While it may be tempting to participate in fake engagement if you are trying to get your Twitch channel to a Twitch affiliate, this practice won’t work well in the long run. You should be working to get more followers organically so that they will engage with your stream and participate in your future community.
This post will explore if gaining followers through F4F makes sense fo anyone, whether you are trying to grow your channel or reach Twitch affiliate.
Why Streamers Shouldn’t Follow-for-Follow (F4F)?
Follow-for-follow is typically against the terms of service of streaming platforms. It is seen as a “cheating method” and may hurt your chances of networking with broadcasters who could genuinely help you and your content.
Follow-for-follow will make your Twitch account numbers look warped. Sponsors care about content and viewers, not follower counts. Spend your time networking and strengthening the quality of your stream.
In this post, we will cover some of the pitfalls of participating in follow-for-follow schemes and how they can ultimately hurt your live-streaming reputation. We will also discuss some alternatives that can strengthen your Twitch channel.
Follow for Follow Facebook Groups
I’ve been in several F4F Facebook groups. They are very spammy, and most of the other fellow streamers aren’t willing to give valuable insight into making your Twitch channel more valuable. While we don’t recommend F4F groups and advise that you ignore them, here are a couple of Facebook groups you can join:
Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Follow for Follow on Twitch
There are several reasons why you shouldn’t follow for follow on Twitch. These include the following:
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1. Follow-for-Follow Makes Your Numbers Look Warped
People notice if you have 2,000 followers but only three followers. They wonder why people follow you but never return to your stream. It cheapens your channel and makes the second guess if they want to stay.
Some individuals are happy to watch new streamers, but with so many small Twitch channels to choose from, they are going to spend their time looking for something fresh and exciting. Don’t give them any reason to doubt your content.
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2. Follow-for-Follows are Generally Not Supportive
People who participate in follow-for-follow programs will generally not support you or your stream. They are doing it to boost their numbers with your support. They are that you will watch their stream and support them, but since they are participating in F3F schemes, they don’t have time for anyone. You might go into it, wanting to help them. In reality, you will only stay to support them if their content entertains you.
Network with fellow streamers instead. Join your platform’s subreddit or Facebook groups. Connect with steamers whose content you enjoy and support them. Ask questions about how you can develop your skills. These relationships can be helpful. You will get feedback on your content, find support, and get the opportunity to collaborate with other streamers.
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3. People Cheat by “Unfollowing” You After You Have Followed Them
Unfortunately, not everyone is honest, and some people will want to take advantage of you. They want to make it appear that their followers are organic. To keep their “follower” count high and their “people they follow” count low, they will wait a day or two, then unfollow you.
Again, would you rather have these people in your corner or find those who are willing to help you grow?
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4. F4F is Looked Down Upon By Other Streamers
If you go into a group and ask to participate or create an F4F scheme, you and your channel will lose credibility with other streamers. They will see you as someone who wants to take shortcuts and hasn’t done their research. It will take a lot of work to rebuild their confidence in your channel. Trying to do things the “easy way” now will make your future more difficult.
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5. Sponsors Care About Viewers, Not Followers
Don’t expect to use your follower count to find Twitch sponsors. Companies are more interested in your content, brand, and concurrent viewer counts than followers. Double down on your efforts to generate the results they want in a streamer.
Fake Engagement on Your Twitch Channel
Follow for follow on twitch, coordinated properly, is considered fake engagement. And apart from F4F, there are also fake engagements you should be aware of.
Twitch does not tolerate fake engagements so it’s best not to resort to these types of interactions when growing your audience.
Fake engagement is when you have planned user interactions with others in the Twitch community to increase your Twitch statistics. Fake engagements can also be from the use of 3rd party tools. These tools are usually used for view-botting and follow-botting.
In addition to avoiding Follow for Follow schemes, you should also avoid getting view bots for your Twitch account. View botting is illegal on the platform. The same goes for follow-botting.
With that said, let’s talk about creating content that will help your channel’s viewership organically grow to a large number.
Get Twitch Viewers by Making Good Content
Many streamers believe that if they stream, the viewers will come. This is very rarely the case. Broadcasters who earn a livable wage work very hard to create strong content, network with other streamers, and promote their channels. There is no “easy route” to success.
Play to your strengths. What natural talents can you bring to your channel to step up your content? Are there things that you can “merge” to create a unique niche? How and where can you promote that niche to find your audience? If you were your target audience, what kind of promotion would attract you?
The point of live-streaming is to be seen by other people. Viewers are attracted to entertaining and educational content. People who follow your Twitch channel to boost your numbers don’t help you reach your goals. Instead of wasting time with F4F, use that time to plan your next stream. Keep talking on stream to engage with your followers.
Follows to Get to Affiliate
In our opinion, the only time it is appropriate to ask for followers is when a Twitch streamer has met the other three requirements for Affiliate status but is lacking on the follower counts. You only need 50 followers to become an Affiliate and it is rarely the milestone that sets someone back (the concurrent viewer one is typically the hardest to achieve).
If you have met the other three requirements, reach out to social media. Don’t offer to F4F, but explain that you need X amount of follows to reach Affiliate status and that you have met the other requirements. Other streamers will be happy to help you and are impressed that you managed to get the 3 concurrent viewers before you met your follower count.
Conclusion
It’s best and ideal to grow your channel organically. There are plenty of ways to gain followers but F4F is not one of them. Focus on making your streams high quality and work with other smaller streamers to grow together.
Chris
Chris is a digital marketer with a strong background in small business and influencer branding. He applies his knowledge of content and promotional strategies to design actionable advice for new and intermediate streamers. When he’s not busy crunching analytics, he can be found in the salt pits of League of Legends.