If you’re here, reading this article, you probably know that social media can be a powerful tool. Twitter is one of the most resourceful places to grow your stream. As a new streamer there are actually very few ways to promote your stream. Advertising in other streams will not only get you banned but it will not get anyone to actually follow you, people don’t respect that. Twitter however, is different. You can interact with other streamers, grow your Twitter following, and those people will see your tweets whenever you go live. Here are some tips to get the most out of Twitter.

• Your Twitter handle should match your Twitch username – this makes is so much easier for people to find you, but also for people to recognize your name. To change your Twitter username, simply go into your Settings and type in a new username. This is a very important tip! If your username is taken on twitter, get it as close as possible. Consider adding words like ‘Stream’ or ‘Twitch’ or ‘tv’ if your username is already taken.

• Follow people – Follow big streamers and small streamers alike. Streamers with a smaller following are more likely to notice you and follow you back, but it’s always good to follow the larger streamers so you can get an idea of what games they are playing and what they are doing with their stream. Find a streamer that you would compare yourself to, look at their list of Followers and follow those people. Most of these people are viewers and fans of the streamer’s content and if you are similar to them, they might become a regular viewer to your channel.

• Favorite tweets – When you favorite a tweet, the person who wrote the tweet and anyone tagged in the tweet gets a notification that you favorited it, giving it a chance they will notice you and check out your Twitter and possibly even follow you. Again, this works better when you favorite a tweet from a person with a small following. Try using the Search tool to find tweets on a topic (like Twitch or a certain game) and favorite tweets that show up. People will notice it and potentially follow you back!

• Interact with tweets – Respond to people who tweet to you, but also reply to tweets on your timeline or when you are doing a search and favoriting tweets. Make sure the response is meaningful. Do NOT ask people: “hey pls follow me”. More than likely if you have some interaction and the person responds they will check out your profile, and if you’ve done a good job they may follow you.

•  Deck out your profile – make it so when people see your profile, they remember it. Get rid of the default egg avatar and get something that represents you. Something custom would be preferable. Make sure your bio has a description that includes a) the fact you are a streamer b) a clickable link to your Twitch page c) a description of what kinds of games you stream or something about you

• Run a giveaway – If you are willing to put some money into growing your Twitter and Twitch following, holding a giveaway on Twitter is a great way to do so. The game will need to be a sought out game, like something that may have just come out. You should obtain a Steam key or something similar. G2A is a really great place to grab a game key for cheaper than it’s usual price. You can then use a free website like Giveaway Tool to set up your giveaway. Start by tweeting out that you are running a giveaway and include a hashtag that is unique. An idea you can do is have the hashtag include your name and the game, and maybe even a number at the end to symbolize what number giveaway it is. For example, if your twitch name is Lowco2525, and you are giving away a copy of Dark Souls 2, you can use the hashtag #LowcoDarkSouls2. When using Giveaway Tool, you want to create a hashtag that people will tweet that is unique for that giveaway, because Giveaway Tool will count entries but looking for people who have tweeted with this hashtag, therefore it needs to be unique. To bring people to participate in your giveaway, make sure to use the strategies above. Try searching for tweets about the game you are giving away, if you find anyone that says they want the game, reply to the tweet and tell them you are giving one away! Holding a giveaway definitely works better if you have a decent Twitter following, but with a little more work on your end trying to promote the giveaway, you will gain some followers in return. Also make sure to include information about this giveaway on your stream!

Twitter is one of the best ways to grow your stream. You can also use sites like JustUnfollow and Commun.it to help grow your Twitter following. It is highly recommended to set up a Twitter account and start growing your Twitter following now!