Twitch: Achieving streaming success through community building
Streaming platform Twitch continues to gain users thanks to its community building. We took a closer look at how Twitch operates, who uses it, and how marketers can ensure that their content reaches their target groups.
What actually is Twitch?
Twitch is the world’s leading livestreaming service where users can either watch existing channels (or Twitch streams) or stream content themselves. But Twitch streams aren’t simply there to be consumed by viewers. The chat function runs in parallel to the broadcast of an individual stream and is an important factor in the popularity of streaming on Twitch, since it allows users to communicate with each other and with streamers. Generally speaking, Twitch streams are designed to be interactive in that streamers incorporate the chat into their stream and respond to it as they broadcast.
Community building – the key to being a successful Twitch streamer
The audience interaction makes Twitch a good place to build communities, strengthening the link between streamers and spectators. Recurring themes, jokes, and sayings create a sense of solidarity between members of a community (i.e. streamers and subscribers).
This ability to build communities is also significant to brands and companies looking to launch campaigns on Twitch.
Marketing on Twitch: Authenticity is key
Twitch streamers tend to emphasize the fact that they recommend products or services because they believe in them. They understand the importance of their community and feel a sense of responsibility for advertising messages that they share with them.
Given this relationship of trust, users are predisposed to follow advice and recommendations from streamers, and most users also recognize that advertising is necessary to generate income for the streamers.
As a result, Twitch users are particularly receptive to advertising and to products or services with added value. They also display an unusual loyalty to the streamers they follow, and are willing to transfer this loyalty to brands – which represents a major marketing opportunity.
This unusual relationship of trust is also a challenge for advertisers, however. Marketing content must always be tailored to the target group, but the constant turnover of users on Twitch means that the target group is always changing. That is why Twitch offers specific resources and support for advertisers, to help them navigate the platform, get to know the communities, and understand the marketing opportunities they present. And there is no shortage of these opportunities, as demonstrated by the campaign that Pringles ran on Twitch in early 2021.
Pringles as a successful example to follow
When Pringles was planning its successful campaign, it created the character of Frank, a zombie who loves Pringles. One evening, an actor wearing Frank’s costume suddenly broke out of his game and invaded streamer Leah Viathan’s livestream – she had around 170,000 fans on Twitch at the time. Pringles had already established Frank as part of the West of Dead game, and several other streamers were also involved in the campaign alongside Viathan. This campaign enabled Pringles to reach a wide and diverse community.
Twitch was the perfect marketing platform for Pringles as gaming has traditionally played a significant role on the platform and Pringles had already spent several years establishing close connections to the gaming community. But other target groups are also represented on Twitch these days and it’s noticeable that the interests of Twitch users have diversified over time. Twitch has developed from a gaming livestreaming service into a social, interactive live service with a wide range of themes.
E-sports is one such theme, but music in particular – including live performances – has gained ground on the platform.
If you’re looking to put minimal effort into a standardized claim to get as many impressions as possible, then Twitch is not the place for you – and you will also fail to capitalize on the close relationship between Twitch streamers, viewers, and brands. On the other hand, Pringles has demonstrated how a brand can build authentic links to a community and subsequently run a successful campaign on Twitch. Almost any brand with the right messages and an appropriate, authentic image has the potential to notch up marketing success on Twitch.
If you want detailed insights into the Pringles campaign, take a look at this interview – complete with an unexpected guest! Simply register free of charge as a DMEXCO Community member for access to numerous other exciting presentations, interviews, and discussions – such as this presentation, which includes a detailed explanation of why Twitch communities are so special.
