned above, the watch time reached an all-time high of 8.8 billion hours.

These numbers show that gaming channels are viable for communicating your marketing message to potential customers. 

Don’t believe us? 

Big brands like Uniqlo, Nike, and Adidas have partnered with gaming companies to create merchandise catering to the gaming audience. Moreover, brands like Pringles and KFC have gone above and beyond sponsorships by developing tailored gaming programs to reach gamers. 

On a minor note, many big and small companies are also reaching out to gaming streamers and content creators as brand influencers to feature their products on their videos and social feeds. 

Brand influencers build trust with potential customers

People buy from brands they trust. Without trust, your product/service will be one of a thousand choices that consumers will never choose, and you’ll play a losing game. 

One time-tested way brands build trust is by affiliating themselves with credible spokespeople. As we mentioned, brands used to get professionals as brand influencers, then celebrities, and now they’re turning into internet influencers like video game streamers. 

So why should you work with micro-influencers like video game streamers instead of celebrities? 

In a study by Social Bakers, micro-influencers get 60% more engagement on their posts than celebrities and macro-influencers. This stat means more potential customers can see your brand by working with them. 

But why? 

Micro-influencers are usually regular people who share their passions with the world. Because of this, they’re more relatable to the common folk. 

And since they have smaller audiences, they also tend to have a more engaged audience than celebrities because they can personally interact with their fans. 

These factors build a stronger connection and trust between them and their fans, making them ideal spokespeople for your brand. 

Video game streamers help you appeal to a younger audience 

One of the ways to ensure a business’ profitability in the long term is by making themselves relevant to younger audiences because young people are poised to be their customers in the future. 

Studies show that brand loyalty built at an early age tends to carry over to adulthood. Hence, if you can create a good relationship with a younger audience, you’re more likely to keep them loyal to your brand for a long time.  

So how do video game streamers help you build this relationship? 

Most video game streamers’ audiences are younger people between the ages of 16 to 34. This means many of these people already have the purchasing power to buy from your brand. 

And if they don’t, they have considerable influence on their parents’ buying decisions for them. So even if you’re not influencing the primary decision-maker and buyer, you’re still influencing their influencers. 

Finally, even if these customers cannot buy your products at the moment, they are on their way to having the financial capacity to buy since they’re working their way up the ladder. 

This trend is why luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Valentino are penetrating the gaming scene with in-game and physical merchandise. 

In fact, when Louis Vuitton designed the trophy case for League of Legends’ 2019 Summoner’s Cup, they were able to put their brand in front of almost 100 million unique viewers. This trophy was eventually bagged by FPX – a Chinese League of Legends team. 

And as we all know, China is one of the biggest luxury goods markets in the world. 

Brand influencers drive your marketing message

Most video game streamers have a natural approach to creating their content. This style makes them more relatable to their audience. And since they don’t have many followers like celebrities, they can personally engage with their fans. 

This situation gives them better engagement rates and trust scores than celebrities. 

But what does this mean for your brand? 

Since their audiences are more likely to hear them out completely (even their spiels on the brands they promote), you’re more likely to communicate your marketing message to potential customers. 

By expressing your message clearly, potential customers will be able to understand what your brand brings to the table – making them more likely to consider buying from you. 

Video game streamers bring in more sales

Combining all the factors we mentioned above, working with video game streamers can bring in more sales for your brand because they will introduce your brand to a broader audience, help you build trust for your brand, and help you relay your marketing message clearly. 

But aside from driving traffic and sales for your brand, working with gaming influencers can be more cost-effective than working with macro-influencers since they’re more affordable and flexible with their rates.

Taking it to the next level

Working with gamers and streamers as your brand influencers can be your catalyst for growth. These personalities can help introduce your brand to a broader market, build trust and credibility, and generate conversions for your brand at a lower cost — making them valuable assets for your brand. 

If you want to learn more about how to work with micro-influencers, you can download our ebook: The Power of Gaming Influencers: How They Can Help Grow Your Brand.

You can also check out our influencer marketing-related articles below: 

• Level-up Your Marketing with User-Generated Content: 5 Exciting Benefits for Your Business
• Influencer Marketing: The Power-up Your Business Needs to Reach the Next Level
• Who Are Your Brand Influencers? 9 Must-have Influencers for Business Growth
• Find Influencers for Your Brand: 7 Secrets to Find the Best Brand Influencer

As a business leader, we know you’re on a quest to find the best marketing strategies to grow your brand. You’re looking for ways to increase your revenue and reduce your expenses so that you can increase your profits. And if you’ve been a reader of our articles, you’ll know that we’ve been talking a lot about Influencer Marketing lately. About its advantages and benefits for businesses. Plus, the types of influencers you can work with based on your company’s goals. 

In this article, we’ll take you deeper down the world of influencers. We’ll help you navigate the digital space, so you can find influencers for your brand.

The magical world where to find influencers for your brand 

Welcome to the world of influencer marketing! As a business leader, you know that building a robust online presence is vital for growing your business. But with so many channels and platforms to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know where to find influencers for your brand.

One strategy gaining popularity in recent years is working with influencers. Influencers are people who have built up a large following on social media. They are admired and respected by their fans, and business leaders think they’re crucial in influencing consumers during their buying journey. 

But in this endless world of the internet with all kinds of personalities – from white knights to trolls and everyone in between, where do you find influencers for your brand? More importantly, where can you discover magical influencers to help you grow your business? 

The short answer is: EVERYWHERE. 

These magical creatures as scattered around the internet – across different platforms and mediums. From Instagram to TikTok, YouTube to blogs and forums, there are influencers on almost every platform. A recent study found that 61% of influencers are on Instagram, making it the most popular platform for influencer marketing.

But don’t limit yourself to just one platform. Influencers come in all shapes and sizes, and the key is to find the right fit for your brand. 

So come on, let’s go on an adventure to find influencers for your brand!

The magical quest to find influencers for your brand

Before you go on a quest scouring the internet to find influencers for your brand, you first need to know what kind of magical creature you’re on the hunt for. It’s hard to go on a quest without a clear outcome in mind because then, you’ll be running in circles. 

Here are some steps you need to take to decide what kind of influencer you need for your business. 

Identify your brand’s value, persona, image, and message 

You first need to know what kind of ideas, feelings, and thoughts you want people to have when they come across your brand. That’s why you need to identify what kind of brand you are. 

Who are you? Are you a fun and outgoing brand for the masses? Or are you a serious and conservative luxury brand for the elite? 

Knowing these things is the first step to find influencers for your brand because this would help you figure out which influencer/s to partner with (and avoid). Remember: you wouldn’t want someone who has ZERO resemblance to your brand representing you.

Establish your goals 

Once you know what your brand stands for, you need to establish what goals you want to achieve for your influencer marketing campaign. Do you want to introduce your brand to new markets? Are you looking to penetrate your existing market deeper? Do you want to change how people see you? Or do you want more people to be curious about your brand? 

A clear goal will be beneficial in your quest to find influencers for your brand because your goal dictates what type of influencer you need. And what kind of content they need to produce for your brand.

Get to know your audience

Once you know who you are, you must learn about your target customers. Beyond their demographics, you need to know their interests – hobbies, entertainment, aspirations, etc. 

Knowing what they like (and don’t like) helps you find common ground between your brand and your customers. For instance, if your customers are teenagers and you’re trying to sell them the latest smartphone, you’ll need to know how your brand fits their life. 

Do they need a phone that can record them doing a sick ollie in the skate park or a phone where they can play all the latest mobile games? 

If you know what your customers want and what you have in common, the following steps to find influencers for your brand will be a walk in the park.  

The influencer jungle

Now that you have all the work cut out for you let’s go to the easy part: find influencers for your brand

Check your competitor

The first thing you want to look at is your competitors. Shocker, right? 

But really, it’s important you evaluate your competitors and see whom they are using as their brand’s influencers because it can point you in the right direction. You see, influencers who are already influencing for your competitors will most likely be out for the running as your influencer. 

The good news is that from your competitors’ influencers, you can quickly identify which niches and influencer groups you can tap. For instance, your competitor is using the #1 gamer in the country to endorse their brand. Then, you can use the number one team or the 2nd to 5th ranked players in your country.

A competitor review is one of the easiest ways to find influencers for your brand. 

Observe your consumers

The next place to visit in your quest to find influencers for your brand are the taverns (social media platforms) your consumers go to. Check out whom they watch on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. Observe who are the trendsetters and respected figureheads in the different sub-cultures they belong in. 

Scouting these channels would give you an insight into possible partners and influencers for your brand since you know whom your consumers trust. 

You can stalk your customers by using third-party research and insights databases. 

Mingle with the influencers

There are many places where you can mingle with these influencers –virtually and physically. 

But one of the best ways to find influencers for your brand (and connect with them) is to join various groups and events these people participate in. Here, you can directly ask them about their audience and explore the possibilities of a partnership. 

Just make sure you’re 100% transparent with them on the expectations and deliverables. Plus, vet them well and ensure they’re aligned with what your brands stand for. 

Work with a partner

The easiest way to find influencers for your brand is to work with agencies and other experts. These groups can make the process easy and smooth since they’ll handle everything you need – from searching to vetting to negotiating. 

On top of that, working with influencer specialists would give you more peace of mind since you have people who are experts in running influencer campaigns. This allows you to not stress over the little things and focus on what you do best – running your business. 

At GGWP – we can connect you with different gaming influencers so that you can reach a wider (and younger) group of people. 

Capturing your very own magical influencer/s

Once you have a list of potential influencers – whether from your quest or an expert’s work- you now need to evaluate your candidates and pick the right ones. 

When choosing, always remember the following: 

• Do they fit with the image you want to build for your brand? 
• Are they respected and influential in their community? 
• Do they have enough reach and engagement to make a difference? 
• Can they create authentic and engaging content for your brand? 
• Do I want my brand to be associated with this person? 
• Which stage of the customer journey do they have the most impact on? 

From there, you can now choose your influencer/s and work with them in creating engaging content for your brand.

Getting to Know Your Brand Influencers

Businesses that want to succeed in the modern marketplace need to upgrade their teams and arsenal to survive and thrive. The market is rapidly changing, and old tricks and strategies won’t do the job anymore. 

Just look at the cemetery of obsolete brands – forgotten by the new generation. 

Today, for brands to succeed in conquering the world, they need to upgrade their toolkits and add more characters into the mix. Some of the essential characters brands need to add to their team are brand influencers through influencer marketing. 

Brand influencers are people who have a lot of followers and connections in the digital space. They are well respected and loved by their fans. That’s why they have a lot of influence on people’s purchasing decisions. 

Businesses love working with these characters because they can encourage their followers to buy a product with a single post. 

Now imagine what having several of these characters can do for you in your quest for your brand’s glory!  

Different brand influencers for different missions

Different kinds of brand influencers can help you in your mission to grow your business. Each type can help you with a specific objective that’ll bring you closer to winning. 

Since all of them have pros and cons, you must be careful in choosing your brand’s influencers to get the most returns from each of them. 

In this article, we’ll divide brand influencers into two major categories. And list down the different types of influencers for each category. This format would help you choose the right mix of influencers for your marketing campaigns. 

Brand Influencers by Audience Size

The most common way people categorize brand influencers is by filtering them out based on their audience size. 

Nano-influencers

The smallest audience size in the bunch. Nano-influencers are those with a thousand to ten thousand followers. 

Since these influencers have the smallest reach, they also charge the lowest fees, making them perfect for smaller businesses with limited budgets and lower marketing targets. 

The upside for these influencers is that since they have a smaller audience, they also have the most engaged audience since they have more bandwidth to engage on a personal level. 

Micro-influencers

Having a decent audience size, micro-influencers have anywhere between 10 to 50 thousand followers. 

Like Nano-influencers, these Micro-influencers are relatively cheaper than other influencers and still have a high engagement rate with their audience. These influencers are perfect for growing businesses that need to reach a wider audience without spending a lot. 

The most significant advantage of working with micro-influencers is that they have a decent following – which is suitable for raising brand awareness. And because they already have a decent audience size, they are more credible and can create social proof. 

Mid-tier influencers

 Being more popular than the Micro & Nano-influencers, mid-tier influencers have anywhere between 50 to 500 thousand followers.

Most brand influencers that fall into the mid-tier category can be considered local celebrities and niche content creators. These people have built a following by showing they can create relevant and relatable content. 

This means that mid-tier influencers are reaching more people and are more trusted by consumers. However, at this point in their social media journey, their engagement rates are lower than those of the Micro and Nano-influencers. Something they make up with the volume of reach.  

Macro-influencers

Now we’re entering the big leagues. Macro-influencers have anywhere between 500 thousand to a million followers. 

These Macro-influencers have serious reach, reputation, and credibility in their respective spaces. Most are already atop their respective niches and considered well-respected characters. 

They can help your business amplify your reach and introduce your brand to more potential customers. However, it already comes with a higher price tag and less room for negotiation. 

Mega-influencers

And the biggest of them all. Mega-influencers are those with more than a million followers. 

These mega-influencers are atop the food chain already. They’re immensely popular and have a global following. Since most of them are celebrities, athletes, and entertainers, they become icons of aspiration for consumers. 

The global reach of these mega-influencers comes at a hefty price tag. This is why these brand influencers are only reserved for those who can afford multiple 6-figure deals with these influencers. 

Brand Influencers by personality

Aside from categorizing influencers by audience size, we can also put them into personality buckets. This segmentation helps you decide which buying stage an influencer can deliver the most value. 

Celebrities

From the word itself, celebrities are known by millions of people worldwide. They have the most extensive reach among all the influencers since they are known across different platforms. Think Kardashians, movie stars, and internet celebrities. 

As mentioned above, celebrities are aspirational icons. It means that the people who follow and listen to them usually aspire to the lifestyle they have. 

Celebrities are perfect for marketing campaigns around brand awareness since they have a massive reach. But they’re also perfect for campaigns with an aspirational message—like Nike with their professional athletes. 

Subject-matter Experts

These brand influencers may or may not have the reach of celebrities, but they have more respect and credibility. Unlike celebrities who are influential because of their fame and reach, subject-matter experts are known for their skills and knowledge. Gordon Ramsay, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Jordan Peterson can be good examples of influencers who are well respected in their field because of their ability.  

If celebrity influencers were aspirational icons suited for lifestyle, subject-matter experts are influencers who influence with their technical know-how. These influencers are perfect for solidifying your products’ technical advantages and features. 

For instance, computer companies use pro gamers, artists, and game developers as their subject-matter experts to solidify their products’ technical capabilities and specs. 

Niche

Here, you can categorize gamers and streamers, make-up tutorial vloggers, and fashion influencers. Niche influencers are closer to subject-matter experts than celebrities. These brand influencers create a lot of content around a particular niche. They have a lot of knowledge and experience related to their niche, but they are not as credible and respected as subject-matter experts. 

What sets niche influencers apart from subject-matter experts is the degree of technical knowledge they have about a particular topic. While subject-matter experts are credible for their highly specialized expertise and requirements, niche influencers have extensive knowledge closer to consumers’ needs.  

This means niche influencers are excellent for solidifying your brand’s user experience to your customers since niche influencers are a close representation of your consumers. 

Internal Influencers

Based on their persona, the last kind of brand influencer is the internal influencer. These are the people who work inside your company as employees and experts. They may or may not have many followers, but they still carry some weight of influence because of their upfront experiences with your brand. 

Internal influencers are usually used on a company’s pages. They’re the best tool to humanize the brand and give people access to what’s happening behind the doors. 

Using internal influencers can help your brand solidify its marketing message by showing how your company adheres to it and strives to deliver value to your consumers. 

Moreover, internal influencers can help you acquire talent by showcasing your company’s culture. 

Picking the right brand influencer for your quests

Since there are many brand influencers to choose from, it’s crucial for you to have at least a framework on how to choose the right influencers for your brand. So, here are three quick tips you can apply when planning for your influencer marketing campaign. 

Know your mission

Marketing campaigns usually have a specific objective. It can aim to increase awareness, build brand credibility, create consideration, or encourage conversions. Knowing your campaign’s primary purpose will help you decide what kind of brand influencer you need to work with. 

For example, you are a global brand that wants to introduce your products to more potential customers. Then, you’ll need to find an influencer with a broad reach, especially on demographics you’re not covering. 

Know your targets

Aside from knowing your goals for the campaign, you also need to know whom you’re targeting and what they are interested in. Knowing their interests will make it easier for you to know whom they watch, like, and trust—ultimately leading you to who can influence them the best. 

For instance, you’re an old brand that has undergone a major rebranding. Now, you want to introduce your brand to the younger market. The best approach would be to segment your audiences by interest, then look for the top influencers in those niches. 

Know who you are

Once you know your goal and target audience, you must establish who you are and how you want people to see your brand. This is important in shortlisting potential influencers because knowing how you want to be seen will eliminate influencers who aren’t aligned with your values. 

You wouldn’t want someone loud and lewd representing your conservative brand, do you? 

Conquering your quest

If you’re motivated to succeed in your quest to make your brand the best, you must take influencer marketing seriously. You need to be discerning and strategic about the influencers you partner with. Choosing the right influencers for your brand is much more critical than getting influencers with the most reach and engagement. It’s about how they fit your goals and your brand’s image. And how influential they are with your target customers. 

Ultimately, you won’t want to bring the wrong gear to a battle, would you?  

Death of the old guard

Years ago, creative advertisements were the number one marketing strategy brands used to grow their business. Eye-catching images with a striking headline and copy were the name of the game if you wanted to sell. 

Businesses would spend millions (if not billions) every year to create different kinds of creative, funny, quirky, and unique advertisements on various platforms – TV, Radio, Print, and even digital in its early stages. 

But now, traditional advertising strategies are become obsolete by the day. Consumers stopped paying attention and trusting branded ads and content. 

Having virtually unlimited access to information, consumers are now wiser and more discerning with their purchase decisions. Gone are the days when brands could sway consumers to buy with flashy TV advertisements and discounts. 

In a study by Nielsen last 2019, over 90% of consumers trust earned media and influencers over traditional advertising. 

With this massive shift in consumer behavior, influencer marketing strategies have been booming – creating a new powerful channel for brands to engage and influence their audience. 

A new player has joined the game

The evolution of technology and the internet created what we now know as Web 2.0 – a movement known for democratizing content creation. 

Since almost anyone with an internet connection can upload their content on the internet for millions of people to see, many people ventured into becoming content creators on different platforms and mediums. These people documented themselves and the things they enjoyed – from cooking to fashion, gardening, and even gaming. 

The creator economy gave birth to a legion of internet stars on different platforms. You have traditional bloggers, vloggers, social media celebrities, and many more, gaining millions of fans by the minute. 

This paradigm shift changed the way people consumed media. People spend less time watching TV, reading newspapers and magazines, and listening to the radio. Instead, they are online –reading blogs, watching videos, and streaming music. 

Internet content creators started ruling the world. People began to trust them more than any other source – brands, news outlets, etc. These internet celebrities were now some of the world’s most trusted people, and brands needed to do something to capitalize on this wave. 

New hope for brands to grow

In this new media economy, brands started using the clout of internet celebrities as leverage to encourage people to buy. Attaching their brands to the growing popularity, strong engagement, and credibility of these influencers proved beneficial as they saw better returns on these campaigns. 

This new marketing strategy is what we now know as Influencer Marketing.

According to a study by Statista, influencer marketing is expected to be a $22 billion industry by 2025. This is because influencer marketing is an effective way for businesses to reach their target audience and drive sales. 

An example of a successful influencer marketing campaign is when Funko, a company that produces pop culture collectibles, partnered with popular Twitch streamer Ninja to promote their Fortnite-themed Funko Pop figures. Ninja, who has a large following of Fortnite players and fans, shared unboxing videos and photos of the figures on his social media accounts. He also featured them in several of his streams. Aside from using Ninja, they also partnered with different gaming influencers on YouTube and Twitch. 

This campaign generated a significant buzz and sales for Funko and helped increase brand awareness and credibility among Ninja’s followers.

In a nutshell, Influencer Marketing is when you make your brand more popular and trustworthy by using influential and trustworthy ambassadors as spokespeople. 

Level up your business with Influencer marketing 

Influencer marketing can help your business in more ways than just increasing reach. Including influencer marketing in your strategies is the upgrade you need to compete with your competitors and win over more customers. Below, we’ll show you the different impacts of influencer marketing on your business. 

Influencer marketing increases your brand visibility

Influencers have thousands of followers across different platforms. Some even have millions and more. This number of eyeballs is perfect if you want to introduce your brand to more people. Another great thing about using influencers to increase your brand’s visibility is the lower financial investment you make since influencers don’t charge as much as network companies to show your brand to their viewers. 

Moreover, besides having tons of followers on different platforms, influencers are also usually known as figureheads in a specific niche. For instance, there are influencers known as beauty and fashion icons, while others are in the performance and athletics space. Since they serve a particular niche, it’s easier for your brand to target people interested in your products. 

Having an effective way to target people based on their interests can significantly reduce your marketing expenses and improve your results – ultimately enhancing your brand’s ROI. 

An example of a brand that utilized influencers to increase its visibility is the energy drink company G Fuel, which invested a sizeable sum in various gamers like PewdiePie, moistcr1tikal, and one_shot_gurl to promote different flavors. Not only did this influencer campaign reach millions of gamers, but this also steadily increased the online searches for G Fuel’s products – which meant people showed intention to purchase the product. 

Make your marketing message stick through influencer marketing

Most influencers have an engaged audience. This is because they create relatable and relevant content people want to watch. Plus, they can directly engage with their fans through social media and live-streaming platforms. 

Since influencers have an engaged audience, their audience tends to pay better attention to them when they are telling a story. That’s the kind of respect they get from engaging and building rapport with their community. 

This engagement helps brands communicate their marketing messages more effectively since consumers are less likely to tune out or skip the marketing message because it’s coming from a respected and liked source. Ultimately, this helps your brand communicate your value proposition to potential customers. It is making them understand what you can do for them—and increasing the chances of conversion. 

An example of this is a campaign by Ubisoft. The brand wanted to promote its new game, “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” and increase its pre-order numbers. To achieve this, they partnered with several well-known YouTubers and Twitch streamers who create gaming content.

The influencers were provided with early access to the game. They were asked to create sponsored content showcasing the new features and gameplay, such as the game’s brand-new storyline in ancient Viking times, the new combat mechanics, and the game’s open world. 

These influencers shared personal opinions and thoughts on the game in a relatable and convincing way. This type of content helped to generate excitement and anticipation among their followers who were interested in finding the next game to play.

In addition to the sponsored content, Ubisoft also used influencers to create a series of challenges and competitions that incentivized their followers to pre-order the game. These challenges were designed to present the game’s different aspects and mechanics, like stealth, combat, and exploration. 

Ultimately, this campaign highlighted the new features of the Assassin’s Creed game, which drove pre-orders for the game. 

Bringing in more conversions and sales

Influencer marketing can be an effective tool for brands to increase their sales and conversion rates. Partnering with influencers who have a large fanbase, brands can reach a highly targeted audience and influence them to take specific actions, such as buying a product.

One of the key benefits of influencer marketing is that it can drive purchase intent. Since influencers are trusted by their audience, their opinions and recommendations often carry weight when making a purchase decision. 

By working with influencers in creating high-quality user-generate content, you can leverage this trust to increase purchase intent among your target audience. This can be achieved through calls to action, discounts, or other incentives encouraging people to buy.

Influencer marketing can be what your business needs to increase its profitability and growth. Studies show that influencer campaigns can generate up to $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencers. Moreover, another study shows that influencer marketing campaigns can generate up to 11x more ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing. 

With these numbers in mind, it’s no wonder why many businesses are choosing to allocate more of their budget to these activities. 

The Challenge of Creating Content that Converts

One of the biggest struggles of businesses is creating marketing content that works. That’s why they rack their brains, looking for clever stories, creative executions, and fun ways to promote their brand. And more often than not, these cost them a lot of money since they need to work with agencies, talents, production houses, and more. 

Despite the hefty investment in creating these marketing campaigns, there’s still no guarantee that they will work for the brand. Hence, there’s still a considerable risk of failure and money down the toilet. 

This enormous challenge for businesses launched a quest to find better ways to create content that converts. Content that capture attention, drives traffic, influences purchase behavior, and generates sales. 

The Age of User-Generated Content

Over the years, customer recommendations have been one of the most powerful marketing tools in every business’s arsenal. Studies show that more than 88% of consumers consider customer reviews when purchasing products. That’s because customer feedback creates trust and builds credibility since these come from people who have already experienced a brand. 

In traditional advertising, customer feedback mostly comes in the form of word-of-mouth. People telling their friends and families about their experiences with a particular brand and recommend it (or tell people to avoid it) based on their experience. 

But in the era of the internet, word-of-mouth evolved into the word-of-mouse. Instead of just telling their friends and family about the products they use, consumers now join different channels to express their satisfaction (or discontent). And with that, word-of-mouth marketing became User-Generated Content (UGC). 

Simply put, UGC is content your customers create on the internet. It could be a review on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, or your product checkout page. It can also be photos or videos they upload on their social media profiles. And if they’re a content creator, it can be something they post on their blog, YouTube channel, and other accounts. 

How Effective is User-Generated Content?

Several studies show that user-generated content is an effective marketing strategy for businesses. Consumers trust customer feedback and UGCs 50% more than branded content. Moreover, these types of content can increase a brand’s conversion rate by up to 4.5x compared to traditional marketing tactics. 

Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, is one of the brands that leveraged user content to growth hack their brand and accelerate their user base. 

The game’s developers included a “replay” feature that allowed players to record their highlights and share them with friends. This increased the number of videos uploaded on various channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch, ultimately increasing the game’s visibility. 

Moreover, to reward players who come up with jaw-dropping highlights, Epic Games also created a YouTube channel where they showcase content created by the players. 

Powering-up Your Business through User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool to connect with your audience and drive growth. It provides people with a unique and authentic perspective on your brand. Plus, it builds trust and credibility with your audience while providing valuable insights into customer preferences and needs. 

In this section, we will explore how UGC can power up your gaming business and help you to stay ahead of the competition. 

Improves your brand’s visibility

Customers posting UGCs about your brand increases your reach organically since they’re showing your brand to the people around them. By posting your brand, they’re encouraging their circle to explore your brand and check if you’re a good fit for them too.   

Moreover, since people mention your brand (and your website) in their posts, your SEO score and search rankings significantly improve. This happens because search engines track your brand’s backlinks and digital mentions and use them to measure your brand’s popularity and relevance. 

By improving your brand’s visibility through UGCs, you can increase the number of potential customers. 

Builds trust and credibility 

User-generated content (UGC) can improve a brand’s credibility and trustworthiness. According to studies, consumers trust UGCs 50% more than branded content. That’s because UGCs, such as customer reviews, social media posts, and videos, provide an authentic and unbiased perspective on a brand. 

When potential customers see that other people have had positive experiences with your brand, it makes them feel confident that they’ll have the same experiences too.

Nintendo is an example of a gaming brand that effectively uses UGC to improve its credibility. They regularly feature user-generated content on their social media channels, such as fan art, cosplay, and gameplay videos. 

This showcases the creativity and passion of their fanbase and provides a relatable perspective on the brand and its products. This helps increase trust and credibility among potential customers and solidify brand loyalty among existing customers. It also encourages users to create and share content on social media, which helps Nintendo expand its reach and increase brand awareness.

Increases your sales

Building on the two previous ideas, we can see that user-generated content can ultimately increase your brand’s sales since it helps you reach more potential customers and builds your brand’s credibility in the eyes of these people. In a research conducted by Power Reviews, it was discovered that shoppers who view products with reviews are 52.2% more likely to convert.

One example of a brand that effectively uses UGC to increase sales is Steam. The brand has a user review system on their platform. Here, customers can leave reviews and ratings on the games they purchase. 

This UGC is then used to generate a “review score,” displayed on the game’s page in the store. This review score is a powerful tool for consumers, as it helps them decide whether to buy the game. 

Informs you about consumer preferences 

User-generated content is not just a marketing play for your business. Aside from helping you reach more customers, build credibility, and increase conversions, UGCs give insight into your customer’s behavior. 

What they say about your product tells you what potential customers would love (and hate) about it. It can also show surprising uses for your products that you might have yet to consider. 

These insights can help you improve your product and make it more relevant to your customers. Ultimately, this enables you to build better relationships with your customers. 

Reduces your marketing costs 

Traditional advertising strategies can be costly and may only sometimes yield the desired results. On the other hand, UGC is a cost-effective solution, as customers and fans create it instead of you. This means businesses can leverage the content without investing a significant amount of money. Additionally, UGC can also help save time and resources since you can repurpose and share it across different platforms. 

An example of a brand that effectively uses UGC to decrease its costs is Minecraft. 

Minecraft has a dedicated community of players who create and share their own mods, skins, and maps. These are additional content can be downloaded by players to enhance their gameplay experience. 

This UGC not only helps to increase engagement and retention for the game but also helps to decrease costs for the company since Minecraft doesn’t have to invest in creating additional content for the game. 

Additionally, since the creators are proud of their work, they share it and promote the game on various social media platforms. This increases brand awareness and drives sales with no costs to the company.

How to get started with User Generated Content? 

If you don’t have a user-generated content strategy yet, you can start by building a library of content posted by your existing customers. From there, you can start sharing those across different platforms. Scrub various platforms and see what people are saying about your brand. 

You can also launch campaigns to encourage your existing customers to post their reviews, testimonials, and unboxing videos on their social media pages. This can help you grow your library further. 

Once you think you’ve maxed out your UGC potential from your existing customers, you should expand your library to include influencers. Influencer UGCs have a broader reach potential for your brand, plus the right ones can deliver better credibility than ordinary customers. 

Should you have a Hive Social or a Mastodon account for your stream?

Social media platforms like Hive Social & Mastodon are important tools for streamers to increase their viewers and followers. They can use it to promote their channel and engage with their followers. And they can also use these channels to increase their revenue. 

Outside Facebook, Twitter is one of the more popular websites for streamers because it allows them to easily engage and interact with their fans outside the stream. It’s also one of those platforms where you can properly curate your account based on your interests – goodbye, grandma, and other relatives who share nothing but clickbait! 

Moreover, Twitter has a “live” function where you can simultaneously stream with other platforms. This helps you reach a ton more potential viewers who aren’t on Twitch or anywhere else. 

Anyway, given the recent hullabaloo surrounding Twitter, a lot of users are jumping ships and looking for an alternative. And in recent weeks, a Hive Social – a platform founded by a college student took waves. As of writing, they now have more than 1.5 million active users – having 400,000++ signups coming from the last week or so. 

So, what’s all the fuss about this new platform, and should you jump on the trend? 

What is Hive Social? 

Hive Social is a 3-year-old social media platform created by a college student – Kassandra Pop. During her interviews, Kassandra said that she created the platform because she was getting tired of Instagram and Twitter’s algorithm and ad-heavy experience. She wanted to create a platform that’s more enjoyable to the end-user – a place where they can interact and engage with their friends, share their interests and hobbies, and showcase their personality. 

What came out from her was a mashup of Instagram, Twitter, and MySpace. 

Similar to most social media sites, users need to register for Hive Social with their personal information. Then, they can customize their profiles by adding their preferred pronouns and zodiac signs. Aside from that, users can also customize their profile’s color schemes to fit their personalities. 

A throwback feature of Hive Social is being able to put music on your profile – similar to MySpace and Friendster. 

Now in terms of scrolling through your feed and content, the experience is closer to Instagram, than Twitter. The platform has a lot of pictures, videos, and GIFs which are arranged chronologically. This feature can be used to share your stream’s highlights and whatnot. Unfortunately, there’s no live stream feature at the moment. 

One of the things the platform boasts is its chronological feed. This means you get to see posts from your friends based on when they posted them – much like the old days of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This means you’re more likely to see all the posts of your friends since there’s no algorithm gatekeeping you. It’s also good for you as a streamer since your fans will be able to see your content in real-time. 

Aside from having a feed for your besties, Hive Social also provides you with a Discover feature where you can check out trending content based on your interests. As a streamer, this is a great feature that can help you reach potential viewers.  

Unfortunately, Hive Social is currently running exclusively on a mobile app on iOS, which makes it very limiting since android and desktop users don’t have access to the platform yet. 

What is Mastodon? 

Another social media alternative that gained a lot of traction from the ruckus surrounding Twitter is Mastodon. However, unlike Hive Social, Mastodon is a relatively older social media platform. It was created and released in 2016 by Eugen Rochko.

In some ways, Mastodon is like Twitter because it’s a text-heavy and sort of chat-based platform. However, in our opinion, it’s closer to social media apps like Reddit and Discord because of how it runs. 

Basically, Mastodon is free and open-source software that allows its users to microblog. However, its main difference with Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is that instead of having a feed, you get different communities called “Instances”.

Instances are independent “social platforms” where people of similar interests can interact. Each Instance has its code of conduct, terms of service, privacy policy, moderators, etc. In a nutshell, Instances are like Subreddits or Rooms – where people can interact with each other. The key difference is that you’ll have a distinct account for each Instance you’ll join. 

Hive Social vs. Mastodon 

Since a lot of users are leaving Twitter, content creators and streamers are looking for the next big platform, trying to be one of the pioneers. 

Being a pioneer on a social media platform means it’s easier for you to build an audience since you already have a leg up on your competitors. Plus, you can be one of the few people who might get preferential treatment. 

In our honest opinion, we think streamers would be better off trying Mastodon as their next social media platform since it’s been around for longer. Meaning, Mastodon is more stable and has stronger backend support to handle large traffic volumes. Plus, Mastodon has more active users as of writing – 7,000,000 users vs. Hive’s 1,500,000. 

But the biggest advantage of Mastodon is the Instances feature since it allows you to engage with people who have the same interests as you – same games, same platforms, etc. This means you can engage more potential viewers in these Instances versus having a generic feed. 

However, we think Hive Social is a wildcard too in terms of brand growth. Their features are quite appealing and can help content creators and streamers grow if they can perfect their user experience and backend stability. 

One of the promising features of Hive Social that we’re watching is their discover feed. As we’ve seen on Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter the discover feed is one of the best sources of new traffic for streamers. 

Should I start an account now? 

Creating an account on these platforms can bring benefits to your stream since you can reach new viewers with limited competition. However, focusing on growing on these platforms might be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you might find the right audience and drive a lot of high-quality traffic. But on the other, your potential viewers might still be stuck on older social media platforms. 

If you make an account on these platforms, treat them as secondary platforms, more like a wildcard investment. Continue focusing on growing your social media presence on more stable platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and Twitch – then repost your content on these pages. 

That way, you’re getting the best of both worlds. If you’re keen on growing your audience, check out this comprehensive article we wrote on: How to get more viewers on your stream: 11 actionable strategies to make your stream awesome

The question “how to be a successful streamer” has popped into the heads of everyone who plays video games at least once in their life.

See, the most successful streamers in the world have more in common than you think. There are a lot of ideas, techniques, and strategies they use to grow their stream and increase their revenue. In this article, we compiled all the best lessons you can learn from the world’s best streamers, so you can be a successful streamer too. 

Successful streamers put in a lot of preparation 

Successful streams don’t happen randomly. The best streamers know that they need to keep their streams fun, entertaining, and engaging. That’s why they spend countless hours studying previous streams, ideating new concepts, and preparing for the stream before they go on-cam. They also spend a lot of time practicing in front of a mirror, recording themselves, and asking for feedback. 

If you want to be a successful streamer, you need to be willing to put in the work. Going through the non-glamorous parts of your stream, so you can perfect your craft. You need to be a consummate professional. 

If you wanna be a successful streamer, you gotta work your ass off

Making it big in streaming doesn’t fall into your lap. PewDiePie, Ninja, and all the other top streamers didn’t sit all day on their couches waiting for success to happen. They made it happen. They worked hard. 

If you’ve been reading our articles, you’ll know by now that succeeding in streaming doesn’t just come from the stream itself. There are a lot of back-end tasks you need to work on. A lot of research, planning, and preparation (see above) go with it. But also a lot of non-streaming and gaming-related stuff you need to do, like marketing, community management, social media, etc. 

Becoming a successful streamer takes a lot of grinding before you reach the top. So be sure to bring all your energy into it. 

Running a profitable stream is like running a business 

A lot of streamers want to turn their stream into a project that’ll replace their 9-to-5 job. Something they do full-time and rakes in a lot of money. Almost everyone who streams dreams to be a successful streamer and earn a 7-figure income every year. 

For you to accomplish this goal, you need to treat yourself as a business, not just a passion project or something. You need to not only have a good product (your stream), but you also need a good management strategy in place. That means you need to know how the money is flowing, where it’s being invested, and how you’re growing your income.  

You need to innovate a lot to be a successful streamer

Watch all your favorite streamers, and you’ll see how different their first stream is from their current ones. Observe how different everything is – from their setup to their playstyle to their personality. 

That’s because they know it’s important to grow and innovate. What worked before might not work anymore because people love novelty and they get bored easily. This would also explain why there are a lot of one-hit-wonder streamers – gamers who get millions of views and then suddenly vanish into thin air. 

If you want to be a successful streamer, you need to always level up. Come up with new ideas on how to be more engaging, more entertaining, and more likable. That’ll help you keep your current audience and attract new ones consistently. 

Keep your ear to the ground 

The fastest way to come up with new ideas and innovations for your stream is by keeping an ear to the ground. Always be in the know about what your audience likes to watch. What trends are catching their attention? Then, come up with ideas on how to integrate this. 

By listening to trends and what your audience wants, it’ll be a hundred times easier to come up with effective ideas to grow your stream and be a successful streamer. 

Your set-up should be the least of your worries

One thing successful streamers know is that your setup is not the most important thing about your project. A lot of them started with their regular gaming PC, a webcam, and earphones with a mic – things you most likely have already. 

The truth is: you can get a million views with a basic setup. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true – you can have the best streaming rig and still, no one would watch your stream. 

The best of the best know that your content is 100x more important than your equipment because people don’t care about your rig (unless that’s your channel’s main topic). 

It’s never about your skills 

Here’s the truth every beginner needs to know: you don’t need to be in the top 1% of gamers to start a stream. You don’t need to be the best player to be a successful streamer – you’re not trying to be a world champion.

Streaming is more about being likable, entertaining, and engaging. Those three are different skills from gaming altogether. Watch some of the most viewed streams and you’ll see a lot of average to above-average players who aren’t that far from your skill level – a real testament that you too can succeed in streaming without needing to be a great player. 

Relationship building is key to be a successful streamer

One of the skills every streamer needs to master is knowing how to build a relationship with their audience. If you look into the most successful streamers across all platforms, you’ll see that a lot of them engage with their audiences regularly. And they engage like they’ve known each other for years. 

This makes their viewers feel like they’re close friends – making it harder for them to leave and abandon the stream (‘coz who would leave their friends hanging, right?) 

You need to know who your audience is

The most common trap unsuccessful streamers fall into is trying to please everybody. They try to do a lot of things all at once, making them look like a poorly remixed mashup of your favorite songs. 

The most successful streamers know that they’re not for everyone. Not everyone would find their streams entertaining – they might even have haters for their personality, but it’s fine. Because they only need to appeal to their target audience to be a successful streamer. 

If you want to succeed, focus on your strengths and what your audience wants. If your audience loves watching your epic fail gaming moments, then keep on giving them those. Don’t turn into a pro-gamer one day, just to appeal to more people. Chances are, you won’t be able to get those viewers and your current audience will stop watching. 

Successful streamers have a unique style

PewDiePie has always been comedic and loud on his streams. And a lot of people find his humor funny – as evidenced by his millions in views and earnings. Not a lot of streamers dare to be as flashy as him, that’s why he stands out from the millions of streamers out there. 

If you want to succeed, you need to develop a distinct style that would set you apart from everyone else. This is going to be your secret weapon for success. 

Consistency matters if you want to be a successful streamer

Nothing happens overnight. Especially success. Your first stream won’t have a million views in an instant. Hell, you might not even break 50 views on your first hundred streams. And a hundred views might come at stream number 200. 

Successful streamers know this. And yet, they stayed consistent. They kept on streaming even if no one was watching. They kept going online even if it took months (even years) before they got their first check. 

They kept on going because they understood they had to be consistent first before they could be successful streamers. 

You can’t accomplish everything alone 

Your success will never be all yours. It will be because of different people – your mentors, your competitors, your partners, and everyone else around you. You need all these people to help you on your journey, so we suggest you start making a list! 

Look for successful streamers you want to learn from. Break down their streams and take notes. Reach out, ask questions, and build a relationship. Make them your mentors. 

Look for streamers who are on the same journey as you. Use them as a benchmark and chase them. Have healthy competition with them and let them push you to be a successful streamer. You can also turn these competitors into allies by collaborating with them and working together to grow your streams. 

Look for brands whom you’d want to endorse and partner with. Add value to their campaigns, and you’ll be rewarded handsomely. 

Start reaching out to the different people who can help in your journey to be a successful streamer. 

There is more than one way to be a successful streamer 

The richest streamers don’t just have one income stream – they have plenty. That’s because they know they can compound their money better if they’re rewarded not with the time and effort they put in, but with the value they create.

This is why you’ll see a lot of streamers dabble in content creation, merchandising, and even coaching. 

You can check out this article if you want to learn about the different ways to earn as a streamer. 

The algorithm can be your best friend or your worst enemy

Successful streamers (and content creators) know how powerful the algorithm is. They understand how much influence it holds over their success. And how important it is to stay updated with how it’s changing. 

If you want to be a successful streamer, you need to learn how to craft your streams around what your audience and the algorithm want. 

These ideas have helped thousands of streamers go from zero to a hundred. It helped them turn their passion for gaming into a lucrative career. For most of them, it took them years to learn all these lessons. But now, you have them all in one article. Use these to level up your stream, so you can be a successful streamer too. Good luck! 

Since we were young, games have been our constant companion through the ups and downs of life. It’s where we met a lot of friends, learned about life, and found solace when things got tough. 

For the longest time, it was just a hobby for us. Something we do to relax after a long day at work. Or a bonding activity we do with our friends every weekend. 

But did you know that there are many ways you can earn from playing games? You can turn your interest into a full-time job paying way more than your 9-to-5! 

If you’re serious about monetizing your passion for gaming, there are two ways you can do it: make it your full-time job or treat it as a side hustle. 

Earn from playing games: Full-time 

Earn from playing games by becoming  a competitive esports player 

Being an esports player is the gaming equivalent of making it to the NBA, NFL, or MLB. 

A lot of gamers dream of stepping into the world stage. They dream of making the biggest clutch plays to win the tournament – a highlight for the ages. Surrounded by thousands of fans cheering for them on the biggest game of their life – a chance to win the annual championship. 

Like becoming a pro athlete, not everyone can become a professional esports player. Only the best of the best can reach the top of the gaming hierarchy. You’ll need a lot of skill, talent, and connections to get into the world of professional gaming. 

If you choose to go down this route, you need to train 12+ hours a day, grind to rise through the rankings, and join smaller tournaments where scouts can discover you. In our opinion, this is one of the hardest ways to earn from playing games.

How much money can you make as a competitive esports player? 

Average e-sports players make around $60,000 a year from salaries. This doesn’t include endorsement deals, sponsorships, and prize money from tournaments. 

Other factors on your income are the games you play – the more popular, the better, your skill level, and your team’s success. For instance, the highest-earning esports player is N0tail (total earning: $7,000,000++), who plays Dota 2. Dota 2’s annual event, The International, is known to pay tens of millions of dollars to the winning team. 

Become an e-sports analyst/commentator 

Gaming events and tournaments won’t be fun without your analysts, shoutcasters, and commentators. They add color to the game by talking about what’s happening while engaging the audience with stories and whatnot. 

Usually, analysts, commentators, and shoutcasters know a lot about the game but do not have the skill to become professional esports players. Instead, they have the personality to go on camera and provide additional entertainment during the game. 

This is not a direct way to earn from playing games because you’ll actually be earning by commenting on games, not playing it. But, it’s still a good way to monetize your passion for gaming.

How much money can you make as an esports analyst/commentator? 

Esports analysts make an average of $48,000 every year from salaries. Like esports players, they can also earn extra from endorsements and sponsorships. However, they don’t get prize money since they’re not playing. 

Ideally, analysts & commentators increase their income by doing other gigs on the side, like streaming, hosting smaller esports events, and playing in smaller competitions. 

Work as an esports journalist

If you’re not a fan of going in front of the camera but still love following esports events, you try to start your own esports blog (or join an existing one). Here, you’ll cover different esports events – watching games and writing articles about them. You’ll also be covering various events around the esports world, like team updates, team events & fan meets, roster movements, etc. 

Similar to being a commentator, you won’t be earn from playing games per se. But being an esports journalist can be a different kind of fun since you get to travel the world, interact with the players, and even get exclusive interviews. Still want to play? Use your play time to learn more about the games you cover, so you can put out the best content! 

How much money can you make as an esports journalist? 

Full-time esports journalists earn between $29,000 to $75,000 a year in salaries. In comparison, the top-ranked journalists can make up to $115,000 annually. 

If you’re starting your own blog, you’ll need to invest a lot of time, money, and effort to get things on the ground. It will take time to earn from your blog and make it a full-time job. However, once you gain a lot of traffic and credibility, your earning potential also skyrockets. 

Be a star and earn money from YouTube

Becoming a YouTuber/internet celebrity is one of the most common career paths today. That’s because being a YouTuber is a lucrative endeavor that has the potential to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars – maybe even more – every month. This makes YouTube-ing one of the common ways you can earn from playing games.

As a YouTuber, you’re gonna create different content related to the games you love. It can include game guides, tips and tricks, reviews, highlight reels, etc. These videos would generate views and generate ad revenue. 

Once you have enough viewers, additional potential income streams will open up. 

YouTube can also be your main esports journalism platform since many gamers prefer to watch than read. Instead of writing updates and stories, you can make videos about it. 

How much money can you make as a YouTuber?

Your potential income from YouTube varies depending on your videos’ views and how many videos you upload. For instance, you can make two weekly videos with 200,000 views each. That’ll earn you approximately $7,200 every week. 

Earn from playing games by becoming  a live streamer

Another way to earn from playing games is to become a live streamer.

Live streaming has gained much popularity because of how authentic and engaging it is for viewers. Unlike YouTube, live streaming gives viewers real moments, not highlight reels. Since live streaming happens live, viewers can also interact with their favorite streamers. 

If you want to learn more about how you can start a live-streaming career, check out these resources we created just for you. 

How much money can you make as a live streamer?

Streamers have different income sources. Which makes it hard to tell how much you can make from streaming. But if you want a detailed look at how much you can earn as a streamer, better check out this article we wrote on that topic!

Earn from playing games: Part-time

Make one-to-one coaching a side-hustle

If you’re good at the game(s) you play, but don’t want to quit your day job, one of the ways you earn from playing games is by becoming a coach. Nowadays, many players want to make a career out of gaming and need some coaching to get better.

To be a coach, you first need to have the credibility to teach others. That means you need to excel in the game you’re teaching – maybe even pro-levels – before people would trust you and pay good money for your coaching services. 

The good thing about being a coach is that you can do it whenever your schedule permits. 

How much money can you make as a one-to-one coach?

Your rates as a coach would depend on your skill level and how in demand the skills you’re teaching are. For instance, if you’re a master sniper at CS:GO, you can charge up to $100 per hour. 

Monetize by selling a course 

Coaching is not for everyone because it takes a lot of time to sit down and teach your students. Plus, it’s not something you can scale massively because you can only earn as much as your schedule permits. 

Here’s where selling a course comes in. Instead of one-to-one coaching, you can record your lessons and demos, then sell them as a complete course.

 Creating courses is a good idea because you can sell different courses for different skills, and you only need to record each module once. 

How much money can you make as a course creator?

Courses can range from $39 to $79, depending on the game, the scope, and the teacher. For illustration purposes, say you have a $50 course on how to be a Deadshot on CS:GO, and you’re selling 30 courses monthly. That means you’re earning $1500 each month for a recording you did in a day! 

Unlike one-to-one coaching, you have virtually unlimited scaling capabilities because people worldwide can buy your course and take it at their own pace. 

Make extra cash by selling in-game items 

Gamers who are in it for fun and want to earn from playing games on the side usually sell their in-game items for cash when upgrading. This is an excellent way to earn if you don’t want all the hassles of creating a monetization strategy. 

All you need to do is keep on grinding to get rare items people would pay for – then sell them at a premium. Not only did you enjoy the challenge of obtaining those items, but you also got some profit. Not bad if you’re just gaming for fun. 

How much money can you make selling in-game items?

There’s no average price or guide on how much you can make selling in-game items. Usually, what you earn is relative to how valuable and rare the items you sell. 

Earn more money by offer in-game services

Another way for casual gamers to earn from playing games is by offering in-game services. 

This strategy is quite popular in MMORPG games, where missions can be pretty challenging to accomplish alone. As a service provider, you can help other players complete dungeons, quests, and missions for a fee.

On other games, these service providers help gamers grind and climb the rankings by playing support roles. For example, you can hire a player to play Sage as support when ranking up in Valorant. 

How much money can you make by offering in-game services?

Your earnings would vary depending on what quests/missions you need to accomplish. The more complex the tasks, the higher you can charge. 

Earn from playing games by uploading your game highlights on FreshCut.gg 

One of the newest ways gamers can earn from playing games is by uploading their highlight reels on FreshCut.gg and earn $FCD tokens. 

Here’s how it works.FreshCut.gg is a platform that rewards gamers and viewers for their actions. By uploading clips and getting reactions from viewers, you can earn $FCD, then exchange it on crypto exchanges. 

You can learn more about it at: https://freshcut.gg/

In our opinion, the best way to earn a lot from your passion for gaming is to combine these different income streams to build one profitable monetization machine, so you can earn from playing games. Good luck! 

That’s because views and viewers are two of the most critical metrics in monetizing your channel. It’s the first (and sometimes only) metrics advertisers and sponsors look at when partnering with content creators and streamers. 

Having millions of viewers made PewDiePie, xQc, Summit1g, Ninja, and Shroud millions of dollars from streaming. 

If you want to be part of their ranks, too, here are 11 ways to make your stream stand out, and get more viewers.

Strategy #1: Engage more with your audience 

The first thing you need to have before you try to get more viewers for your stream is to keep your existing viewers. The last thing you want is to get 20 new viewers every day while also losing 20. Because if that happens, you’ll stay stagnant – which is a problem many streamers get. 

The best way to keep your existing viewers is to be engaging and build a relationship with them. As we mentioned previously, treating your viewers like your friends and engaging with them, mid-stream would make them keep coming back. 

Strategy #2: Collaborate with other streamers 

Once you have a solid audience who watches your streams consistently, you’d want to tap into a broader audience base. The easiest way to get more viewers is by collaborating with other streamers in your niche, preferably those with larger followings. This allows you to reach their existing viewers who would also be interested in your kind of streams. 

But don’t think you can just run around knocking on streamers’ doors, asking them to play with you and feature you on their stream. That’s not how collaboration works. If you’re asking for a favor, you need to bring value in return. Sometimes, collaborating with a streamer with the same audience size can be a quid-pro-quo since you’re both getting the same amount of views and potential new audiences. However, streamers with more viewers than you might ask for payment in return for collaboration or getting featured in their stream. A small price to pay to get more viewers. 

Strategy #3: Develop your online personality 

As an internet celebrity, you’ll need to have an appealing personality. It may not be something for everybody, but it needs to be appealing to your target viewers. This will help you get more viewers on your stream – and keep them watching. 

For instance, if your target audience is serious gamers, you can’t have a wacky personality. Instead, you’ll need to be authoritative and informative because they’re looking to learn from you. 

The best way to build your online personality is by knowing your audience and their expectations and tailoring your personality to that.

If that’s too hard for you – say you’re uncomfortable being wacky and crazy and prefer serious – then do your thing. You’ll still attract an audience – it might just be a smaller one. 

Strategy #4: Get creative with your streams 

Imagine your stream as a variety/reality show on TV. People are tuned in to be entertained and to enjoy. They want to have fun and forget about their daily lives for a moment. They want to feel some thrill and excitement! 

Playing the same game over and over and talking about mundane topics won’t do that. You need to get creative. Make your stream fun and exciting to watch. This keeps your current audience hooked, while also helping you get more viewers. 

How you make your streams more fun is up to you. You can have games your audiences can participate in during the stream. You can have giveaways and prizes for winners or random viewers. You can even accept calls and have a chat with your fans while playing. 

Whatever it is, make sure it’s enjoyable and stimulating to your fans. And don’t forget to shake it up every week or so! 

Strategy #5: Incentivize your viewers to share

Another great way to get more viewers is to encourage existing fans to share your stream with their friends. The best way to do this is by incentivizing them with freebies, games, and whatnot. 

For instance, some streamers would do giveaways on certain milestones like the 10,000th subscriber. This encourages their current subscribers to share and helps streamers reach their goals. 

If you add this to your growth strategy, you need to make sure you have the right incentives for your fans, so they’ll want to share your stream. 

Strategy #6: Play popular games

Playing popular games is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you can get more viewers, since there are a lot of players. But on the other, you’ll also have a lot of competition for people’s attention. 

But let’s focus on the positive. By playing popular games, you have the opportunity to reach a lot of potential viewers for your stream. Of course, there’s a lot of competition, but there are also a lot of opportunities and gaps to fill. You just need to get creative with how you’ll run your stream. 

Strategy #7: Have a different approach to your streams 

This strategy is connected to the previous one. 

If you decide to play a popular game, you need to have a different approach. You can’t be a copycat of all the existing streamers. Being one in a million is how you fail at streaming. 

In a competitive arena, you need to be different. You need to be unique. You need to have something that your competitors don’t have. Something that’ll pique people’s attention to watch your streams. 

For instance: instead of playing games the normal way, you can have a weird playstyle. Then, you can ask your viewers for test builds/crazy ideas they want to try but can’t. You can be the master of building experiments. This will make your stream stand out and be more attractive to watch since everyone’s playing safe with their play style.  

Strategy #8: Improve your stream’s visuals

No one wants to watch a dull stream. Your viewers want novelty, excitement, and fun when watching your stream. That’s why you should make the most out of the existing features on streaming platforms like overlays, sticker emojis, and your physical setup. 

A nicer-looking stream with fun engagement mechanisms (emojis) will help you retain viewers because your stream makes them see nice things. Plus, the engaging visual experience can get more viewers.

Strategy #9: Know when to stream

Your audience isn’t always online 24/7 – and they surely won’t adjust to your streaming times. Of course, they have their own lives as well. And they’re tuning in to other streamers, too. That’s why you need to know your optimal streaming time and maximize it. This is one of the secrets to get more viewers. 

The best way to find your ideal streaming time is by experimenting. Spend a month streaming on different time slots and record how many viewers you’re getting each time out. You can also look at the top streamers who have the same audience as you and see what time they’re streaming their content. 

Strategy #10: Be consistent

Once you know your optimal streaming times, you need to stick to them and remain consistent. You need to commit to your audience. Let them know your streaming schedule so they’ll know when to tune in. 

Having a consistent schedule makes it easier for your audience to watch your streams consistently since it removes the guesswork. Plus, by being consistent, other people will also see you consistently on their home pages/feeds – increasing the likelihood of them watching your stream. 

Strategy #11: Share your clips across platforms 

The best way to get more viewers is to keep on promoting it across platforms – Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc. Upload your clips everywhere. Stream highlights, in-game highlights, and more. This would help you capture the interest of people who are interested in the games you’re streaming. 

Fun fact: you can make a lot of money by sharing your clips across platforms. Check out our article on how to make money by streaming video games. Spoiler alert: ad revenue and FreshCut.gg tokens. 

BONUS: Be a first mover

Another thing you can do to get more viewers is to be the first to stream the hottest games, games that just came out, or games with good potential. This is something you can do on the side of your regular stream or your new thing altogether. 

But usually, playing these kinds of games would help you capture audiences who are always looking for new games to play. 

These strategies helped a lot of creators and streamers get more viewers on their channels. We hope you can apply them and turn your dream into a reality!