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With advertising retention dwindling and the Steam store growing ever-more crowded, influencer marketing is looking better – and more affordable than ever - for indie devs. But just who are influencers and how can they make up an effective part of your indie game marketing strategy? Let’s explore!
Who are Influencers?
When we say influencers, we’re referring to an individual - or group of individuals - with a regular, committed audience. In terms of the games industry, we’re mostly referring to Twitch streamers or YouTube creators. These influencers, with their large communities, represent a fantastic opportunity to get your game in front of viewers - and, if done right, people who will love it.
Why is Influencer Marketing Important for Indie Game Developers?
Trust in traditional advertising is falling, and for good reason. Now, people are looking for recommendations from people that they trust -- and, more than that, they’re looking to see what a game has to offer before they make the purchase. A trailer is great, but often doesn’t represent the finished product. This is where influencers come in. Getting an influencer to play your game (and hopefully love it) is not only a powerful recommendation, given to potentially thousands of people -- but also an opportunity to get content of your game out into the media.
Influencers offer a warm, human face to your advertising campaign – complete with a much higher conversion rate than traditional advertising. They offer something that no other medium can: trust.
A Step-by-Step Guide on Incorporating Influencers Into Your Indie Game Marketing Strategy
Step 1 - Define Your Goals
The most important step - the first one in any marketing plan - is to define your goals. What are you hoping to achieve? Sales? Exposure? How much of it? Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (aka: SMART), for example:
- I’m looking to earn 200 sales on launch day.
- I’m looking to have my indie game viewed by 100,000 people in the first week of launch.
- I’m looking for my game’s title to be the top search result across Google and YouTube within one month.
If you’re stuck for options, a great way to work out your goal is to use your budget. If your influencer budget is $5000, perhaps you’ll be looking to earn more than that amount back from the campaign. How many sales is that? Be sure to factor in the cut from Steam, or any other distributor that you’re working with.
I’ve Got my Goal - Now What?
Once you’ve got a goal in mind - or, even better, written down - you’ll need to work out just how you’re going to reach it. How many views are you going to need to get the sales that you want?
The exact number will depend on your audience (something that we’ll cover later), your game, as well as the age demographic that you’re targeting. It may be worth running a test campaign - a small, low-budget campaign with the goal of data-gathering - to get an estimate of your conversion rate, and how many views convert to sales. The process of running a test-campaign is precisely the same as a larger one -- so stick around, and we’ll cover that.
Once you’ve got your conversion rate, though (and, we’ll say that it’s hypothetically 0.5% per 1000 views) it’s time to calculate your ROI.
ROI = Return on Investment (Profit)
Sales - Cost of Influencers = ROI.
Let’s add all of this information together. So, you’ve got your 0.5% conversion rate. This means that for every 1000 viewers you get, 0.5% of them will purchase your game. Perhaps your game is priced at $15.
0.5% * 1000 views = 5 sales.
5 (sales) * $15 (cost of game) = $75.
So, with these calculations, to earn a profit, you’ll just need to spend less than $75 per 1000 views. Simple enough, right?
So, if you’ve spent $500 on Influencers, but from that campaign you’ve earned $1000 -- then, congratulations, you’ve made a profit of $500! These calculations should be the crux of every campaign you run -- always keep in mind your ROI, your conversion rate and your goals.
Step 2 - Finding Your Audience
Now you’ve got your goals and you know the aim of your campaign, it’s time to outline your target audience. Hopefully you already have a basic idea of your audience, but if you don’t, here are some tips:
- What are some similar indie games? What kind of audiences do they attract?
- If you have a Twitter or Discord, put out a poll -- just be sure to follow the relevant privacy laws.
- Install Google Analytics to your website to get an overview of your demographics.
Once you’ve got a good outline of your demographic (age, gender, location, interests) then you can start researching. It’s important to find out where your audience is -- are they on Twitch? YouTube? Perhaps neither, but there’s a large presence of them on Twitter?
Locating Your Audience
There are a few ways to find your audience. The first one, and the simplest, is to Google it! Google similar games, search them on YouTube and Twitch, and see how much coverage they have. Are there lots of big influencers? Do they have a lot of active coverage? Take note of which sites work best for each game.
If you want to streamline this process, you can use a site like https://sullygnome.com/ or https://twitchtracker.com/ - I highly recommend TwitchTracker. With these sites, you can search for similar games and see their concurrent streams, their top clips, even their viewership trends. They’re fantastic tools for research, and especially for the next step in our process. (Sadly, YouTube doesn’t have any tools like this -- we’re stuck with the plain-old search filters for now).
Step 3 - Finding Your Influencers
Our next step is the longest in the process, and the most important. We’re going to discuss finding, and selecting, the influencers for your campaign.
The Process
With luck, there’s going to be a lot of possible influencers to reach out to -- and that’s why we need a process. I like to do this in a simple spreadsheet, but it can be done any way you like. For the sake of this example, I’m going to use a tool like TwitchTracker or SullyGnome, mentioned above.
- Search for similar games to yours, and take a look at the list of Influencers.
- Filter them down. Are they solo-game or variety? Most of the time, we’re looking for “variety” influencers -- those who play a variety of games.
- Make a note of the influencer’s name and platform.
- Always note a link to their channel or stream -- it makes the process so much faster.
- Note down their average views -- people are drawn to subscribers or followers, but they don’t count for much. We’re looking for views.
Once we’ve got the basics down -- a list of streamers that you like the look of -- it’s time to start rating them. I rate out of 10, you can rate out of 5, it doesn’t matter. Look for the criteria that are important to you: What is their personality like? Does it match your game -- serious, funny?
Using the TwitchTracker tool, you can see if they have a large viewer drop-off -- perhaps they have a “main game,”and when they switch their viewers go down? That’s certainly not good for us.
Micro vs Macro
Micro-Influencers have become something of a buzzword lately -- and for good reason. A micro-influencer is one with a relatively small following -- perhaps less than 1000 average Twitch views, or less than 100,000 YouTube subscribers. Micro-influencers earn much more trust from their viewership -- meaning that their viewers are much more likely to take their game recommendations. That’s a very attractive proposition for us. On the flip-side, running a campaign of 25 micro-influencers is much more intensive than a campaign of 5 macro-influencers.
It comes down to how much management you are able to handle -- but in general, micro-influencers will provide us with a significantly higher conversion rate, and the best strategy will always be based on having as many different micro-influencers as possible.
Personal Preference
As an aside, don’t be scared to throw your opinion into the mix! There might be an influencer that you discover is incredibly funny, or you think would be a great personality-fit for your game. That’s fine! You might also have a favorite influencer that you watch regularly -- feel free to reach out to them, too. They may not be a perfect fit on paper -- but the fact that you’re a fan of them will make them that much more proud to be playing your game, and more likely to have fun!
Step 4 - Reaching Out
So you’ve got your list of influencers, hopefully ranked in order of preference. Now it’s time to reach out!
Reaching out via email is the typical, polite route -- make sure your email is professional. Introduce yourself and your game (perhaps including a key, or a video showcasing some gameplay), and mention that you’re interested in offering a sponsorship. Make it personal, too -- mention why you’re interested in this influencer, and perhaps some similar games that they’ve played. Now, although it’s good to keep it professional -- the gaming industry isn’t known for excessive business-talk, so feel free to relax.
Although email is the number one option -- sometimes, people just don’t check their emails. Another fantastic option is Twitter DMs, or even just sending out a Tweet. Most influencers will be active across social media, so a response is probable. Aside from that, a lot of influencers will have some form of Discord server, too, which you can use as a last resort.
Questions and Negotiations
Once you’ve got your positive responses, it’s time for the questions. Many influencers will have done sponsorships and deals like this before -- it’s always good to ask for any previous stats or metrics they have! Many will be more than happy to share.
Before you go into any negotiations, it’s better to have a figure in mind. How much are you willing to spend on this sponsorship? How much will you need to make a profit? It will give you some great room to maneuver, and hopefully reach a deal which is wonderful for the both of you.
It’s important to clearly lay out the deliverables that you’d like the influencer to provide -- and they can be far more than just a stream or video. For example, you may also ask for:
- A Tweet about your game, including the link to the store page.
- A Twitch chat command that automatically posts the link to your game.
- Use of a special shortened URL that will allow you to track clicks.
These small additional deliverables can make a world of difference to your indie game marketing campaign.
Step 5 - Running the Campaign Yourself
Now, it’s time to run the campaign. This involves choosing the days/times that the influencers will stream, preparing your marketing tools, and preparing for the torrent of new players.
Date and Time
The first step of running your campaign is choosing the date and time. There’s no sure-fire way to do this -- it’s as much about the influencer’s availability as it is about yours, but we do have some tips.
- Back to the TwitchTracker tool again (and its wondrous functionality) -- this tool allows you to view not only the peak times for streamers of specific games, but the days which individual streamers have their peak audience -- this is an incredible metric to use in your decision making process.
- Schedule your influencers to stream in close proximity. This will not only push you up the Twitch rankings (and all people to find your game organically), it will give you a huge push of sales which may shoot you onto Steam’s Trending page. It will also invigorate your community, creating a bustling and busy atmosphere!
- Leave yourself enough time to promote it. One idea is to have an ‘influencer day’ -- a big, exciting event for the whole community. Much like a launch day, this will create an atmosphere of excitement and encourage people to play. Having a huge ‘party’ like this is a lot of fun - and what better introduction to the game?
Website Tracking
Before your campaign starts, it’s hugely important that you have some form of website tracking set up. Not only will this allow you to get a more accurate view of your demographic -- the age, interests and gender of the people who are interested in your game - it will also allow you to retarget that demographic with ads (which we’ll discuss later).
If you have a landing page, you can set up Google Analytics on it -- but that’s not all. You can also set up Google Analytics tracking on your Steam Page -- a huge asset which allows you to gather a horde of data.
Link Tracking
You should absolutely be using a trackable link for your influencer campaign. A website like https://app.bitly.com/ is a fantastic tool to use (with a free option). Using a trackable URL shortener will allow you to see just how successful your campaign is -- you’ll be able to see how many people are clicking through to your store page.
Another good idea is to create one shortened link for each influencer -- that way, you’ll be able to compare and see which one earned you the most clicks.
Social Media
Chances are, once people have taken a look at your game (and their interest has been piqued), they’re going to head straight to your social media! Make sure everything’s in good order -- your social media accounts should be active and full of pictures and videos about the game. It’s great to be responsive, too -- feel free to live-Tweet to influencers and answer questions to anyone who’s interested. This will also help you build your very own loyal gaming community (more on this below).
Influencer campaigns are also a great opportunity to send some love to your chosen steamers! Highlight them on your social media,Tweet about their stream, and send your followers to go and watch. If it turns out that your game is a huge boon for them, they’ll be more inclined to play again - this time without sponsorship.
Community Management
It’s important for people with questions about the game to be able to ask about them -- and sometimes, Twitter just isn’t enough. It’s important to be fully prepared for the incoming torrent of new players, and setting up a Discord server is a fantastic way to do that. Include the invite link on your website or in your Twitter bio, and you’ll quickly attract an audience of passionate, engaged fans.
Even better if you can offer sneak-peaks, perks or just plain old fun for those who join -- it’s a great way to get your community together, with the old-school players helping the new ones. If people see that you’ve got an active, friendly community, what better way to promote your game?
Step 5b - Campaign Managers
At this point, we should discuss outsourcing your influencer campaign -- perhaps to a marketing agency, or perhaps just using some third-party tools to make your life easier and give your campaign a boost.
Marketing Agencies
Running a campaign is hard work. It requires hours of preparation, stress, and - most of all - research. Indie game marketing agencies (like Campaign Cooperative) are full of experts that not only handle campaigns like yours on a weekly basis, but already have lists full of influencer contacts that are precise matches for your campaign.
We all know that time is money - and marketing agencies can certainly save a lot of time. But if you’re on a limited budget, they may not be the best option for you (unless you choose an agency like Campaign Cooperative that works with you no matter your budget). Still, if you’re looking for expert work that can be surprisingly affordable (if you’re curious - reach out to a few agencies! Let them know your situation and you may be surprised at how accommodating they are) marketing agencies can be a great option.
If you decide to go with a marketing agency, they’ll typically schedule a chat to find out your goals and get a feel for your game. From there, they’ll find the influencers, manage your campaign, track the progress towards the goals, and be constantly in touch to answer any questions. You’ll have the opportunity to look over the list of influencers before the campaign goes live, too!
Get the gears running on your influencer campaigns with Campaign Cooperative. [Chat with us now!]
Keymailer
We get so many questions that it’s worth talking about Keymailer directly. Keymailer is a tool that lets influencers and content creators request keys for your game - with you having the decision of whether or not to grant them. Instead of you reaching out to the influencers, they come to you!
Keymailer is a good aid to an influencer campaign -- but unless you’ve got millions of adoring fans, results may be limited. It’s absolutely worth setting up and checking regularly, though - small influencers will turn out to be some of your biggest fans!
Step 6 - After the Campaign
You’ve done it! The campaign is over, and it has been a huge success. Now, it’s time to sit back and reflect.
Metrics
Throughout the campaign, we’ve gathered a lot of useful information. Now’s the time to take a look at it! Check your tracked URLs and see how many clicks each influencer got. What kind of profit did you make? What were the conversion rates of the various influencers?
These metrics provide valuable insights, and if you can work out why you got certain results, your next campaign will be hugely successful -- especially alongside all of the demographic information we’ve gathered.
Comments
Chances are, this campaign has garnered you a whole lot of feedback and comments, too. This is wonderful, and one of the tertiary benefits of influencer campaigns -- read through them and see what peoples thoughts on your game are!
Retargeting
Some of the people who clicked through to your site or store page won’t have bought your game - and that’s fine! It’s expected and normal. Perhaps they weren’t quite ready, or they needed time to consider it -- perhaps they were even waiting for a sale. This is where retargeting comes in.
Retargeting is the process of targeting people who already know about your game - through influencers or even social media - with advertisements, in order to encourage them to make the final push and purchase!
Since we set up Google Analytics on our store pages earlier, we now have the ability to retarget to anyone who visited -- so if you’re looking for some extra sales, wait a few days or a week and go for it! You’ll be surprised by the results -- retargeting is incredibly effective.
If you’re running social media ads on Twitter or Facebook, you can even consider targeting the followers of the influencers that you’ve worked with. That way, you’ll be targeting people who have already heard of and hopefully seen your game -- making the job of the advertisement that much easier.
So that’s it! You’ve run your campaign, and hopefully it’s been a huge success. I hope this guide helped -- and if it did, let us know how it went! Make sure you take note of the influencers that worked best for your game, and the kinds of conversion rates you were seeing - you’ll be needing those in the future!