Twitch is a service that allows those who play games to broadcast the content live. Although popular for those who play consoles and computers, it can be used to promote tabletop games as well. In fact, a lot of broadcasters will stream card games live. Many people will use this platform to generate donations to a variety of causes ranging from personal to charitable. Integrating this system into WordPress is relatively simple whether you want to show your content live on a static page or use a Twitch plugin to display whether you’re live or not.
Integrating Twitch.tv Into WordPress
The first thing you need to understand is how Twitch is going to be used on your website. If you plan on engaging site visitors to watch the stream, it’s best to use a static page. This makes the content easy to find and gives it a professional atmosphere. Essentially, you want a page that is used purely as a delivery system for the video. You may even benefit by adding advertisements on this area as well. Some developers will set this page to be part of the main menu across the top of WordPress.
Getting the Code
When you share content on Twitch, you’re supplied with the embed code. All you need to do is copy the code from Twitch and paste it onto your page. You can then modify the size of the video to fit your content by altering the “width” and “height” dimensions within this coding. Once this has been saved onto the page, it’s live. As soon as you start playing a game through Twitch, it will be immediately display on the website.
Using a Plugin for the Stream
Some developers have created Twitch plugins that can streamline the process of adding the content to a webpage. All you need to do is input the corresponding settings for your stream into the WordPress plugin and it will do the rest. To find these additions:
- Go to the “Plugins” area of your WordPress dashboard.
- Click the “Add New” button on the top.
- In the search field on the following page, input “twitch.”
- Install and activate the plugins that will work best for your website.
Using Widgets to Promote Your Live Stream
When searching for “twitch” plugins, you may see some that feature the stream’s status. This is to alert people on your website that there is a live stream in progress. Most of these plugins will be utilized on the sidebar of your site. If you place the widget in an area that is live on every page of your content, you will reach a wider scope of your site’s visitors. Some can also be added as a small identifier in your top navigation bar. This could be useful if you don’t want to commit a large sidebar widget for the sake of telling visitors that you’re broadcasting live.
Promoting the Social Count
Like other social media outlets, Twitch displays the number of followers on any given channel. It’s a way to identify popularity just like it does with Facebook and Twitter. Some plugins, such as Social Count Plus, can retrieve this data from Twitch and display it on your website. Many of these may also include shortcodes to use. These short snippets of coding can be used in virtually any location within WordPress.
Social Logins
You’ve more than likely visited sites that use social accounts to register. If you wanted to add the same platform to your website, plugins like WordPress Social Login offers the same abilities while incorporating Twitch. This works perfect for those who are interested in building on a gaming community. If you sell consumer electronics, this could be incredibly ideal as you could easily expand your eCommerce platform to engage those gamers.
Team Broadcasting
If you have a group of people streaming under a specific team, Twitch plugins can help you promote those accounts simultaneously. Additions like Team Broadcast Status List will show your visitors who is streaming live this moment with links back to their accounts. If your company is involved with the charitable organization Extra Life, you could engage more of your audience while showing the status of everyone in the team.
Twitch is more than just watching people play the latest and greatest games. It’s more about being entertained by the ones who are broadcasting. It’s used by a variety of charity organizations to drive awareness as well as donations. Twitch can be incorporated into many different industries to engage a younger audience. Discovering ways to engage the gaming community could prove to be a valuable marketing strategy.
What kind of games would you like to stream on Twitch? Do you believe a live stream could improve visitor retention on your WordPress website?