TWITCH: COMBINING CONTENT & COMMUNITY

Prior to 1920 the majority of our content was consumed from newspapers. On November 2, 1920 the first radio broadcast went out and people could consume content like never before. Soon after, in 1927, the first TV was invented and our method of consumption changed again.

On August 6 1927, the internet became available to the public and life was never the same. People could gather information from millions of sources within seconds.

Since the launch of the internet the way we consumed content has changed rapidly; with newer and better platforms gravitating to the top.

What’s the next big trend for content consumption?

That would be live streaming.

When it comes to streaming there’s no company more well known for it than Twitch.

Launched in 2011 and acquired by Amazon in 2014, Twitch is a live streaming platform with a focus on video games and eSports competitions. Users have recently expanded to include lifestyle, music and DIY content creators, too.

Twitch works like this: A streamer live streams and talks as they play a video game (or something of the sort).The streamer also interacts with viewers via “the chat”. Like other social platforms, people can follow a streamer to keep up with their content. Gamers who are particularly skilled at playing a certain game or who have charisma are the most followed. Sometimes a gamer has both, like Ninja, by far Twitch’s most popular influencer with 16.6 million followers. (Credit)

Twitch is quickly becoming a powerhouse within the space and now accounts for a whopping 72.2% of live streaming hours watched online. The platform has 15 million daily active users; who spend an average of 95 minutes a day on the platform. (source)

This is a crazy high number compared to it’s biggest competitor YouTube, where it is estimated an average user would spend 11.5 minutes per day on the platform. (source)

It is not just the time users spend on Twitch that heavily outweighs it’s competitors. When you compare concurrent viewers a similar white wash occurs. You can see in the below graph that no one even comes close to Twitch’s concurrent viewer numbers.

Twitch’s user base is also growing rapidly; with more and more people joining the platform.

According to figures from mobile analytics business Sensor Tower, the Twitch mobile app was downloaded 22 million times in the first quarter of the year. That is an increase of 62% from Q1 2020, when it was downloaded 13.6 million times. 

This is on top of the 80.6 million devices Twitch was downloaded on in 2020, up 134% from 34.5 million in 2019.

Now, you don’t get crazy growth stats like the ones above without some exquisite marketing strategy. So let’s breakdown what the marketing team at Twitch are doing!

Breaking Down The Strategy

After reading all the stats about Twitch, it should be clear to you that the platform is one of the most successful social networks of recent times - yet not many people know about it. 

Why is that?

Well, that’s the whole idea. Twitch is all about community.

Unlike other platforms like Instagram, that almost seem to be trying to take away the community aspect of their platforms - through removing comments and likes. Twitch does the complete opposite and focuses on building and growing communities within the platform. They do this through various different components:

1. Freemium model: Twitch uses a model that is becoming increasingly more popular; the freemium model. This model allows Twitch to be accessible to everyone with a laptop or phone. This easy accessibility helps them to attract and retain users at a much more rapid pace.

2. Twitch chat: One unique aspect of Twitch is their live chat feature. All viewers watching a stream are able to communicate with each other - more importantly the streamer - whilst watching the video. Imagine being able to not only interact with people who like the same streamer as you but you’re also able to interact with the streamer themselves.

3. Donations: Viewers on a stream are actually able to donate directly to their favorite streamer as they watch. Lot’s of streamers make sure to give donors shout-out’s, to thank them. Imagine your role model saying your name live whilst you’re watching them! A dream come true for many young kids and teenagers!

4. Live aspect: Don’t underestimate the difference it makes watching someone live; compared to a well edited YouTube video. It is so much more authentic and allows the audience to become much more connected to the steamer. Couple this with the fact you can communicate with them through the chat, and you have the most intimate content experience out there.

Now at this point, you may be wondering why I’m spending more time breaking down the community aspect of Twitch rather than their marketing. That’s because the most effective marketing team on Twitch, is the community - the users.

This type of marketing is called “community marketing” and it definitely isn’t a new concept.

What is community marketing?

Wikipedia defines community marketing as “Whereas marketing communication strategies such as advertising, promotion, PR, and sales all focus on attaining customers, community marketing focuses on the perceived needs of existing customers.”

There are many benefits to community marketing for Twitch:

• Die hard users: Twitch users feel defined as a “Twitcher”. They are loyal to the platform and are happy to argue with peers about how good the platform is. This is very relatable to the community Apple have created, where people are more than happy to promote the product just because of their love and loyalty to the brand. As I said the users on Twitch are “the most effective marketing team” as the users are the ones going out and telling their friends, family and followers to come to the platform.

• Incentivizes creators: With Twitch having huge communities on the platform - especially with the access to the creators they have. It gives creators a platform where they can connect and communicate with their audience like never before. This allows creators to form deeper connections with their audience. This is huge for them when looking to monetize content and sell products such as merchandise to their audience - the stronger the audience the more likely they are to buy from them. With Twitch being the easiest platform for creators to do this, it not only draws creators to the platform, but also encourages creators to push their audience over to their Twitch streams. In order for them to develop that deeper connection with them.

Don’t get me wrong Twitch do have a marketing team… but you shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you that the main focus of their marketing off the platform, is still directed at creating great experiences for the Twitch community.

The best example of this is an event they host called TwitchCon: an annual convention that celebrates Twitch’s community.

Chase from Twitch’s PR team explained the event as follows:

Yes, that’s right, they host an event to celebrate the Twitch community - now that really is going all out for the users.

Quick Summary

It can be a hard concept to get your head around - a company that focuses on their community as a method for growth. It’s the complete opposite of what you usually see with other platforms that throw millions into advertisements.

The best way to understand the method is to look at it plain and simple. Imagine if it was real life rather than online. Imagine if people were able to get their favorite footballer down to the local field every Saturday. Lot’s of people would flock to the field every Saturday to have a kick around with their role model. Once one group had gone down they would be constantly talking about the experience, which would encourage more and more people to get down to the field next weekend. The footballer on the other hand has the huge reward of growing his audience and creating stronger connections with his current fans. Once other footballers hear of his growth they’ll also start coming down to the field too… and so and so forth.

Twitch understands this concept and the exponential growth and potential it has. So they nurture these communities. They constantly work to make them more and more intimate and bring creators closer to their audience.

They look after the community and in turn the community looks after them.

Why you should implement community marketing?

A strong community is something that every brand wants and is trying to create. I constantly refer to the example of Apple, but that’s because it’s one of the best examples to date.

Apple doesn’t just have customers; it has a community. People who are willing to purchase every new product they release. They are willing to argue with peers about how great Apple products are, simply because they feel a part of the Apple community.

That’s exactly what you want within your brand; a strong, die-hard community - not just a bunch of one time purchases.

How you can implement it?

When you’re looking to create a community, it’s all about bringing people together with a common interest - in this case your brand.

Here’s 3 things you should focus on:

1. Make your audience feel a part of your brand: this can be done through super simple things such as: following people back on social media, regularly replying to DM’s and simply interacting with followers in the comments section. Simple acts like this make people feel heard, seen and more a part of the brand’s community.

2. Treat them like royalty: there are so many brands out their that constantly disrespect and disregard their followers. Your audience is literally the most important part of your business - without them you don’t have a business. So treat them well, thank them and celebrate them - just like Twitch does.

3. Bring everyone together: communities revolve around everyone coming together. So try creating a space where followers can come together and talk. Maybe, try setting up a Telegram chat where people can chat and communicate directly with the team. You could even start a Twitch channel and do weekly streams where the audience and followers can ask you questions!

Give it a go!

This has been a breakdown of Twitch’s marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and are able to implement a similar strategy into your business.

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I’ll see you next Sunday!