Twitch Business Cards 101
As a growing streamer, going to events like TwitchCon or Insomnia should be a part of your annual routine. When you go to these events, it’s wise to be armed with a batch of your own business cards to hand out to all the new Twitch streamers and brands you meet.
Conventions are useful networking tools, but they’re also incredibly busy and people get overwhelmed by meeting so many new faces. Handing someone your streamer business card will mean your face doesn’t get lost in the crowd and allow you to connect with your new friends.
What Are Streamer Business Cards For?
Business cards serve as a simple yet effective way to relay your contact details to people you meet. Traditionally, they display four things:
- Your name
- Company / Brand
- Contact number
- Email address
In the streaming industry they’re used for the exact same purpose as any business, the difference is that they’re only used in one environment – conventions.
There are two main reasons behind streamer business cards – making friends & making money.
Gaining both is the goal.
Who Should I Give My Business Cards To?
Think of the type of people that go to conventions.
- Fans
- Streamers
- Game Developers
- Brands
Three out of the four above are deserving of your business card, however your approach should differ between each type of person you network with.
Let’s say you were at a generic business trade show. Companies showcasing themselves are on the hunt for new recruits to join them.
By the end of your conversation with a company representative, they’ll say something along the lines of “We want to hire you, please call me and we’ll talk jobs.” and offer their business card to you.
You’ve got to have a reason for a streamer or brand to contact you. Once that reason has been established, that’s when you should offer your twitch business card.
Business cards should not be treated like leaflets.
Don’t litter them everywhere. Nobody is going to pick one up if you sneak one into the partner lounge bathroom.
Streamers
What many small streamers look to do is join or create a stream team. Conventions serve as an opportunity to get involved, especially If you meet people who broadcast the same game(s) as you.
The stream team Connection Lost allowed newly appointed Twitch affiliates to gain exposure throughout the Runescape segment in the form of auto hosting and promotion by the veteran player and team owner B0aty.
This is a great opportunity to grow together and warrants a reason for you to hand them a business card.
If you’re an established streamer who already has a sponsor, you’ll meet fellow sponsored streamers of the same brand whilst at the event.
A brand like G-Fuel has a much deeper pool of sponsors, meaning plenty of those you meet will have never heard of you, nor you them. As you have some common ground, get to know them with the view of becoming friends first.
Save all the talk about squad streaming for the future, as when you speak about that topic too early you risk alienating them as it just looks like you are after one thing.
Remember: You’re networking – the money part comes later.
Game Developers
Try to look for developers showcasing the type of games you stream. The end goal of a relationship with a developer is to obtain early access to new titles, free game keys to offer to your viewership or a sponsored stream upon the game’s release.
Developers will only be interested in broadcasters who have an audience which is relevant to them.
For example – when Black Desert was released on Xbox One & PS4, guess who the developers had stream their game?
That’s right, MMORPG streamers.
Brands
Networking with brands is very similar to that of game developers. Brands will be more interested in your demographics as opposed to your audience.
There’s a reason that you see G-Fuel absolutely everywhere, they care about one thing and one thing only – getting their product in the hands of as many people as possible. That’s why all the streaming goliaths like DrDisrespect and Lirik are on the G-Fuel roster
.
Usually brands will approach you via email or through a talent management company, but don’t expect them to get in contact with you quickly. There’s usually a lot of internal hoops they have to jump through to get you approved for a sponsorship.
Business Card Design
The best business cards are simple in their design. The timeless advice given by printing companies and working professionals is to not cram as much information as humanly possible onto your card.
Social Media
A more specific example of this listing all of your social media handles. Just because you have a Facebook page or Pinterest, doesn’t mean they deserve a space on your streamer business cards.
My advice would be to opt for only two of your platforms. The first should be Twitter, as it’s the most popular social media platform for the gaming industry, seconded by which ever platform you have the largest following on.
Aesthetics
The design of the card should be an extension of your brand, if you have graphics already made for your stream, stick to the same color scheme.
You’ll also have the opportunity to choose a different finish for your cards, like a shiny gloss or lamination.
While this does look fancy and make your streamer business cards stand out, people like to write on business cards so its best to keep it simple (and cheaper) with normal card stock.
One of the most common features used by streamers for their business cards is a QR code that uses your stream as a landing page.
This is pretty much the industry standard and is absolutely something you should use, the only downside is that it eats away at space.
Think Ahead
One final note about the design of your cards – if you’re even remotely thinking about changing your name or branding in the foreseeable future, don’t invest in a large quantity of business cards.
While you typically get some form of discount for buying in bulk, you won’t hand them out and they’ll be outdated by the time the next event comes around.
Oh, and it goes without saying, don’t use Comic Sans.
Where Can I Get Twitch Business Cards Made?
Unless you’re very organized, chances are you’ll need these cards within the next two weeks or so.
It will be much faster for you to use sites like Vistaprint or Moo as opposed to working with a designer and printing company due to turnaround times.
If you are getting some made with a decent amount of time to spare, you can hire a freelancer from sites like Fiverr however you may end up with a much better design by working with a twitch emote designer if you can find one willing to create some mock-ups.
If you do want to use an emote designer, Twitter is usually a good place to find them. And no, you can’t pay them in exposure.
