How to Get More Followers on Twitch in 2023: The Ultimate Guide

Hey friend! Growing your Twitch channel and building an engaged community takes time and effort. But with the right strategies, you can gain more followers and take your channel to the next level this year.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share insider tips to increase your visibility, engagement, and followers on Twitch.

Why Followers Matter on Twitch

Let‘s start with why follower count matters in the first place. Here are a few reasons growing your follower base should be a priority:

• Followers drive other growth metrics. Followers convert to regular viewers, subscribers, and donors over time. A larger pool means higher conversion rates.

• Algorithms favor bigger channels. Twitch is more likely to promote and recommend channels with more followers, helping you get discovered.

• Influences potential collaborations. Having a respectable following makes it easier to get shoutouts from, or collaborate with, larger streamers.

• Unlocks additional features. Twitch unlocks more emotes and other channel customizations at certain follower milestones.

• Builds credibility. Higher follower counts make you appear more established and prestigious to viewers.

Followers are the foundation for building a thriving community on Twitch. Now let‘s get into how to get them!

Twitch Follower Growth Tactics That Work

There are a mix of tried-and-true as well as new and trending tactics that can effectively increase your followers on Twitch. Here are 12 of the best.

1. Stream Consistently

One of the most important things you can do is commit to a consistent streaming schedule. According to SullyGnome, one of the strongest predictors of follower count is total stream time:

Streaming consistently:

• Helps followers know when to tune in
• Builds habits and loyalty
• Maximizes discoverability and impressions

Aim for a minimum of 2 streams per week, 3+ hours per stream. This gives followers enough exposure to connect with your channel and community.

2. Optimize Your Channel Visuals

Your channel avatar, offline banner, panels, and titles are the first things new visitors notice when checking out your channel.

Make sure these visual elements look professional, visually appealing, and communicate your brand identity. Some best practices:

• Clean channel avatar – Use a high quality headshot or logo that looks good as a thumbnail.

• Informative offline banner – Include your name, streaming schedule, and value proposition.

• Organized panels – Feature your social links, donation options, sponsors, gear list, and channel rules.

• Intriguing stream titles – Titles are displayed under your stream thumbnail all over Twitch. Use keywords, emojis, and compelling phrasing.

First impressions matter – invest time in how your channel looks top to bottom.

3. Collaborate With Other Streamers

Collabs expose you to each others‘ audiences, presenting a low-effort way to gain new followers.

Some tips for effective collaborations:

• Choose streamers in your niche with moderately bigger, but not huge, channels – say 2-5x your size. Avoid overly saturated top streamers.

• Co-stream popular events/games to split the production effort.

• Shout each other out on social media and during streams. Share each others‘ follower milestones.

• Make recurring guest appearances on each others‘ channels rather than one-off collabs.

• Collab on a shared YouTube video recapping a collab stream. Cross-promote it.

Leveraging your network leads to follower overlaps and growth for all sides.

4. Run Contests and Giveaways

Contests incentivize users to follow your channel for a chance to win prizes. But balance creativity with feasibility:

• For follower milestones, do follower # giveaways. "I‘m giving away a $20 Steam card to my 500th follower!"

• Reward activity in chat. "Every 10th unique chatter today gets a shoutout."

• Tie prizes into your content. "Get a free month of our unreleased game beta for subscribing."

• If giving physical items, keep prizes accessible/affordable and limit eligible regions.

Promote any contests heavily using @ mentions, on-stream alerts, social media, and Discord. Track entries fairly and efficiently using a bot or gleam.io.

5. Stream Less Saturated Games

The top games on Twitch tend to have the most inflated follower requirements for visibility. For example:

Rather than directly competing with thousands of established channels in saturated games, intelligently choose less crowded games where you can more easily rank and get discovered by new viewers.

Tools like SullyGnome allow you to research games by current viewer count, streamer count, and growth trends.

6. Produce Additional Video Content

Re-purpose and extend your best stream content through pre-edited videos.

Short 60-90 second stream highlights do well on TikTok and Instagram Reels, while 10-20 minute edited videos work for YouTube.

Clips and vods bring inactive followers back while introducing you to new audiences. Maintain at least a 1:4 ratio of edited videos to streams.

7. Advertise Your Channel

Use paid ads to share your best stream highlights and drive traffic to your channel. Some options:

• Google video discovery ads – Place ads against searches and YouTube videos relevant to your niche.

• Twitch banner ads – Advertise directly around Twitch channels in your niche.

• Influencer shoutouts – Pay micro/nano influencers to share your clips and channel.

• Social media ads – Promote your channel across Meta and TikTok feeds and stories.

• Discord server ads – Sponsor promotions of your streams in related servers.

Aggressively re-investing early revenue into promotion can amplify growth.

8. Participate in Forums and Groups

Engage with text-based social platforms like Reddit, Discord, and Facebook Groups centered around your niche. Ways to get involved:

• Share clips and highlights to relevant subreddits

• Join active Discords and become a known member of the community

• Provide value by answering questions

• Be helpful and avoid self-promotion

• Sponsor community events when you have budget

Getting your content and personality in front of niche communities leads to loyal followers.

9. Use Catchy Stream Titles

Your stream title is one of the main factors potential viewers use to decide whether to check out your stream.

Make titles punchy and compelling by:

• Establishing the topic/game up front
• Using numerals and ordinal words (100 Days, 50 Wins, First Time)
• Adding challenge descriptors and stakes (No Armor, 1 Life)
• Using clickbait-y phrasing (Insane Comeback, Almost Cried)
• Incorporating keywords and popular search terms

Keep testing title variations and capitalize on trendsing search terms.

10. Schedule Streams When Your Fans Are Online

Analyze when your current followers tend to be active on Twitch and schedule your streams during those high-traffic periods.

Ways to identify your audience‘s patterns:

• Use analytics to see peak viewing hours for your VODs
• Ask your fans directly when they‘re typically online
• notice chat activity levels across different stream times
• Consider time zones of where most of your audience is located

Then make your schedule match those high-activity windows as much as possible.

11. Promote Your Streams on Other Platforms

Let your followers across all platforms know when you‘re going live:

• Post your stream schedules and links on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok

• Upload stream teasers and highlights to build interest

• Share when going live in relevant messaging groups and chats

• Use Linktree or Beacons to create a persistent "Live Now" link

• Auto-crosspost clips and stream alerts using tools like Streamelements

Think outside the Twitch platform to drive viewership.

12. Analyze Your Analytics

Finally, consistently analyze Twitch Insights, chat stats, and channel metrics to find opportunities for improvement.

Some key numbers to track:

• Viewer retention – When do viewers drop off? Why?
• Viewer demographics – Location, age, interests, devices
• Chat sentiment and engagement – What content gets reactions?
• Traffic sources – Where are viewers coming from?
• Peak streaming hours – When are viewers most active?

Numbers don‘t lie – let data guide your follower growth strategies.

Buying Followers: Does It Ever Make Sense?

You may be wondering – what about just buying followers? It‘s a controversial tactic, but not entirely without merit depending on your specific goals.

The pros:

• Quickly inflates your follower number to look more credible as a new streamer

• May increase algorithmic recommendations since Twitch favors larger channels

• Provides social proof to make your channel appear more popular

The cons:

• Zero viewer engagement from fake, bot, or paid accounts

• High risk of being banned if using follow bots or other prohibited services

• No long-term growth as bought followers remain inactive

• Hurts your follower-to-viewer ratio – a negative quality signal

• Costs money that could be better spent on content production, ads, etc.

If you do choose to buy followers, use trusted services that provide real, active human accounts rather than bots or fakes. Limit to a small percentage of your overall following.

Focus more on developing great content and genuine community engagement – those elements drive long-term, sustainable channel growth.

Getting Started Growing Your Twitch Followers

Gaining followers can feel overwhelming at first. Take it step by step:

• Pick a focused niche and content style. Establish who you are as a streamer.

• Set a consistent streaming schedule and stick to it. Consistency is key.

• Spread the word by self-promoting across all social platforms. Expand reach.

• Engage your community. Talk to your viewers. Run contests. Collaborate.

• Track your metrics and build on what‘s working. Follow the data.

• Reinvest to amplify your efforts. Consider promoted posts, ads, sponsors.

• Stay patient and persistent. Growing an audience happens gradually over time.

The most successful Twitch streamers provide value to their niche, engage authentically with fans, and constantly refine their craft and content.

Focus on those foundational elements, stay committed, and your follower count will grow.

I hope these tips help you gain more visibility and followers on Twitch this year! Let me know if you have any other questions. I‘m always happy to help fellow streamers.