How to Do a Twitch Giveaway in WordPress (Step-by-Step Guide for 2023)

Want to grow your Twitch channel and better engage with your viewers? Giveaways are an incredibly popular tactic used by top Twitch streamers.

In fact, over 85% of Twitch streamers have run at least one giveaway contest according to recent surveys.

But running a smooth, effective Twitch giveaway takes some work. You need to set it up properly, promote it widely, pick fair winners, and more.

That‘s where WordPress and RafflePress come in…

In this detailed guide, we’ll show you step-by-step how to:

• Create an exciting Twitch giveaway in WordPress that followers will love
• Get more entries by making it easy and rewarding to enter
• Seamlessly pick fair winners once the contest ends

Let’s get started!

Why Should You Run a Twitch Giveaway?

Before we dive into the steps, let’s look at why Twitch giveaways can be so powerful:

1. Gain More Followers

The #1 reason streamers run Twitch giveaways is to rapidly gain more followers.

Requires viewers to follow in order to enter the draw or get additional entries. You can easily grow your channel by 100+ new, engaged followers with a well-run contest.

2. Increase Viewer Engagement

Giveaways capture attention especially when prizes are valuable or highly relevant to your audience. Viewers are more likely to actively participate in chat, return for your next stream, and turn on notifications if they entered your contest.

3. Promote Other Platforms

Require additional entries for following you on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Embed links across platforms to promote your other accounts.

4. Collect Emails and Feedback

Use 3rd party services like RafflePress to collect emails for future marketing. Giveaway entries can also be rewarded for providing feedback via surveys.

The data shows that giveaways work:

• Over 62% of streamers surveyed said giveaways helped them gain at least 100+ new followers
• 78% said giveaways increased chat participation and engagement
• 64% of viewers said they’ve followed new channels after entering their giveaways

Now let’s see how to run your own exciting and compliant Twitch giveaway using WordPress…

Twitch Giveaway Requirements and Rules

Before setting up your giveaway, it’s crucial to understand Twitch’s policies around contests:

• Must comply with local laws – Make sure contests follow all laws and regulations in the countries you operate in. These laws dictate certain requirements like eligibility and liability.
• Can NOT promote gambling, drugs or alcohol in exchange for entries
• NO payment required for entry – Requiring payment would likely classify your giveaway as an illegal game of chance or lottery.
• Must disclose giveaway rules on stream panels

Breaking these rules puts your Twitch channel at risk for reports, bans or other penalties. Carefully check Twitch’s giveaway policies and consult local legal counsel if needed.

Many streamers choose to use a giveaway platform like RafflePress (more below) to ensure full compliance.

Step 1: Install and Setup RafflePress Giveaway Plugin

Rather than trying to run your Twitch giveaway manually, we highly recommend using the RafflePress WordPress plugin.

RafflePress handles all the complicated parts so you can easily:

✅ Collect entries
✅ Verify eligibility
✅ Automatically pick fair winners
✅ Contact winners
✅ Track stats
✅ Ensure full legal compliance

To add RafflePress:

1. Login to your WordPress site’s dashboard
2. Go to Plugins > Add New
3. Search for “RafflePress”, install and activate the plugin

RafflePress has over 12,000 5-star reviews and is the #1 contest and giveaway plugin for WordPress.

Next, you’ll want to enter your license key on the welcome screen to unlock premium features:

The free RafflePress version works great, but we’ll be using RafflePress Pro in this guide to access the best tools for running Twitch contests.

Step 2: Create Your Twitch Giveaway

Now let’s setup your first Twitch giveaway:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, hover over RafflePress and click Add New
2. Give your giveaway a name and exciting headline
3. Set a start and end date
4. Upload an eye-catching prize image

This covers the basic giveaway setup:

Next we need to make it super easy for viewers to enter from Twitch.

Step 3: Add “Follow on Twitch” Entry Method

Here‘s how to let viewers enter by following you on Twitch:

1. Click on the Actions tab
2. Select Add Actions then choose Follow Us on Twitch
3. Customize the text displayed to viewers
4. Paste your Twitch channel’s URL
5. Set # of entries awarded

You can also make following mandatory while keeping other methods optional. This guarantees you get at least 1 new follower from everyone who enters.

We‘ll cover adding even more ways to enter in step 5.

Step 4: Customize the Look and Feel

Now let’s make your giveaway stylish by customizing its design:

1. Click the Design tab
2. Choose a font style and color palette
3. Add custom CSS or background images
4. Preview changes in real-time

Use on-brand colors, attractive fonts and supplementary graphics reflect the look of your Twitch channel.

While design might seem minor, an appealing, polished contest stands out and builds credibility.

Step 5: Add Email, Social and Referral Entries

The more ways to enter, the more entries you’ll get:

• Join Email List: Grow subscribers by offering entries for signing up to your newsletter
• Refer Friends: Encourage viral shares by rewarding referrals
• Social Follows: Get them to follow on Instagram, Twitter, etc.

RafflePress makes adding more entries easy:

Different channels see better conversion from different methods – track conversions in RafflePress to optimize.

You can make some entry methods mandatory, or assign more entries to preferred actions.

Step 6: Create a Giveaway Landing Page

Now it’s time to publish your shiny new giveaway!

The easiest method is creating a Giveaway Landing Page:

1. Go to the Publish tab
2. Select Giveaway Landing Page
3. Set page URL then View Page

This automatically generates a gorgeous, dedicated page for your contest that you can link to.

Having a central landing page makes it easier to:

• Link to your giveaway across platforms
• Embed cleanly into website content
• Track entry conversions
• Show real-time entry leaderboard

You can skip the landing page by using shortcodes or widgets within WordPress content instead. But pages tend to convert better.

Either way, now let‘s drive entries by promoting your contest!

Step 7: Promote Your Twitch Giveaway

Your sleek new giveaway won’t get many entries without promotion across platforms:

Twitch: Prominently promote during streams and link in channel panels. Create clips teasing the prize to build hype.

Twitter & Instagram: Post graphics or videos previewing the giveaway.

Email Marketing: Send a dedicated email to your current subscribers. Offer bonus entries for forwarding to friends.

Website Popups: Use a plugin like OptinMonster to show visitors a popup promoting entries.

Work giveaway mentions into all other content – vidoes, posts, etc. The wider the reach, the more entries.

Track where conversions are coming from within RafflePress to double down on what works. 100-500+ entries is reasonable for most streamers.

Step 8: Draw and Notify Winners

Once your end date arrives, it‘s finally time to draw winners!

In RafflePress:

1. Locate your giveaway and click End Now
2. Go to Needs Winner section
3. Enter # of winners to draw
4. Click Choose Winners Now button

RafflePress randomly selects the lucky winner(s) based on number of entries.

You‘ll then be able to easily contact winners by email plus see their social profiles.

Make sure to announce and celebrate winners on stream too!

And just like that you‘ve successfully run an exciting, legally-compliant Twitch giveaway using WordPress and RafflePress. Nice work!

Twitch Giveaway Success Stories

We‘ve seen users have incredible success growing their channels from giveaways:

Morgan hosted a gaming chair giveaway and gained 156 new followers:

"I‘m blown away by the support after running my gaming chair giveaway! New followers are still trickling in days later. RafflePress made it super easy to setup and run smoothly."

Meanwhile Vlad used his full gaming PC giveaway to rapidly hit the coveted Twitch Affiliate status:

"In under 2 weeks I hit the 50 follower minimum to qualify for Affiliate thanks to my PC giveaway bringing in new viewers. Couldn‘t have done it without RafflePress handling everything behind the scenes!"

The examples are endless. Giveaways let small channels punch above their weight and stand out from veterans.

So don‘t wait – setup your own awesome Twitch giveaway using WordPress today! Let us know if you have any questions.