So, after months, if not years, in development, you are finally in the home stretch of creating your very first game, congratulations! Having worked in the industry for years, I know how much time and work goes into developing and releasing a game. But where do you go from here? You have done your initial reach out to all the major news sites and even to some of the minor indie sites, and you have got some bites to do reviews of your game once it hits beta or final. But though review articles from these sites have given you the initial traction for getting your name out into the world of gamers, you will need to get on your promotions.
The first thing you need to realize is that you don't have the kind of budgets like big publishers and established paid games, but that isn't always bad. It helps you get more creative in the way you interact with your audience. But before you jump in and flood your social media channels with "this is our game, you should buy it" posts, need to look at how to drive your engagement, so it works for you not against you.
Making Social Media Work for You:
There is no doubt that Social Media is here to stay and is probably the best way for consumer engagement. Social media is excellent, and though you don't need to spend money to get your game out there over the network, it does take time to set up and get rolling. This word of mouth marketing style is excellent, especially when you have main strategic posts ready to go out at certain parts during development. Planning to send out updates, videos, and in-development pictures can help you stay on track for your social marketing campaign goals.
Keep Your Fans Up to Date with Newsletters:
I know for me, if I am excited about something, I will devour any information that has to do with it and always be wanting more. Something that I have found lacking, especially from big publishers, is a lack of newsletters highlighting content for their upcoming game. Newsletters are an exciting part of marketing. They give businesses a chance to add a bit of personal content, whether it is concept art, new content announcements or some behind the scenes videos, these newsletters give you the chance to add that extra touch to show you care about your fans. They are also a part of an incentive program, such as pre-order customers can get exclusive information before the game comes out through the newsletter. With newsletter automation, you can also schedule your content ahead of time, giving you the option to target the right audience so the newsletter can gain the most attention.
Survey You Fans to Keep on Top of Everything:
We all know that no matter how impressive a marketing campaign is, it sometimes doesn't seem to hit the mark. With marketing, being the art that it is, you are only as successful as your customers decide you are. So when you decide how to track your marketing, the next step is to add a survey, it can give you information on what your fans thought about the state of your social media and newsletter campaigns, what they want more information on and what kind of content they like the best. A survey can be one of the best ways to not only engage your fans but also to get back invaluable information for future marketing.
It's Time to Group and Push Marketing forward!
With new ways of bringing in new customer data, it is more important than ever to capture and use it effectively. These are all things that can help you send out specific campaigns to certain groups of customers. So if you are monitoring your customers in your contact manager and see they are sharing your posts, you can add a tag to set them up with a secondary newsletter. The customer can then share this secondary newsletter through social media pages to jumpstart a word of mouth campaign. You can also add a tag and customer score if they have not opened a newsletter or email for a specified number of months. These customers may need a separate campaign that sometimes includes an SMS campaign that gives short news updates on what is happening in the development of your game. Whatever the situation, a CRM can help you monitor and better market to the different types of customers you are sure to encounter.
By automating a marketing process can help you go above what other indie game developers are considering, all while saving time overall by planning out your campaigns and letting them run themselves. This extra time you can gain gives your valuable time to connect with your audiences through social media and social streaming. With 360, you can create campaigns that work better for you and keep everything in one place. With exceptional packages that won't break your bank account, you save on time and money.
Check out what marketing automation can do for you and your upcoming release.
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