As digital marketing grows, affiliate marketing has become more relevant and loads of people are curious to learn more about how to start. It’s also an extremely accessible way to work. Furthermore, affiliate marketers don’t need a degree to be knock-outs at their jobs as all it requires is keeping an ear to the ground and staying up to date on the latest tech news.
Affiliate marketers come in all shapes and sizes, but among the most popular types are gamers. That’s because gaming fans often check out the latest reviews and gaming news, which necessitates the production of a lot of content.
Since its launch in 2011, Amazon’s gaming platform, Twitch, has become a beacon for gaming affiliates. Of course, that’s not the only content that Twitch platforms as also center a variety of topics including cooking, design, art, music, and fashion.
As a video streaming service, it functions a lot like YouTube, wherein specific channels create tailored content that speaks to targeted audiences. This has led to it becoming an extremely useful tool for affiliate marketing.
Why Streaming Matters
In the online gaming community, Twitch streamers play a crucial role for a number of reasons. Gamers are providing demos of the games they play, which shows authenticity to interested audiences. Furthermore, many of the common questions about a game viewers may have end up being organically answered by Twitch streamers.
Take a niche gaming genre like slots, for example. Popular titles in this genre, such as Fishin’ Frenzy, include the select Megaways feature: a modifier that offers more symbols and variety to the gameplay, creating a more dynamic experience. Audiences tuning in to a Twitch streamer exploring this game will get to know more about this feature, ultimately making them more likely to try the title out for themselves.
Ways to Use Affiliate Links
Affiliate marketing is one of the most flexible forms of marketing. It can be as quick as a simple brand shout-out, or more thorough like a product review. Below are a few ideas to get started with affiliate marketing on Twitch.
Brand Shoutouts: As mentioned earlier, brand shoutouts are quite easy and candid. It usually entails mentioning a brand that offered to sponsor the video or provided products. Brand shoutouts come off quite naturally and when done well, are charming and inspire followers to check out that brand.
Unboxings: Much like opening a Christmas present, these types of videos inspire lots of excitement. Content creators simply describe their first impressions of the packaging, the brand’s customer service, the product’s appearance, and initial use. Unboxings create a lot of hype when planned well, so it’s a good affiliate marketing technique to keep up one’s sleeve.
Product Launches: There is a certain element of exclusivity to product launch videos. Much like unboxings, they create a lot of hype because it’s usually the first time viewers have the opportunity to see a certain product in action.
Product Reviews: These videos tend to be more in-depth looks into a specific brand. What lots of Twitch streamers do is record their broadcasts and later, put them on YouTube. That’s because product reviews don’t usually create as much hype at the beginning, but they assure a slow, steady burn. In fact, many streamers’ most popular videos are product reviews.
How to Become a Twitch Affiliate
Believe it or not, it’s actually quite easy to become a Twitch affiliate. The platform has its own program, which is a lot like the Amazon Associates Program.
The basic requirements are as follows:
- Own quality streaming equipment
- Create a Twitch account
- Gain at least 50 followers
- Have an average of at least 3 viewers watching the broadcast
- Broadcast for at least 500 minutes in the last 30 days
- Have 7 or more unique broadcasts in the last 7 days
In Conclusion
Twitch has lots to offer for anyone who is interested in getting started in affiliate marketing. It’s easy to start as long as marketers have quality streaming equipment, which includes a good webcam and microphone. It’s also important to have an idea of what content to stream, and what techniques marketers will use to cultivate their audiences.