Instagram is the world’s third most popular social media platform, with more than a billion monthly users. This necessitates a presence on the platform. Historically, streamers have spent little time promoting themselves or building their profiles on Instagram, but that is changing. Instagram can increase your number of stream viewers, boost revenue, and make your brand more appealing to agencies and sponsors.
A bigger audience means more viewers, exposure, and opportunities. And a successful streaming career! By now, you know one equation that works: audience = money.
Whether you stream on Facebook Gaming, YouTube, Twitch, or another platform, it’s critical to diversify your platforms to reach as many potential viewers and business opportunities as possible.
A multi-presence social media strategy plays a significant role in growing your streaming audience because:
- You compete with many other streamers for the same attention and staying on one platform limits your access to a potential audience. However, being on multiple platforms increases your discoverability.
- Seeing you on multiple platforms piques potential viewers’ interest, causing them to visit your page and watch your stream. In the end, this is a numbers game because you will rarely capture a viewer by showing yourself only once.
- A large audience across multiple platforms increases your value to brands looking to collaborate.
Why shouldn’t you join other popular streamers like Ninja, Allie Strasza, Tom Syndicate, and Pokimane in using the platform to grow?
Why Is Instagram Important For Gamers?
The best place for marketing
Instagram not only reaches a vast audience within every niche imaginable, but it also has a wide range of features available for users to reach this audience.
Many businesses and brands use Instagram to market to their target audience. The platform is free to use, making it ideal if you have little to no marketing budget. Instagram appeals to people of all ages, genders, occupations, interests, and social standings. This means that your content and marketing can reach people across generations. As a gamer, this is especially exciting because we know that gaming isn’t just for the younger generation. An increasing number of millennials are participating in gaming as well.
Connect with a broader audience
People may be interested in you for reasons other than your gaming content. They might like your fashion sense, outfits, or other aspects of your personality.
Instagram is a great place to connect with followers with interests in addition to gaming. You might even get casual gamers who aren’t on Twitch following you. Many streamers have various interests or want to share aspects of their personal lives with their viewers. Instagram’s visual, fast-paced nature is ideal for broadening your horizons and revealing more of your life as a content creator.
It offers excellent tools for gamers
Instagram is flush with content options and tools for creators. IGTV allows users to post longer YouTube-style videos with more content, and you can use Instagram Live to live stream your gameplay for others to watch. Hashtags are a great feature on Instagram for streamers to connect with people interested in similar topics.
All of these different features are also integrated into the same platform, which means you can create a variety of different types of content all on the same platform without having to worry about growing a different platform simultaneously.
How To Use Instagram As A Streamer
1. Treat your profile as a highlight clip portfolio
The first thing people see when they visit your page is your profile. So, make sure it accurately represents you and your brand. Making your profile a highlight reel of your best clips is a great way to accomplish this. This will give potential new viewers a sense of who you are and what they can expect from your content. Also, did you know you can connect your Twitch and Instagram accounts?
This makes it extremely simple for people who enjoy your Instagram content to find your Twitch channel. Many streamers repost clips from their broadcasts on Twitter and YouTube to gain new followers and highlight memorable moments for regular viewers who may have missed them. Short video clips of less than a minute can be shared on Instagram as a regular post or as a looping video in the form of an Instagram Reel.
2. Connect with your fans through Instagram Stories
We can’t talk about Instagram without asking if you use Instagram stories.
With over 300 million daily active users, Instagram Stories is a popular way to share less edited, more behind-the-scenes photos and videos. Building your brand as a gamer on Instagram is simple, especially with Stories. This feature allows gamers to advertise, promote their work, and serve as a teaser for their content. Additionally, it aids in promoting the games you are playing and gaming-related posts to strangers and followers.
Make your Stories amusing, intriguing, enlightening, and personal. You can also follow other gaming accounts and check their Stories for recent updates.
To create Instagram Stories as a streamer, you could:
- Record a brief video tour of your setup, your gear, and how you use it.
- Announce your next livestream and what you will be playing that day.
- Hold special Q&A sessions with your viewers.
- Review a game you’ve been playing.
- Share the story about how you got into streaming.
- Use the polling feature.
- Use an IRL event to create a Story series.
- Give shoutouts to other streamers and gamers you admire.
- What are your other interests? TV shows? Films? Music? Dancing Cooking? Share it with your audience!
- Play with stickers and GIFs to make your Stories more interesting
- Remember to use the Story Highlight feature, which will keep your stories on your profile forever! Separate these into ‘themes.’
3. Connect with other streamers on Instagram
This is simply a case of being nice and friendly to those who create content the same way you do. For example, if you find another streamer doing the same thing as you, consider them a potential friend who might be interested in collaborating and playing games with you!
Connecting with other streamers is necessary because it can lead to future collaboration opportunities and provides you with a community you can turn to for advice and support.
To create healthy connections:
- Follow relevant people whose content you enjoy seeing.
- Leave thoughtful and insightful comments on their Instagram posts.
- Watch their stories. They’ll notice you become a devoted “viewer” and check you out in return.
4. Make streaming industry contacts
Creating and maintaining an active Instagram account can significantly increase the value of your brand. It is proof that your influence extends beyond your preferred streaming platform and has the potential to reach a much larger market.
This can attract companies and agencies looking to collaborate with streamers for marketing. Once you’ve created your account, follow the accounts of any companies or agencies with which you’d like to collaborate and tag them in your posts when appropriate. It’s also a good idea to include your email address on your Instagram profile to make it as easy to contact you as possible.
5. Earn more money with sponsored Instagram Posts
Another significant advantage of Instagram for streamers is the two main types of content sharing that contribute to casual and strong in-channel support of products and services. Stories are ideal for casual sharing with your audience and followers, whereas your main channel posts effectively show your support for a sponsor. Instagram’s support for brands and promotional campaigns, combined with advanced reporting tools, is another reason why many businesses see it as an effective influencer marketing tool. This includes gathering information on how well campaigns are performing and what their target audience is interested in.
As a Twitch streamer, you can reach a larger audience via sponsored Instagram posts. This is an excellent way to promote your channel and gain new subscribers.
Keep an eye on your Instagram insights page and note your growth and what posts are performing well. Brands are often interested in such data from your profile.
Create an advertiser-friendly Instagram and Twitch account to attract advertisers to your content. This may imply limiting your use of curse words and ensuring that your account is appropriate for children to view.
6. Livestream on Instagram, then redirect to Twitch
Over 100 million people watch IG lives every day. Instagram’s robust broadcast feature allows anyone to go live from their smartphone or tablet’s Instagram app. Livestreams are prominently displayed at the top of the Instagram app, so anyone wondering how to watch live broadcasts can tap on your icon and join your session.
Figure 3: IG live is an engaging content format. Source: Headphones Addict
Viewers watching your broadcast can interact with you by sending hearts and chat messages, allowing you to connect with your fans one-on-one without being distracted by a video game or other activity.
Experiment with doing an Instagram livestream about 30 minutes before your main YouTube, Facebook, or Twitch account goes live. When you’re ready to make the switch, invite your Instagram followers to join you.
Grow Your Streaming Career With Brands On Atisfyre
Once you establish a solid presence as a streamer and gaming content creator across platforms, you are ready for the next step. Setting up a viable streaming career that pays the bills and opens regular opportunities for sponsorships takes time. Atisfyre helps you connect to brands and businesses looking for talented influencers to work on global campaigns. Our platform integrates your platforms, so you don’t have to switch between channels to stay updated with your progress.
