The TL:DR Version to Stream Promotion
For those who don’t want to go through all the details, here is the lowdown: Use free promotion on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Attempt to get embeds up anywhere possible at all times on various image boards: http://www.allchans.org/. Paid advertising is also invaluable.
Attempt to get other communities involved whenever possible, such as Reddit, 4Chan, 8Chan and the like. Quantity matters so post often and get videos up whenever you can. Also use paid promotion when possible. Encourage viewers at all times to re-post these. Connections matter more than anything so make those with everyone you can.
The average viewer is either a young child or a teenager. Therefore rants, chants and general stupidity sell because they make this demographic laugh. If you can use this to your advantage you will have a fan base eventually.
The Full Guide
Everyone wants to have a stream, and be a streamer, today. Fame and money are just two of the options which come to you due to that. Over years of streaming we have a few tips and tricks we have compiled so stay with us for our ultimate guide.
This is going to be a massive post so here is a glossary you can search through. Search for the numbers by section or look for large category text.
Glossary
A. Low Return Methods
1. Communities
1.0 Image Boards
1.1 Forums
1.2 Your Site
2. Social Media
2.0 Facebook
2.1 Twitter
2.2 Pinterest
2.3 LinkedIn
B. High Return Methods
3 Quick Routes to the Top
3.0 Paid Advertising
3.1 Partnerships with Major Sites
3.2 Constant Mainstream Games
3.3 Guides
3.4 Appeal to Teens and Kids
3.5 The Cost
3.6 Physical Beauty
4 Networks
4.1 YouTube Networks
4.2 Site Networks
4.3 Backroom Networking
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A. Low Return Methods
All of these fall under what we will call “Low Return Advertising”. Since these are free you will not see many new people from them, maybe one every few days.
1.0 Image Boards
These stand out as the best choices for advertising both due to the fact that they have regular browsers and the same sort of people who browse for images also like to watch streams. Try to get in contact with owners of these streams to ask about embeds or put embeds up on boards that allow them. Here are a few places to look:
Having your own board is also a useful way to use this to your advantage as well.
1.1 Forums
Getting involved with a forum can be extremely useful. However you need to put the time in to get involved or you will simply be banned for advertising. You should also choose a specific forum that appeals to the sort of people you want on your stream. Or start your own. Here are a few very popular ones which others have used to their advantage:
You can also pay for spots on a variety of forums for better viability.
1.2 Your Site
At base you need a hosted website which should have a few important factors:
- A place to organize, from a forum to a Steam group
- Speed is essential, so pages should load very quickly
- Game servers if possible
- Special events
People get bored very easily online. So keeping their interest can be difficult. Your site is a big part of this.
2. Social Media
2.0 Facebook
Facebook can be very useful if you find the right subgroups to market to. For example, you want to look for gaming groups centred on your specific game. There are hundreds of these and you may need an invite to each one. Look for smaller ones with a dedicated fan base rather than larger ones where the message is diluted. Facebook can become a snowstorm of spam messages if you are not careful.
2.1 Twitter
Twitter is based much more around connections. You need other streaming groups to retweet you or even developers. Offer to promote a specific game and work together with the developer and you can go for miles. Just pick any developer you like such as Rich. Help others out and they will help you as well.
2.2 Instagram
Instagram is a good way to update your followers when you aren’t streaming. It is a great place to post photos when you are at events and conventions too. You can use an instagram hashtag generator as well to make sure your posts are easy to find for Instagram users. The platfrom is solely based on images and video so you won’t always need to post masses of content, just a few snapshots of your life will do. There are millions of users on Instagram so it’s quite an important platfrom for engaging with your audiences. There are apps, like this one from socialfollow, that can help you grow your Instagram follower count quickly.
2.3 Pinterest
With Pinterest you have to be more careful. Unless you have garnered a huge following some other way people want to see unique content. It can be difficult to draw fans from here but also quite useful at the same time.
2.4 LinkedIn
Only for those who want to get deep into the industry, LinkedIn is a place to find developers and journalists. Getting to know people here can be a bit more difficult than in most areas though so be humble and keep that in mind. Courtesy is the byword here when connecting with people.
B. High Return Methods
The most popular YouTubers, streamers and other broadcasters used these to get to the top. You can get incredible success very quickly with them. Unfortunately you will get your hands dirty in the process. If you are fine with that then read on, if not stick with part A.
3.0 Paid Advertising
By spending between $500 and $2,000 a month across sites such as Facebook, Google and by buying freelancers you can get excellent results. Check out Fiverr and Elance for cheap help on that. Also look at paid ads in these areas:
Doing research for the keywords you buy is vital and you can do that with the Keyword Planner. You can also contact individual YouTubers to ask for ads on each page. If this is a bit overwhelming you can always hire an SEO specialist from one of the formerly mentioned freelance sites. Or research other ones yourself that you may feel would be more beneficial to you, like Daniel Foley SEO Consultant, the choice is yours, but it is better to do your research first.
3.1 Partnerships with Major Sites
One way that even sites with sub-par writing have risen to the top is through partnerships. While you will get huge levels of success from this there will be strings attached, including always backing up the larger site whenever anything goes on. Alternatively, you can make use of Outreach Pete to do blogging outreach on many sites,and avoid this kind of association. Still, if something does happen then you need to be wary; If you have done the former idea this may mean that you have to take a specific stance on GamerGate and other controversial topics. Here are a few big sites to connect with:
If you want evidence that this works we could give it to you. However it will ignite a firestorm of controversy and is a topic for another article.
MLG producers have created an eSports industry over these games.
3.2 Constant Mainstream Games
While you may want to stick with indie titles or play retro ones that you love, this is not the way to the top. You also won’t get many new people off of this. You will get quick success only by playing major popular games such as:
While you may be reading this at a later date, you get the idea. Mainstream gamers are the ones with the money and numbers and you will only get to the top quickly in this way.
3.3 Guides
Simple guides with basic content, written consistently, are searched nonstop on the internet. It works even better if you do one on a recent release.
3.4 Appeal to Teens and Kids
PewDiePie started out as a small streamer on 4Chan’s /v/. He streamed cave story for a small audience and acted nothing like he does today. Then he started making long, unfunny videos that appealed to the humor of small children and rocketed to the top. That should be all the evidence you need.
3.5 The Cost
So as you can see, there are effective but you are essentially making the gaming world a worse place if you use these. It is up to you as to whether that matters.
As you probably guessed how you look does make a difference.
3.6 Physical Beauty
Even a moderately attractive female gamer can attract a large following without much effort. A handsome male can expect the same, which is why many rising male YouTubers use facecam constantly. If you are physically attractive or know someone who is then you can use this to your advantage without really even trying.
4 Networks
Networks of all types can give you a huge boost if you join them. However they often have special rules or requirements which may prove troublesome for you in the long run.
4.1 YouTube Networks
Many large YouTubers have used additional networks to improve their overall standing on YouTube. Places such as Polaris offer this but there are others as well. Keep in mind that you will need a base level of membership and must agree to some terms before you can get anywhere with this sort of setup.
4.2 Site Networks
Hundreds of sites jockey for position in this area. Raptr is just one of many and they reward you for sharing your content. At the same time they have their own games to sell and an agenda to push. You can get a lot of promotion on here if you put the effort in.
4.3 Backroom Networking
Backroom networking is much harder and you will need to contact companies directly to ask about promoting their games. You will need to make a compelling case for companies like Capcom or Blizzard but they can be incredible assets to you. Just make sure you do not ever break with company guidelines or you could lose their representation.
Conventions are another great place to meet developers, just make sure you have something to offer them.
C. Closing Advice
All of these work better if you are actively making money to spend it on promotion. Without a fan base willing to donate or help in other ways everything becomes much harder. So make sure you find a group that can put at least some of their funds towards promotion.
Whichever method you decide to go with, you have to stick with it. Early results will likely be discouraging regardless of what you do. Therefore you need to keep up with these methods every day. Stream viewers are bored easily and will leave quickly and forever if you do not keep them entertained.
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