With the conjoined rise of livestream platforms and online gaming, the stage is set for influencers to reap huge financial rewards. The most powerful gaming influencers are able to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars through their paying subscribers and affiliate contracts. But how do you break into the world of the gaming influencer? We look at some possible routes in below to help you on your way.
1. Your Niche Is Your Strength
While you’re growing your followers, having a defined niche is a great idea. You could think about what unique angle or take you can offer to the world of gaming, and cultivate this. You might want to use a livestream platform to feature gaming along with other areas of your life. You could also consider offering game or equipment reviews, or tutorials. Find your field, and play it in order to stand out from the gaming influencer crowd.
2. Connect With Other Influencers
This is a powerful, but easy move. Connecting with other influencers could hugely increase your audience, and bolster your credibility as you take your first steps along the influencer path. Use social media sites to further engage with your fellow gamers, especially those that are operating within your chosen niche. There are opportunities here for support and advice as well as the increased potential for sponsorship.
Consider getting involved in gaming competitions and other events, and don’t be afraid to make the first move and contact other gamers to see if they would consider cross promotion or other forms of collaboration. And, of course, gaming with other influencers is a fun and easy way to make connections.
3. Grow Your Audience
The key to growing your audience is effective and consistent engagement. Start by sharing your channel with as many of your friends and family members as possible. You could consider building a website and setting up a dedicated social media presence to run alongside your channel, and share this widely, too. Try to convey as much personality as possible during your streams to engage your audience and to stand out from the crowd. Ensuring that your stream titles, keywords and hashtags are relevant and attention-grabbing will also pay dividends in helping drive new viewers to your channel.
4. Continue To Engage With Your Followers
Get to know your audience, and what keeps them watching and engaged, and what has the opposite effect, and act on these findings. Make sure you stream regularly, so that followers can find new content. Now that your followers are turning into subscribers, you may want to consider setting up monthly contests, or an email list to send out a weekly newsletter.
Talk with your viewers as much as possible during streaming, engaging them more by inviting them to join in a discussion on a dedicated forum or chat group. “Analytical tools are your friend when it comes to getting to know your audience,”says Steve Greene, business writer at Origin Writings and Write my X. “Use these tools to track trends and performance to help grow your channel.”
5. Make A Brand
Making yourself into a brand will super-charge your entry into the gaming influencer world. Consider adopting a logo, key colors, perhaps a character, etc, and think about the unique benefits your channel can offer its subscribers and how you can focus in on this in your branding.
In creating your brand, keep in mind what your followers are looking for when they visit your channel, and what things make you stand out from the crowd as a gaming influencer and influencer in general. Successful branding will promote your channel as professional and trustworthy, and allows for merchandising opportunities to further grow your profile and reach. Becoming a brand will significantly elevate your audience’s perception of your channel.
6. Consider A Marketing Agency
There are a number of dedicated influencer marketing agencies that can be engaged to assist in many aspects of your gaming influencer journey, from helping with branding to bringing formidable networking potential to bear on your behalf. An agency can also support you with marketing campaigns, connect you with cross channel opportunities and provide expert advice.
Karin Coates, lifestyle blogger at 1 Day 2 write and Brit Student, suggests, “Instructing an agency can be a great idea once you have reached a high number of subscribers and are ready to take the next step.”
Next Steps For A Gaming Influencer
Today there are many opportunities for influencers to make a substantial amount of money using livestream platforms. If you have a passion for gaming, this could be the perfect way to turn your hobby into a viable business. The key to making this happen is careful planning and strategy devising: design your brand, grow your audience, and network in order to become an attractive proposition for sponsorship and other lucrative opportunities.
Author Bio: Kendra Beckley is a business development manager and editor at Essay writing services and PhD Kingdom. She also writes articles on a wide range of topics at Next Coursework. Kendra specializes in assisting companies enter new markets and building long-term relationships with their partners.