The statistics prove that influencer marketing plays a key role in the game marketing process to absorb the gaming audience. According to Thedrum, 40% of audiences have been going for a game due to specific influencers’ advice and recommendations- These statistics are 31% for Britain and 41% for the USA, which seems a brilliant opportunity to reach around one-third of games’ audiences.
So, How can developers and publishers ignore these benefits when exploring a profitable marketing method?!
In this article, the definition of game marketing will be discussed, afterward, its importance will be shown, and finally, some tips will be provided to strategies an appropriate influencer marketing campaign.
The Role of Influencer Marketing in the Game Industry
To define the influencer marketing method, it is necessary to directly mention the meaning of influencers in the game marketing context and review their roles in marketing a gaming brand and/or product. In this case, two terms should be expressed properly: influencer and the essence of the influencer marketing method. Let’s dive into it!
Who are called influencers in the gaming industry?
Many gamers stream their game live, and people generate and publish various content about released games, trends, and news, and players compete with each other at a very high level! Audiences follow influencers as reliable and trustworthy resources to figure out the trends and marvelous games.
Types of Gaming Influencers
Here are some types of gaming influencers based on their professionalism and expertise:
- Esports Athletes
- Content Creators
- Streamers
- Guides and Educational Influencers
- Podcast Hosts
- Reviewers and Critics
- Charity Streamers
- Cosplayers
- YouTubers
Also, types of gaming influencers could be categorized based on the amount of their community member:
- Nano Influencers: 1K-10K engaged followers
- Micro-Influencers: 10K-100K nich followers
- Macro Influencers: 100K-1M followers
- Mega Influencers:1M+ followers
These creators all are called influencers due to their power to persuade their audiences to buy products and follow brands based on trust and loyalty. So, they can serve game publishers and developers to promote brands and products using their community!
Do you know any influencers to work with? How do you categorize them? Write in comments.
What is the game influencer marketing?
Community engagement is considered a significant opportunity to market a game in the game industry! Sometimes publishers prefer to use communities that were shaped based on loyalty and trust before by gaming influencers. They invest in the trust and loyalty that are flowing in the game communities to gain credibility through collaborating with known gamers, and content creators. This is the essence of the influencer marketing method.
But why this game marketing method always is put beside the other methods like content marketing as a key?
Importance of influencer marketing
The reason for influencer marketing’s importance lies in the benefits that this method brings to game publishers and developers. The positives convince game industry leaders to collaborate with some content creators and professional gamers to boost their marketing efforts.
Influencer Marketing Benefits
Previously, trust and reliability are mentioned as two sorts that empower content creators and professional gamers to persuade a significant amount of target audiences to follow a brand and or buy gaming products. In following that, the marketing benefits of influencers are discussed.
Trust
Always seems an obstacle between the audiences and advertisements! People usually find traditional advertising to be exaggerated and fake. In other words, mostly a lack of authenticity and trust is felt in the case of advertising approaches. In contrast, game audiences can trust advice from influencers due to a sense of community and authenticity. As previously discussed, most publishers prefer to follow game influencer marketing to promote their products and brands introvertly. To be exact, they profit from the trust between influencers and audiences to bring credit and reliability to their brand.
Lead Generation
When game developers and publisher approach their game marketing by collaborating with influencers, they generate significant targeted audiences automatically. How so?
Influencers bring their niche audiences to a brand and allow game developers to demography their leads. Afterward, companies have access to a huge amount of potential gamers that they can count them in their future game marketing efforts.
Interactive Communication
All publishers dream of engagement between their games and audiences. They always take different game marketing methods, like a content marketing strategy to reach interactive communication with targeted audiences. In the case of influencer marketing, there are so many possibilities to directly interact with audiences in real-time like streaming platforms.
Diverse Content Generation
Influencers mostly communicate with their community by generating diverse content like gameplay videos, live streams, etc. This diversity allows them to evaluate and promote a game from different points of view! Publishers and developers have the opportunity to show off their product’s features by partnering with influencers.
Increased visibility
Influencers often are professionals in viral content generation that significantly boost the game’s visibility and increase download or sales rates.
Cost-Effectiveness
Compared to many other game marketing methods, influencer marketing is one the most cost-effective ones! Even indie game developers can use it with low budgets. We also previously introduced content marketing as another cost-effective game marketing way.
Given the competitive landscape of the gaming industry, leveraging influencer marketing can be a key differentiator for brands seeking to cut through the noise and reach their audience effectively.
Influencer Marketing in the Game Industry example
The importance of influencer marketing in the game industry also is trackable in many examples, Fortnite with Travis Scott Concert, Apex Legends, and Logitech. To get more, I go deeper with two influencer campaigns by Dead Island 2 and Saints Row games.
- Dead Island 2
The influencer marketing campaign called” Would you survive a zombie apocalypse?” boosted the game marketing campaign around the Dead Island 2 video game. In detail, Deep Silver, a game publisher, hosted an event for game influencers to try their ability to fight with Zombies! This challenge excitement was simulated by assets like watermelons, sledgehammers, and throwing axes.
Furthermore, the Dead Island 2 publisher’s influencer marketing efforts also is obvious behind the promotional content that Britt Hertz, the famous YouTuber, was creating during lunching the game.
- Saints Row
The Saints Row game marketing campaign is another example of influencer marketing after relaunching the game in 2020. In this case, also many YouTubers were engaged to promote the features of Saints Row properly by bringing elements of the game into the real world- Not only the gaming influencers but also many influencers in other fields were getting to play, which was a great and effective approach to market the game.
As understood, nowadays game companies have noticed to importance of influencer marketing and its benefits. It is the time to develop our influencer campaign marketing. But how?
Tips to Strategies an influencer marketing campaign
Without any specific plan, influencer marketing fails. Therefore, It is needed to strategize an influencer marketing effort regularly. To plan an influencer marketing campaign, goals, audience, and influencers should be defined. Furthermore, having thought of developing campaign content, measuring the performance after executing, and fostering relationships with those influencers are so important. I have listed the steps that lead you to an influencer marketing plan, here:
- Define Your Goals
- Know Your Audience
- Select the Right Influencers
- Explore Potential Collaborations
- Develop Campaign Content
- Execute the Campaign
- Measure and Analyze Results
- Foster Relationships
Many questions and critiques remain to discuss about the influencer marketing yet. Including harnessing the Power of Influence, ethical considerations, and the future of influencers in the game marketing field. What do you think of ethical critiques about influencer marketing? Have you ever heard about that? Please put your thoughts in the comments.
Q&A
How to choose the best gaming influencers?
To choose the best gaming influencers, look for those with a genuine connection to your target audience, substantial engagement rates, and content that aligns with your brand. Check their follower demographics, past collaborations, and overall reputation in the gaming community to ensure they resonate with your marketing goals.
How to figure out Potential Collaborations with influencers?
To identify potential collaborations with influencers, research their niche, audience demographics, and engagement metrics. Look for influencers whose values align with your brand. Engage with their content, reach out with personalized messages, and propose collaboration ideas that resonate with their style while meeting your marketing objectives.
How to set KPI to measure an influencer marketing campaign?
To set KPIs for an influencer marketing campaign, align them with your goals: measure reach and impressions for awareness, engagement rates for interaction, website traffic for conversions, and sales for revenue. Utilize tracking tools and set specific, measurable targets within a defined timeframe to evaluate campaign effectiveness.
Sources: kofluence, pr, sociallypowerful
