If you ever felt like running a giveaway on Twitch is a daunting task, then come on in and we will show you the quick and easy way of hosting the best of giveaways!
Best 5 Tips to Set Up Twitch Giveaway Properly!
Let’s be honest for a second – everyone likes free stuff, be it socks or a brand new car, if it is not coming out of my pocket it is a great addition to the ever-growing pile of things I don’t need but will keep for sentimental value.
The Twitch community operates on the same principles.
People on Twitch love free stuff and that is very important to acknowledge for an up-and-coming Twitch streamer.
If you plan on growing your community, want to engage your community or simply want to give back to the people that have been there since day 1, giveaways are a great opportunity to do just that.
Try online random winner picker tool like wheel spinner to choose giveaway winner.
Understand The Rules
First of all, as a responsible Twitch streamer you must consult Twitch rules on giveaways!
Are giveaways allowed on Twitch? What are you allowed to give away? How do you host a giveaway on Twitch? Etc.
First of all without boring you with many legal details, the platform itself does not have a clear rule on how to do giveaways on Twitch.
The Twitch TOS does not mention explicitly what to do in this situation, but it does stipulate that you as a streamer must abide by the local legislation.
For example if you want to make a giveaway but want it to be sub only, you might encounter legal issues.
Both in the EU and the USA a major rule is that any giveaway must have a zero-cost entry. This is stated by the US federal law and EU provisions.
If there is a fee for entry this is not considered a giveaway anymore but a lottery which falls under different regulations and can be run only by government approved entities.
Know Your Audience
As you can already see doing giveaways on Twitch entails many smaller steps that you as a streamer must be aware of.
After doing plenty of research there were a couple of things that we decided are important to share with any Twitch streamer that is interested in how to run a giveaway on his channel:
- Know what your community wants or needs.
- Know how to pitch your giveaway to people that dont even like or need the item/service you are giving away.
- Know how to make content out of the giveaway so you can promote future events.
- Know how to balance between your sub and followers for giveaways.
Sub giveaways are a hot topic on Twitch so here is some extra advice.
These types of giveaways are tricky but a way to circumvent this issue and the overall best way to do a giveaway on Twitch.
Is to have a follower giveaway in which the subs can participate with increased chances of winning something.
Obviously do not make it so the subs get a significantly higher chance of winning.
For example, a good way to balance this is to have the subscribers get 20% higher chances of winning the prize.
This way the followers don’t feel like the selection is rigged, and the subs don’t feel unappreciated.
What Do You Even Give Away…?
To have a successful giveaway that will help with your growth as a streamer you need to cater towards the audience of your streams.
If you have a community of comic nerds, you might as well give away some rare comics, or if you all like Pokémon socks then obviously that would be a great idea.
Overall it is always best to give people something that they are highly interested in, but if you are at the start of your trip and are still figuring out the tastes of your community, here is a list of things that people on Twitch generally like:
In-game cCurrency or Items
If there is a cool new skin in the game you are playing, try to capitalize on that and earn some more views by giving that skin away. If you are not sure what skin people will like then just give away some in-game currency for them to choose a skin for themselves. Always works like a charm!
Games
A brand spanking new game came out? Well guess what? People will definitely like that as a giveaway! Nothing makes a gamer quite as happy as a new game.
Gaming Peripherals/Accessories:
If you have a couple of mice lying around with no use, or a couple of mouse pads gathering dust, consider the possibility of running a Twitch giveaway with those items. Who doesn’t like a mouse that gathered all the Cheetos grease from their favorite streamer?
Play with your Viewers:
Another popular option for giveaways nowadays is to simply play with the viewer that wins the giveaway. Very fun and engaging for your community and is often free content for you!
Twitch/Discord Roles:
The last great option is giving away a VIP role on Twitch, or a special role in your Discord channel. Nothing makes viewers happier than feeling special and appreciated.
They can flaunt their cool role, badges etc. while you have a relatively easy time setting up this giveaway.
In the case of discord though, make sure your Discord server is well organized and a fun place to be in, otherwise it will lose its appeal as a reward.
If you are new to managing a community on Discord, here is a great reference article you can look at to get your started.
How Can I Get Stuff to Giveaway on Twitch?
As mentioned previously in the article, you DO NOT necessarily need to give away expensive things! You can give away some cool trinkets, apparel, some random things that people on your stream can relate to etc. As stated before the most important part is to show your audience you know who they are and what they like!
BUT if you do feel like you want to step up the giveaway game and invest more into your community, you will definitely need to find a sponsor.
To be effective at doing so you need to:
- Do prior research on potential sponsors
- Prepare your stream by making it look professional. Showcase your media and have your panels filled out properly!
- Know what platforms to use to contact people
Those would be some effective quick tips, but if you feel like you should know more about sponsors you can check this in-depth article on the topic.
Overall, a sponsor will give you the opportunity to earn a little bit more money out of your Twitch streams, which then means you can actually afford more expensive items to give away.
Even better, sometimes the sponsors will provide you with items to give away!
The truth is though, in order to even dream of getting a sponsor you must make sure your Twitch audience is ever-growing, you have a strong social media presence and you have achieved the “Twitch Partner” status.
If currently these things seem out of reach but you are itching to host a giveaway, don’t get discouraged and remember what we have mentioned about a million times by now: giveaways don’t have to be expensive, just be creative with what you have!
How to Set up Giveaways on Twitch
After you have figured out all the legal components and have decided on what kind of giveaway you want to run, it is finally time to ACTUALLY set up the giveaway on your channel!
There are a couple of ways you can host a giveaway on Twitch, but really the least cumbersome option is StreamElements.
There are probably many guides on how to host a giveaway on twitch with StreamElements, but honestly you can just open the official page and use the very simple steps described there.
The quick run-down is that you connect your Twitch account to StreamElements, go to the “Loyalty” tab, click on “Giveaways” and customize your giveaway to your heart’s content. Simple as that!
Conclusion
Running a twitch giveaway is absolutely not hard and in many cases provides a lot of content and enjoyable moments.
It requires just a tiny bit of research, a sprinkle of creativity and can provide your viewers with many good laughs!
