During the TwitchCon 2017 keynote, Twitch introduced what would become a way more useful tool than many people realized in the form of raids (not the Viking kind, of course).
It wasn’t uncommon for a streamer, at the end of a stream, to attempt to send viewers over to another live channel.
Unfortunately, as beneficial as the sentiment was for growth, doing it was a bit of a pain. With raids being a supported feature, things became simpler than ever, and that’s what today is all about.
By the time you’re done reading, you’ll have raids down to a science. So, without further ado, let’s show you how to raid on Twitch!
What Is a Twitch Raid?
Image: twitch.tv/jakenbakelive
Put simply, a Twitch raid allows you to send viewers to a targeted channel without any extra work on their part.
Before the feature was introduced, you’d need to grab the URL of the lucky streamer, paste it into your chat, and hope people would browse to it.
Now, however, all of that is unnecessary. With the aid of the information below, you can now automatically transport everyone, providing a viewer boost to the destination stream, and fostering exposure.
What Are the Benefits of Raiding on Twitch?
The overarching benefit here is community building. and that can happen in a couple of ways. However, this is a good time to say that while it can be beneficial for your stream, do not raid others because you expect them to do you a solid in return.
With that said, first, raiding helps to expand your audience. typically, raiding another stream sets off a notification.
Stream Shoutout
In most cases, the streamer is going to give you a shout-out in full view of a potentially whole new audience. These people, who were viewing the stream before your raid, may end up dropping you a follow for your kind gesture.
Should you engage with the streamer and what is going on in chat, the chances of this happening improve. For example, it’s common for a streamer, after being raided, to ask about your stream, what you were playing, and strike up a conversation.
Chatters may simply like your game of choice or the vibe that you bring, and they may wish to check you out next time around.
FeelsGoodMan
On the flip side, you get to be a beacon of goodwill bringing exposure to someone else. Considering you’re sending your viewers and chatters over, you’d help someone else get more eyes on their content. Depending on what your viewers see, they may choose to follow, subscribe, donate, etc.
Finding Balance
You must be selective, however, to achieve the right balance. For example, if you raid a streamer who has a bunch of viewers and a lot of activity happening in chat, your raid may get lost in everything that’s happening.
Of course, that’s not necessarily always the case since you may just end up causing a figurative spotlight to shine on you, so much so that you massively increase your community.
Help Out Smaller Channels
Alternatively, you can help bring some exposure to a content creator with a smaller following than you have.
You never know what the amount of gratitude you inspire may mean in the future. That streamer may just end up amassing a large following and helping to build your community because of the jumpstart you provided. Who knows?
So, now you have an idea of why raids are beneficial for all involved. Come young padawan as it’s time you learn how to get the raid going.
How to Raid Someone on Twitch?
When you’re ready to hop over to the other stream, run through their simple steps below and watch the magic work.
Step One: Enter the Command
Yes, the process starts with typing a command in chat, and Twitch made it very simple. You want to type and enter /raid <streamer>, while replacing <streamer> with the actual name of the channel you intend to raid.
As you’re doing this, don’t make the mistake of putting the “at sign” (@) before the name. Doing so may feel right, but it will cause the command to fail.
Step Two: Let the Timer Run
Once you’ve entered the command, the raid doesn’t happen immediately. Instead, there’s a 10-second countdown that runs before you’re able to hop over. During this time, you can always click on Cancel just in case you entered the wrong name, or you decided you don’t want to do the raid anymore.
Step Three: Hit the Raid Now Button
When the timer reaches zero, the Raid Now button illuminates. Even at this point, however, there is a bit of a buffer. Should you click on the button, then you and all the viewers still hanging around are immediately transported to the destination channel.
If you choose not to click on the button, unless you cancel the raid, which you can still do at this point, everyone will still be automatically taken over after 80 seconds pass.
Configure Your Twitch Raid Settings
For obvious reasons already discussed, raids are awesome! However, certain circumstances may mean you need to change your raid settings.
For example, you may want to shield yourself as much as possible from the ever-undesirable hate raid. Alternatively, maybe you only want to be raided by friends, channels that follow you, or your teammates.
Once you allow raids, incoming raiders can give you a hard time, and you want to plan around this. Here are a few settings that you can use to your advantage if you need to quickly take control of the situation without banning the raiders individually.
Followers Only Chat
As the name implies, in this mode, only your followers can send messages in your chat. Now, this may sound pointless since viewers get an indicator when a channel is in this mode and could simply follow to wreak havoc on your stream.
Thankfully though, you can use Twitch’s neat timer feature, which prevents the raiders from engaging with your chat until your specified timeframe has passed.
Subscribers Only Chat
In this mode, only your subs get to chat. Just in case you are unfamiliar with the term, Twitch subscribers are those who opt to pay a monthly fee as a way of supporting your channel. It’s not required to view your content, and those who do subscribe can opt out at any time.
Emotes Only Chat
Some streamers aren’t comfortable with the idea of blocking people from chatting. If that sounds like you, then you can also switch to emotes-only mode, which prevents offensive verbiage from coming through since only emotes are accepted.
Slow Mode
Slow mode lowers the rate at which messages can be sent and filtered through to your chat. It’s a great control mechanism if you want to prevent continuous spamming.
Six Twitch Raiding Tips
Image: twitch.tv/oceanVI
Considering how beneficial raiding can be, not all streamers do it successfully. If you want to keep your name out of that crop, here are some tips you want to pay attention to:
1. Choose the Target Channel Carefully
Entertainment is key here. Maybe there’s a streamer online who you follow and know is a blast to watch.
Alternatively, you can turn the decision into an interactive activity as you and your audience have a minute discussion before you settle on someone.
Who knows? A viewer may know someone whose content is a lot like yours, which is a perfect option. You could even check out the stream for a minute or two with everyone before committing to it.
Most streamers are excited about being raided, but there are exceptions. So, if you want to be polite about it, you can always take a moment to reach out to see if your gesture is welcome.
2. Creating a Shout out on Social Media
You can grab the link of the channel you’ve raided and post it as you would for your own channel. If nothing else, you’re helping to get some eyes on another content creator, which is always a plus for community building.
To drive even further engagement, see if you can grab a hold of whichever social media handle is relevant to the platform you’re posting on. That way, you can directly tag the person.
3. Reaching out to Streamers for Collaborations
Remember collaborations are meant to be mutually beneficial. Therefore, if you are going to present the idea of such a relationship to a streamer, ensure that you highlight where the advantages lie for both channels.
Don’t be too pushy as some people are just genuinely not interested, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The good news is you have a pool of other streamers with great content who may be more than willing to collaborate with you.
The goal with this is to create a few allies going forward, which can do wonders for everyone’s content!
4. Don’t Leave Immediately
Most likely, you ended your stream because you’re tired and probably just want to get off Twitch. However, don’t run off immediately after the raid. Engaging with everyone for a bit is a big part of the success.
Remember that the streamer you’ve raided is very likely to ask about your stream, what you played, etc. This is a great chance for you to let people know what you’re about. If that doesn’t happen, then you can always chat for a bit about the content you’re seeing.
Stick around for at least 10 minutes. Once it’s go time, politely let everyone know you’re taking off or lurking.
5. The 20% Rule
This isn’t necessarily a hard and fast rule, but it’s kind of an answer to a dilemma that streamers often find themselves in. They don’t want to raid a channel that’s too big, nor do they want to raid one that’s too small. So, what’s a good midpoint?
The 20% rule is one way you could go about doing this. In essence, if the channel is smaller than yours is, but has about 20% of your viewer count, then go for it. Similarly, if your viewer count is 20% of a larger channel’s audience, it’s also a good idea.
Obviously, the smaller channel in this equation gets a huge boost. However, you may have some reservations about the larger one.
Think about it this way. If your channel has 100 viewers and then jumps to 120, that’s a significant boost!
Remember want to raid larger channels than your own sometimes to improve the chances of building your community while giving some level of value to someone else’s stream.
6. Make Raiding a Tradition
If you have a consistent viewer base, don’t end your stream without raiding someone. Why not capitalize on the opportunity to do some good for yourself and others whenever you get the chance to?
Can’t come up with a reason not to? Exactly! So, get your raid on!
Difference Between Twitch Hosting and Raiding
Raiding reminds you a bit of hosting, right? Even so, they’re most certainly not the same.
First, while raids typically happen when you’re wrapping things up, hosting takes place when you’re already offline. Technically, after you raid someone, you could then proceed to host the person, provided you’ve ended your stream.
Next, hosting is passive. The stream you’re hosting displays and is viewed on your page. On the other hand, raids actively send everyone over to the target channel.
Finally, raiding is exciting and gets your community involved. You go it alone when hosting. Furthermore, if you leave it up to the Auto-Host feature on Twitch, you may not even remember that it happens.
FAQs
Why Should You Raid on Twitch?
Raiding is a great way to capitalize on potential mutual benefits. However, even if you are not immediately gaining something, does it hurt to help another channel when you were about to go offline anyway?
Your raid could be the starting point of a smaller channel’s success. Alternatively, it could become your own launching pad.
Who Should You Raid on Twitch?
Generally, you want to raid someone entertaining and relevant to your viewers. For example, if there is an exciting channel playing the same game that you were, your audience will probably love it. Also, remember that this isn’t a decision you need to make alone. Feel free to bring your viewers in on it too!
When Should You Raid Someone on Twitch?
There’s no raiding rulebook out there that guides you. Nevertheless, you typically want to do this when your own stream is coming to an end. After all, you do need to get through your streaming plans to avoid depriving your viewers.
Wrapping Up
Twitch outdid itself with the introduction of channel raids. Now, streamers can help themselves while helping each other. Capitalize on it as much as you can as there is a lot of goodwill and networking potential.
Remember, however, that there is a fine line between a successful raid and an unsuccessful one. Use the tips you got to make sure your raids don’t fall under the latter category.
