The first major step as a Twitch streamer is getting into the Twitch Affiliate program. Once you are in the affiliate program you can begin to use things such as subs, channel points and bits. But without the right strategy, you could spend months streaming and not even come close to hitting affiliate.
In this article, I will discuss tips to help you get into the Twitch Affiliate program even faster so you can take start building a community on Twitch.
Tips to Get Into the Twitch Affiliate Program
Here are 9 tips to help you get into the Twitch Affiliate program:
- Create and stick to a schedule
- Have friends and family watch your streams to help with your average viewers
- Use Twitter to gain followers on Twitch
- Make your content engaging so people stay
- Network with other streamers
- Use engaging overlays
- Stream with other people to make your content more engaging
- Use bots to help moderate chat
- Be consistent
Those are the 9 tips for getting into the Twitch Affiliate Program. Now let’s hop into each of these tips in more detail. And if you are a streamer, and want even more streaming tips and tricks, subscribe to my Youtube channel here.
1. Create and Stick to a Schedule
This is a super underrated tip, especially when it comes to being accepted into the Twitch Affiliate Program. As you may already know, one of the requirements for being accepted into the Twitch Affiliate program is streaming a certain amount of hours as well as streaming on 7 different days.
Now you can just estimate the days and times you will need to stream to hit this milestone, and you will probably be right, but why not make it easier on yourself and just set a schedule so that way you are certain you have hit this milestone.
Also, creating a schedule helps people know when they should plan on tuning in and watching your streams. It is best practice and super easy to do. To see how to create a schedule on Twitch, check out my video below.
And if you want more info on the importance of having a streaming schedule, then check out my article here.
2. Have Friends and Family Watch Your Streams
This is one of the easiest things you can do to get your average viewer count higher. As I am sure you know, one of the requirements for Twitch Affiliate is 3 average viewers. This is not a lot and you can easily achieve this milestone with the help of a few family members or friends.
Now this is a quick and easy way to hit the average viewers milestone, but just know this is not a winning strategy for long term success. In order grow as a streamer, you will want to grow your viewership organically through Twitch, Youtube, Twitter and other platforms.
3. Use Twitter to Gain Followers on Twitch
Another thing you will need to get into the affiliate program is at least 50 Twitch followers. This can take some time to complete, unless you have the right strategy.
I made a whole video about how I gained 50 Twitch followers in a week using Twitter. If you want to check out that video I put it here below.
In my experience, Twitter has been the best way to get followers on Twitch. As you may already know, Twitch doesn’t exactly have the best discoverability feature and so your best bet for growing on Twitch is doing things outside of Twitch. Again, check out my video and you will see it is not as hard to get Twitch followers as you may think.
4. Make Your Content Engaging so People Stay
Like we already touched on, you will need people to hang around your stream to help your average viewer count on your way to affiliate. If having friends and family hop on the stream is not an option, then you will need to get the people who visit your stream to stick around.
In order to do this, you will have to be engaging so that way people stick around. Engaging doesn’t necessarily mean dancing around or going crazy like some streamers do. It could be very easily be responding to your viewers and helping them feel like a part of your community.
Too many times I see streamers ignore their viewers and not say a whole lot while they stream. This is not going to work. Try to be talkative and engaging and this will help people stick around and watch your streams even more.
For more tips on being more entertaining while you stream, check out my article here.
5. Network With Other Streamers
Another way to get followers on Twitch besides using Twitter is to network with other streamers on the platform. Networking does not mean going into other channels and spamming your link just FYI.
It means visiting other channels and being supportive. Be a positive force in someone else’s stream and trust me, they will often return the favor. If you want more help networking on Twitch then check out the article I wrote here.
6. Use Engaging Overlays
Overlays are another super underrated thing that I don’t feel like a lot of new streamers utilize properly. When people are scrolling through Twitch channels looking for streams to visit, your thumbnail will be the only thing there to help bring them in (besides the title of course).
And Twitch does not allow you to set your thumbnail like Youtube does so the only thing people who scroll past your stream will see is whatever is on your stream. So if it is just you on a webcam, or even worse no webcam, then that is a lot less exciting than a flashy overlay.
Now you don’t need anything crazy fancy. Even a simple cam border and a top bar will stand out more than just you and a camera. Here is what my overlay looks like on my stream:
Nothing crazy, but it looks a lot cooler than just me and my webcam would look.
If you are interested in some dope overlays then check out OWN3D.TV (click here to visit their page). In my opinion they offer the best overlays out there and at the best prices.
And better yet, you can install the entire overlay (alerts, top bar, cam border, etc.) with just one click.
Yup, just one click and the whole thing is imported to your streaming software. I have loved my overlays thus far and if you are looking to stand out, consider checking out some overlays on OWN3D.TV. You will definitely find something you like.
7. Stream With Other People to Make Your Content More Engaging
Streaming with other people will make your content more engaging. It’s just the honest truth. If you pay attention, all of the big time streamers have a group they stream with on a regular basis.
I like to see streaming as a “friend simulator” and having online friends that you link up with and game with just makes that simulation even better for your viewers. So if you can, you should try to find a small group that you can stream with to help make your streams more engaging.
Having more entertaining and more engaging streams will then make people want to stick around for even longer.
8. Use Bots to Help Moderate Chat
Using bots is very helpful and can help take a load off of you, the streamer. Unfortunately, people will say some pretty nasty things in your chat and you may not always be able to catch it.
If this consistently happens, you can get in trouble with Twitch. It would be a shame to get banned from Twitch without ever reaching Twitch Affiliate.
So to help you moderate your chat, you can add a bot that will help to filter out and block unwanted words or phrases in your chat. This is especially helpful to someone like me who tries to stream family friendly.
Not only do these bots help you to moderate your chat to help prevent you from getting into any trouble, you can also set these bots up to send messages in your chat to remind people to do things like follow your channel.
Bots are very simple to setup, especially if you are using Streamlabs. If you want to know how to setup the cloudbot in Streamlabs, check out my video below.
9. Be Consistent
Last of all, if you want to hit Twitch Affiliate, you will have to be consistent. For some, Twitch Affiliate will come quick and easy. For others, you will need to work your way into it. Either way, don’t give up.
Streaming takes a long time to grow. Not only do you have to learn how to best improve and market your stream, but you have to give people the time to find you as well. Growing as a streamer can be difficult, but with good content you will grow in time.
So keep your schedule, and keep your eye on the prize. It may take some time, but making it as a streamer can be extremely rewarding.
As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!
For even more streaming tips and how-to content check out my Youtube channel here. And if you want to check out my streams then stop by my Twitch channel here.
In the end, Twitch Affiliate may take some time for you to hit, but achieving your goals is totally worth it. I hope the tips above help you along your streaming journey.
Good luck my friends and may all of your streams come true.
Eric streams 3 days a week on Twitch and uploads weekly to Youtube under the moniker, StreamersPlaybook. He loves gaming, PCs, and anything else related to tech. He’s the founder of the website StreamersPlaybook and loves helping people answer their streaming, gaming, and PC questions.