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Influencers can take any marketing strategy to the next level. When you choose one with the right reach for your brand’s niche, you can boost brand awareness, authority, and engagement. With so many personalities now crowding an influencer marketing industry worth over $24 billion, however, consumers are now more discerning about who they follow.
That’s why you need to prioritize authenticity. According to new research from the Journal of Marketing, brands should work with influencers who align with their values—not just those with a high follower count. By being more transparent with consumers about those genuinely shared interests and allowing influencers to maintain their originality, brands can appear more authentic and significantly benefit from influencer marketing.
Choosing a live streamer as your next influencer is one of the best ways to start. Because of the real-time, unfiltered nature of their content, they’re often considered to be more authentic. You can find some great case studies for this in the online gaming industry, a multibillion-dollar powerhouse that’s rapidly expanding thanks to its use of the live-streaming platform Twitch.
Reach expansion
Credit: @drinknutcase on Instagram
One key benefit of influencer marketing is expanding your reach. That’s part of what makes Twitch streamers so appealing for brands to partner with. Many of them maintain communities both on and off Twitch where they can interact with viewers. These allow them to grow their fanbases and create strong connections with them—which brands can then market themselves to.
Just take a look at the Twitch streamer Ninja, who skyrocketed to fame after streaming his Fortnite playthroughs on his channel. He’s the first on the platform to surpass three million followers and also holds the record for the largest concurrent audience held by a streamer—something he achieved when he held a celebrity live stream with Drake and Travis Scott. Ninja consistently interacts and builds bonds with this large community both on Twitch and other sites like Discord, which is why he’s often sought after by major brands looking to try influencer marketing to tap into online gaming audiences. That’s why he stands as the recipient of adidas’ first-ever gamer endorsement deal. Currently, he’s also an ambassador for brands like G FUEL and Nutcase, advertising their products on his live streams.
Viewer engagement
Credit: @acr_poker on Instagram
Influencers can help you do more than just reach new and larger audiences. That’s because their fans closely follow what they do and trust their recommendations. In working with an influencer, you can see the loyalty and trust from their fans transfer to your brand, which can ultimately help you boost conversions. That’s why Twitch partnerships are so common in online gaming sectors like poker. Here, they’re crucial for building trust—which, according to a Computers in Human Behavior study on consumer attitudes to online gaming, is the biggest factor that attracts and retains online poker players.
The effective nature of these partnerships can be seen in the dedicated poker streaming teams, including ACR Stormers. Created by online poker pioneers ACR Poker, this crew of over 50 streamers regularly showcases its skills in the digital card game on its Twitch channel. The Stormers host promotions like daily giveaways and live streams focused on trending discussion points that help them engage with their audience. The content they create encourages viewers to try it out for themselves on the ACR Poker platform. This has helped the brand establish itself as the US’ #1 poker site.
Monetization opportunities
Credit: @teamliquid on Instagram
Because of the above benefits, Twitch influencers can also be great for consistently driving sales. The authenticity and trust they inspire in their followers mean there will be less friction points when purchasing the products and services you offer through them. For example, you can have them share special promotions like seasonal discount codes, as well as direct links to your website during live streams. You can also look to the esports sector if you want to try other techniques. Here, many brands already monetize streaming by forging sponsorship deals for their teams. Others, including game developers themselves, up the ante with monetization strategies that further appeal to viewers—because they ensure that part of the proceeds they generate go to influencers, themselves.
Leading publisher Riot Games, the developer behind League of Legends (LoL), recently introduced subscriptions for viewers of the game looking to support LoL teams, like Team Liquid and T1, on Twitch. The plans offer ad-free viewing for watch parties and exclusive in-game rewards. They further attract subscribers by ensuring their payments help fund Riot Games’ Global Revenue Pool—and eventually trickle down to the streamers of their choice. The structure of these subscriptions takes full advantage of committed Twitch influencer fanbases to establish steady income streams, making it clear how Riot Games has successfully cemented LoL as the world’s leading esports title in terms of both viewership and revenue.
Want to take notes from these leading online gaming brands? Learn more about the quickest ways to monetize your community here on Intravert.