Stream like a pro - Marketing strategies every streamer needs to know
- Marcus
- Feb 17
- 12 min read
Table of contents
Streaming for income - 10X your growth plan - The Rise of Streaming
Growing your stream and streaming for income (or increased views) can be a great way to turn your passion into a revenue stream.
Offering a compelling fix of real-time gaming action, like-minded communities, and an immersive two-way experience means interactions on platforms such as Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming, plus a plethora of new streaming platforms, such as Kick are set to continue to rise (and rise) in popularity.
Spotting stats on TwitchTracker, we see over 6.9 Million unique streamers, 26.5 Million daily users, and 1.56 Billion hours watched per month on Twitch alone. That's a massive demand for top-quality gaming content.
If the idea of serving this demand speaks to you, then read on!
Streaming for income is just streaming, right?
If you love the idea of broadcasting your content and streaming for income, there's no shortage of community to serve. However, when you think about it, there can only ever be a few rockstars. Not everyone can be #1.
So, what separates the top streamers? How much is determined by talent versus marketing know-how?
Bringing your personality and/or skills to the party is essential. However, no matter how awesome your streaming content is, you won't grow your views unless your loyal viewers can find you.
So, getting your marketing basics right is going to help a ton.
First, let's talk about branding.
Okay, what makes you unique? Yeah, here, differences count. Remember those days in high school when everyone wanted to be the same? Dedicated followers of whatever was considered cool, duh. Well, hey, in this new world, uniqueness counts.
Cool or intense, joker or badass, killer skills or irresistible charm, you need to know who you are. In this world, you must be prepared to sell what you have. Authenticity is priceless; no one else can be you! Fact!
Let's start with a self-check-in. What's your niche, and what are your personal and gaming styles? Who are you for or respectfully against? (that can work for some).
What’s your visual style?
And I don’t just mean your hair, which, of course, rocks! Well, mostly. Can you keep it consistent across platforms, stream overlays, logos, social channels, promotions, and your all-important signature backdrop?
Visual consistency is key. If you're not a designer, find one, even dare I say it - an AI version. More on that later. Once you've thought about your brand, does it feel authentic? That will make selling it way simpler.
Share your branding with a few close friends, and ask if they can see ‘you’ in there, not the physical ‘you’ but a sense of who you are. Approval is great, but not essential, especially from your mom.
However, moms know more than we give them credit for.
Maybe a ‘slightly’ disapproving glare from the coolest person you know, might be the sweet spot for some. Gauge that feedback. Was it meh, or did it get a reaction? A laugh, an approving nod, a "you can’t be serious??”.
Hopefully, the reaction is the one you intended. Being remembered for your awesomeness is going to be half the battle.
Mentorship, consultation calls & collabs
You’ve done your background and created your branding. Why not go to the next level & engage with successful streamers? After all, they've already got the idea of streaming for income down. Learning from the best can be the way to go.
Avoid time-wasting and find your perfect streaming collaboration to help you grow your viewers. Helping ‘you’ grow is ‘our’ passion. Nuff said.
Streaming for income - production set-up
Ever heard the term, ‘all the gear, no idea.’ Well, avoid being that guy.
Gear-wise, in terms of the basics, you probably already own it, or at least some of it.
Audio quality, if you’re running audio, this is one area that really sucks if it’s bad. Your phone or camera mic might be up to it, even your Chrimbo gaming mic from 2018 might work OK. Run sound checks and see. If it’s not almost perfect, invest.
This is always going to serve you. Streaming for income and growth means the sound has to be as you’d expect. I’m sure you’ll be familiar with OBS Studio, if not check it out - it can correct far too many of your audio streaming sins to mention.
Quality video, lighting, and the scenery behind (even if it’s no scenery) need some thought. Hopefully, your branding has already considered this. Pokimane, or PewDiePie levels of production quality are not needed - until it is. By then you’ll have help or become an expert already.
Think of video quality as an evolution, and focus on your core brand values. Authenticity doesn’t need an expensive camera, but 4K or better output is a requirement. Software support to correct color balance is also a thing.
Need some help? Check out a few of our 17 best tools to grow as a streamer for different budgets. Oh, and here’s another shout-out for OBS Studio. Nope, we’re not getting paid for this plug, but hey, when something is good, shout about it, right??
Here’s also where your branded custom overlays, streaming alerts and animations are going to help. Cast your eyes over our free AI Art generator - you can thank us later, or even better shout about us! All word-spreading is greatly appreciated by our tireless team. Sleep might come to them one day (hopefully!).
Platform mastery - Language & creative dashboard
Twitch Language
Most subcultures develop new language, aka slang. California surfers speak Surf, early internet surfers developed terms for technical aspects of the web. CB radio has its unique language. Redditors speak Reddit. It’s no surprise that Twitch has an entire language of its own.
Be prepared for at least a short inauguration and a modicum of COPIUM to get you through.
Talking to your viewers, especially understanding their emotional responses to your content, means you need to be well-versed in emotes and the language of the platform. It’s one of those immutable facts of marketing.
You have to be able to get an emotional response from your audience or at least interpret the current sentiment.
If you’ve been on Twitch, or your chosen platform a while, you’ll already be conversing like a boss.
Creative dashboard & stack
Bio, panels, emotes and setting up your dashboard will be a labour of love or hate. We’d prefer you learn to love your dashboard. Don’t try to add a ton of plugins, yet.
Learn how to use what’s there first. As with any new tool, it will come quicker to some than others, so don’t be put off if you’re not getting instant grats. We’ve been there!
It will usually come, if not, collabs can be a huge help. Platform forums and chat outreach to platforms can find you a ton of useful guides and information. Ask, and thou shall receive.
Probably worth learning about OBS Studio, and obtaining an AI to help schedule your notifications, posts, and creative assets. Okay, yes, that could be us in the running again. We want to help you. We’re owning it.
Social Media Marketing
Cross-channel marketing - staying in touch with your audience needn’t stay within the confines of your favorite streaming environment.
Building relationships & engagement
Social media is one of the most obvious ways to stay in touch with your audience and grow your channels, which will support your streaming for income ambitions.
You have two basic strategies - paid or organic (any strategy which is not paid).
If your budget and ambitions allow you to fast-track your presence on key channels, but wait! That’s expensive, right? Well, yes and no. Once you have a few fans, most social advertising algorithms can hunt out look-alike audiences for you.
You can also set your costs based on events such as short-form video views, or other engagements.
Creating shareable content
If you’ve already got a decent following of viewers, you can go the organic route. Posting video content consistently can be a winner. How about behind-the-scenes or tips and tricks for your specialism?
Perhaps a Q&A session, and of course good old-fashioned posting. Of course, you can automate some of this with AI.
Streaming snippets can be automatically captured for you, whilst you focus on your A game - with some tools, posts are generated automatically for you.
Consistent content creation & scheduling
Set a regular streaming schedule: I can’t emphasize enough, that consistency builds anticipation and loyalty. Equally, sticking to a streaming schedule, whether it’s daily, weekly, or bi-weekly.
Let your viewers know what’s coming up; you can advertise yourself! Mention when you are planning IRL (In Real Life) content, Q&A sessions or even educational streams.
Offering exclusive content and memberships
Once you have a modest following - subscription-based content, or premium content which might include behind-the-scenes footage or early access for subscribers can really build loyalty.
To add revenue linking your subscription content to Patreon or Ko-fi can help to build a steady streaming income.
Perks to your subscribers are only limited by your imagination.
Community building and viewer retention
Okay, so you’ve brought people to your party. Creating a sense of belonging will focus on building a tight-knit community. Shout out to your followers, and don’t be shy of conversation.
You might want to offer loyalty points or badges for regulars.
Ultimately, you want your viewers to return and look forward to their next interaction with you because they feel valued and included. Why not try a poll or pose a question to encourage viewer interaction?
Whilst you are growing, and the smaller your viewer volume the more you can invest in personal comms.
Track your metrics & analyze performance - Your free superpower.
Twitch insights, YouTube analytics, and so on are your friends. You don’t need to be a technical expert, but it’s good to identify flops and what flies for your viewers. Spotting viewer trends means you can continue to make the right content.
Whilst we want to maintain a consistent brand, occasionally, especially in the beginning, we might want to mix things up a little with experimentation. Being able to quickly spot if experiments attract engagement is like being offered a free superpower.
Recruit an AI assistant
Strapped for time? Why not harness automation using AI tools and marketing assistants? The smart way to leverage your time and engagement.
Yakkr growth helps both with notifying your audience, as well as supporting the creative side of managing your channel.
Yakkr Growth - features
Automated Content Distribution: Yakkr can automate the posting of clips, highlights, and announcements across multiple platforms, ensuring that streamers can focus more on content creation rather than manually managing each social media channel.
Engagement Tools: By providing chat management and engagement features, Yakkr helps streamers interact with their audience more efficiently, whether through automated responses or real-time audience tracking.
Analytics & Insights: Streamers can track what content resonates most with their audience, allowing them to adjust their strategy to grow and retain followers more effectively.
Collaboration & Networking: Yakkr might facilitate networking with other content creators, allowing streamers to collaborate and cross-promote, helping them tap into new audiences.
Scheduling: Streamers can schedule streams and social media posts in advance, creating a consistent content release schedule without needing to manage it all in real time, which means you can schedule reminders and notifications for upcoming streams directly in the chat, helping to keep the audience engaged.
Overall, Yakkr Growth helps streamers minimize the time spent on operational tasks and maximize the time they can spend engaging with their community and creating great content.
See our appendix of marketing tools to help get you on the right track with other great automation tools.
Final thoughts about streaming for income & growth
With the right approach to marketing your channel, steaming for income and viewer growth will naturally follow.
Offering a consistent, authentic image and narrative based on your core branding is key to building a following. Followers will come to know what to expect and will come back for more of what you offer. Yakkr can help generate most if not all of your visual assets.
Audio is a key component of production and is often the weak link in production quality. Visuals matter too, and should be consistent. Crazy expensive gear is not needed. OBS Studio can fix many of your production sins.
Carefully select your AI tools. Automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks such as notifying followers about live streams, posting content on social media, and engaging with your communities means you stay visible.
This automation saves time and ensures that your streamed content consistently reaches your audience, even when your fans are offline.
Combining automation with genuine viewer engagement will enhance your online presence and build loyal viewers.
Most importantly of course - do what you do! Bring your passion and your personality to the world IRL.
Appendix of useful marketing tools for creators
Stream alerts - These tools help you notify your viewers
Streamlabs:
Features: Streamlabs offers stream alerts, custom overlays, and widgets that automatically notify your audience when you’re live on platforms like Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook Gaming.
Marketing Benefit: You can set up "Go Live" notifications on social media, so your followers are instantly alerted when you begin streaming. This helps with consistency in audience engagement.
Website: Streamlabs
Nightbot:
Features: A chatbot for streamers that helps automate tasks, including welcoming new followers, sharing important links, and notifying users about upcoming streams.
Marketing Benefit: You can schedule reminders and notifications for upcoming streams directly in the chat, helping to keep the audience engaged.
Website: Nightbot
IFTTT (If This Then That):
Features: IFTTT is an automation tool that connects different apps and services. You can set up triggers, such as sending an automatic tweet or Discord message whenever you go live on a platform.
Marketing Benefit: Automates the process of posting about your streams or clips, ensuring your audience stays informed without having to manually post.
Website: IFTTT
Zapier:
Features: Similar to IFTTT, Zapier lets you connect different apps and automate tasks. For example, you can create a "Zap" to automatically post a "Go Live" announcement on Twitter and Instagram whenever you start streaming.
Marketing Benefit: It can connect multiple platforms, ensuring you don’t miss cross-posting your stream or updates on all relevant channels.
Content Snippet & Highlight’s
These tools help you automate content creation and distribute clips or highlights, which is perfect for streamers looking to post bite-sized content.
Twitch Clips & YouTube Shorts:
Features: Use built-in features like Twitch Clips or YouTube Shorts to automatically create short video snippets of your live stream. These platforms also allow for easy sharing on social media.
Marketing Benefit: Short-form content like clips from your stream can be a great way to entice followers who may not have caught your full broadcast. It’s a way to keep content flowing even when you're not live.
Website: Twitch Clips | YouTube Shorts
Reel Crafter:
Features: An AI-powered tool that helps you automatically create social media videos by generating clips and highlights from your streams. You can select key moments, and it will format them into optimized snippets.
Marketing Benefit: You can post these video snippets to TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter, keeping your followers engaged even after you’ve finished streaming.
Website: Reel Crafter
Headliner:
Features: This tool helps turn long video content into social media-friendly snippets. You can create audiograms, video clips, or highlight reels that are perfect for sharing on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and other platforms.
Marketing Benefit: Automatically take content from your stream, edit it for shorter formats, and distribute it easily to your social media accounts.
Website: Headliner
ClipMine:
Features: An AI-driven tool that automatically generates highlights from your live stream. It uses machine learning to detect interesting moments based on viewer reactions and stream activity.
Marketing Benefit: This reduces the time spent manually searching for highlights. You get AI-generated clips that you can easily share with your followers.
Website: ClipMine
Social Media Automation & Scheduling:
Automating social media posts can save you time and help you stay consistent with announcements, stream updates, and engagement.
Buffer:
Features: Buffer allows streamers to schedule and manage posts across multiple social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can queue posts that promote your stream or share clips.
Marketing Benefit: Buffer helps you stay consistent in posting content about your streams, such as reminders, highlights, or updates, even when you’re not actively online.
Website: Buffer
Hootsuite:
Features: Similar to Buffer, Hootsuite lets you schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with followers on various platforms.
Marketing Benefit: It’s a great way to automate posting across social media channels. You can schedule streams and updates ahead of time, even while you’re streaming or offline.
Website: Hootsuite
Later:
Features: Later focuses on visually scheduling posts, especially for Instagram, but also supports Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. It’s perfect for streamers with visually engaging content (e.g., gameplay clips, stream highlights, behind-the-scenes photos).
Marketing Benefit: Streamers can visually plan and automate content to ensure they always have something posted to keep followers engaged.
Website: Later
Community Engagement:
Keeping your audience engaged off-stream is crucial for long-term success.
Discord Bots & Automation:
Features: Discord is essential for community-building, and you can integrate bots like MEE6 or Dyno to automate actions like welcoming new users, giving them updates on when you're live, or even automating giveaways.
Marketing Benefit: Automating these tasks frees you up to focus on engaging with your community rather than manually managing your Discord server.
StreamElements:
Features: This tool provides automation for alerts, overlays, chatbots, and even gives you advanced stream monetization tools. StreamElements also offers automatic social media posting for stream updates.
Marketing Benefit: Helps engage viewers with well-timed notifications and stream-related content (such as alerts when you're live or when a new donation happens).
Website: StreamElements
AI-Driven Analytics and Growth Insights:
For streamers serious about growing, these tools offer insights that can help you understand audience behavior and optimize your strategy.
Stream Hatchet:
Features: Stream Hatchet offers data analytics and performance tracking tools for streamers. It analyzes your streams' viewership and engagement data to provide you with insights on what works.
Marketing Benefit: By understanding which content resonates the most, streamers can better target their audience and adjust their marketing efforts for maximum impact.
Website: Stream Hatchet
Features: Sulit.ai offers audience analytics and AI-powered insights to help content creators optimize their engagement and growth strategies.
Marketing Benefit: It helps streamers understand their audience’s preferences and when the best times to stream are, so they can tailor their content and marketing.
Website: Sulit.ai
