Using Twitch for Student Recruitment

Twitch is the world's largest game-streaming platform, and offers unique advantages over traditional social media challenges when it comes to student recruitment.

Its real-time interaction features are perfect for community building, and—as every marketer knows—connection and belonging are powerful sentiments when it comes to recruiting students.

As would-be students increasingly look to other paths for education, universities must engage with candidates in their preferred environments and win back their attention. We take a look at some of Twitch’s intricacies and how higher education can leverage it for recruitment.

Understanding Twitch’s main features

Twitch boasts an average of 35 million daily visitors and around 2.5 million active viewers at any given time—an audience that largely intersects with Millenials and Gen Z, with 70% of Twitch users between the ages of 18 and 34. 

While most popularly known for its gaming content, the platform has transformed to accommodate various forms of content. In 2015, Twitch Creative introduced categories dedicated to culinary, craftsmanship, beauty and body art, painting, and programming. 

The hottest category at the moment, though, is “Just Chatting,” which signals casual conversations that don’t include any gaming or specific content creation.

Access data from 27,000 students on their preferences, concerns and student trends:

Interaction plays a significant role in Twitch’s popularity. Every stream contains a live chat, through which viewers can interact with the streamer and other users in real time, creating a collective experience that leads to community building. 

The chat can be a handy tool for student recruitment: beyond allowing viewers to participate directly in the broadcasts, it can serve as a shortcut to your university’s pages. Through third-party tools like Moobot or Nightbot, moderators can add custom commands that trigger automated replies.

By creating commands like “!admissions” or “!apply,” the viewer can receive an instant message linking to a page with detailed information about the admission requirements or the application process.

These commands can be shared in the chat via automated timed messages, which regularly remind the audience of the available prompts and encourage viewers to use them. 

Partner with influencers

Collaborating with well-known streamers or alums with a significant presence on Twitch can exponentially increase a university’s reach. These influencers have established rapport and credibility with their audience, making them ideal brand ambassadors. 

Research confirms viewers’ remarkable loyalty to the creators they follow. According to Amazon, 64% of Twitch users purchase products recommended by influencers. By joining efforts with known streamers, schools can gain access to a broad and engaged audience that trusts the judgment of content creators.

Collaborations can be as simple as having the creator wear university merchandise while broadcasting or providing a more comprehensive brief of talking points to be covered during the stream. This can be used to promote upcoming events and academic programs to prospective students who may yet consider the institution.

Promote esports organizations

Student gaming organizations are another valuable resource for Twitch collaborations. These groups often have a built-in following and can authentically promote your university’s brand from a student’s perspective.

It’s likely your campus already has a club entirely dedicated to esports. These communities often organize events where students compete in popular titles like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Super Smash Bros., and other online multiplayer games. 

Such events—which can take the form of single-session broadcasts or longer tournaments, like the University of Auckland’s Interfaculty Valorant Championship—typically require short breaks between matches so players can get set up, which provides an ideal spot for pre-recorded promotional content like program advertisements and student testimonials.

Investing in your school’s existing gaming community can be as simple as providing adequate space and equipment to broadcast local events. When the students feel the administration’s support, they proudly carry the university’s name.

Collaborate with student ambassadors

You don’t need to partner with top streamers to get your school’s name on the platform. Having your student ambassadors livestream campus events, host Q&A sessions, and showcase their campus routine can be a simple yet effective way of providing an authentic view of what it’s like to be part of the university. 

Alternatively, your team can find current students with an established Twitch channel and train them as ambassadors. Their firsthand experiences and personal stories can resonate with their audiences, giving prospective students a genuine glimpse into university life.

Streaming can also serve as a medium for individual program promotion. For instance, a history program can be highlighted by having one of its graduates play Assassin’s Creed—a game series that builds upon historical-based narratives—while discussing its historical accuracy and how it relates to their learning experiences.

To promote an arts program, have a student broadcast their work on a new illustration and chat about the process; an English major can discuss the narrative structure of a story-based game. 

Whether it’s a tour of the campus, weekly gaming sessions, or a casual chat about their academic life, these streams offer an accessible and transparent view of the university, increasing brand awareness and creating authentic connections with its viewers.

Repurpose content for other platforms

Another notable benefit of Twitch content is how easily it can be integrated into your broader communication strategy. 

Highlight clips from your streams can be edited and shared on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter to attract different audiences. These snippets can serve as teasers, drawing viewers to your Twitch channel for the full experience and maintaining a consistent presence across multiple platforms.

Past live streams can be posted on YouTube or Facebook, while links to upcoming Twitch events can be incorporated into your university’s emails and social media posts. 

One effective example of repurposing comes from Florida’s Full Sail University. With a community of 20,000 followers on Twitch, the Full Sail Armada doesn’t stick strictly to gaming streams, although popular games like Fortnite and Call of Duty do make up the streaming schedule.

Full Sail’s Twitch channel is primarily made up of talk shows, including the interview series “Have Game, Will Travel,” which hosts live chats with established gaming and esports professionals, allowing viewers to learn from and interact with industry experts in real time. 

With 33 episodes over two years, the series has been shared in full on YouTube, where the program has gathered over 9,000 views.

Seek a larger audience

By integrating Twitch into your recruitment strategy, you can showcase the unique aspects of your university and connect with prospective students in an authentic and interactive way.

The key is to remain adaptable and open to new ways to engage with your audience. Find dedicated students to collaborate with and listen to their perspectives: they probably understand what works best for the platform. 

With the right approach and some creativity, Twitch can make your university the dream destination for a new generation of students.