Using Influencer Marketing to Grow Your Gaming Channel

Influencer marketing can significantly enhance the growth of your gaming channel by partnering with established creators and brands. But making these connections – and using them in the right way – can be a challenge.

At MinMxD, we work with gaming creators and studios of all shapes and sizes to help grow their channels. In this article, we’ll help you understand how to engage with influencers, identify the most effective types of collaborations, and learn methods of leveraging these partnerships to increase your channel’s visibility.

Start your gaming channel growth today by contacting our team.

Influencer marketing is a common technique used by brands to leverage the established audiences of digital influencers. While it’s primarily used by companies looking to sell a product or service, it has its own use for the gaming niche.

The primary way you’ll be able to engage in influencer marketing is through collaborations. These are an agreement between you and an influencer to produce content together, enabling you to reach both audiences and encourage growth in your channels.

Unlike traditional influencer marketing, this method is less transactional for gaming content creators, often involving content being produced for each channel in return. To start, however, you need to connect with the right people.

Gaming content is a massive industry, with creators spread across many different platforms. Finding the right people to work with can be difficult with so many places to choose from, but there are some fairly simple steps you can take.

The first step is to look at social media. Trending creators, people recommended to your feed, and anyone talked about in your social circles are all good places to start. Likewise, reddit and Discord groups are some of the key places you can find successful influencers on social media.

Next, you can look at similar channels on your content platform. Try to look at people who play similar games with a similar style, and have an audience that is equal to or greater than your own.

Asking your friends is also a surprising way to find potential influencer connections, especially if they are also in the industry.

Finally, you might find yourself engaging in influencer marketing without even trying. React streamers and creators play a large role in getting found, as they tend to show your videos in front of a large audience. This can lead viewers to visit your channel to see more, allowing you to leverage their audience without any extra effort.

Learn more about networking in the gaming industry >

If you’re looking for ideas to carry out in your next influencer collaboration, then we’ve got a few options that can help you engage with your (and their) audience and drive channel growth. Here’s our top picks:

• Let’s plays – especially as longer form series, this allows you to steadily build a bond with an influencer and their audience over time.
• Joint streams – by streaming together, you can show your chemistry live, creating a strong impression in your viewers.
• Crossovers and cameos – not every collaboration has to be super high effort, and you can achieve great results with simple things like a short cameo somewhere in your video.
• IRL content – getting out and about, showing people you’re interacting with these influencers in person, is a great way to show you have a genuine bond.
• Video responses – finally, responding to an influencer’s videos – particularly in the case of react streamers – opens up a dialogue with them that can drive a lot of interest.

Explore the role of social media marketing for gaming content creators >

When starting a partnership, try to form a genuine connection with the influencer. Hang out, get to know them, and build a bond. This will not only improve the experience for you and the influencer, but also make things appear more real for your audience.

Next comes setting the terms. Outline what will be done, what the agreement is, how much time, when, and the expectations of each party. Make sure you’ve got all the general details sorted to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Pay is also important. Discuss the finer details like payments, revenue splits, and shout outs – this will help prevent any hard feelings when it comes to sorting out the revenue from your collaborative content.

To make the most out of your influencer marketing, you need to observe its impact on your channel. The first step is to take note of your statistics before the campaign begins, letting you set a benchmark which you can compare to the stats after the campaign.

Pay close attention to any spikes in the 30 days after a collab goes live, as this is the most likely window for any impact to take place. You should also monitor any other potential factors that could affect these figures like a video going viral, industry news, or your standard channel growth.

By engaging in this process with various influencers, you can build an idea of which methods and creators offer the greatest impact for your channel – letting you tailor your future influencer marketing for the greatest results.

By working with the right people, in the right way, you can see enormous growth for your channel. Not only does this open up valuable opportunities and connections in the industry, but it puts your content in front of a whole host of potential viewers that will already likely be interested in what you have to offer.

There’s no better introduction than a recommendation from a favourite influencer, but there are plenty of other strategies you can use to help grow your channel. At MinMxD, we help you find them – get in touch today.

Find out the ins and outs of taxes as a gaming influencer >

Check out our complete guide to affiliate marketing for gaming influencers >

Win brand collaborations for your gaming channel – find out more >