Influencer Marketing: How To Make Your Game The Next Youtube Sensation

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The mobile app development industry has grown exponentially over the years such that there are over 2 million apps in various categories on both Google Play Store and the Apple App store. This growth has double implications on the industry as a whole.

On the one hand, it means there are numerous opportunities for app developers India to succeed in the industry, but on the other hand, due to competition, your amazing app can be ‘lost in the crowd’.

This article focuses on how you as a game developer can leverage on ‘influencer marketing’ to create the required buzz for your game on YouTube. You will learn about why you need Influencer marketers, the kind of games they like to play, the steps involved in running a successful campaign, the cost of such campaign and the campaign that is best for your needs.

YouTube offers gamers a huge opportunity to market their games. Statistics show that over 90% of core gamers watch YouTube at least once a week for game strategies tips, and recommendations and over 50 percent of them rely on mobile technology to download and play your games.

For your game to become a YouTube Sensation, you need:

Influencer Marketing:

The App stores are becoming more crowded, with plenty viewers to grab. There are millions of apps published on app stores and thousands of games. If you’re going after gaming audience, you need influencers. Gamers have a hard time browsing through the app stores and therefore rely on influencers for game discovery.

According to Google, 144 Billion minutes are spent each month watching gaming content, and 30% of views come from post-paid campaigns. As a game developer, you must ensure that some of those minutes are spent watching your content. Carrying out this campaign on your own will take your time and produce little results, but hiring marketing influencers with millions of loyal subscribers will ensure your game is noticed on YouTube. These ‘game freaks’ play games and make game videos daily and their subscribers believe that whatever content they post, must be really worth watching.

What Kind of Games do Influencers want to play?

Influencers love to play good games; the kind of games that have a high replay value, are appealing such that the users keep playing. They also love games with In-App Purchase Perks: such games have new features added, making them more interesting. Games with Competitive and cooperative multi-players, live matches against their subscribers and features that allow them to collaborate with other influencers to play, will surely catch the eye of an influencer.

Using Established IPs

Although this is not very common, especially to budding gamers, you can engage core gamers and publish your game with an established IP. Imagine the result you will get when your game is published on IPs like Star Wars!

How to run a successful Campaign

1. Do your Research:

The first step in running a successful YouTube campaign is research. You need to define your audience. You need to find out the people that will be interested in your game and where they are. This will help you narrow down the influencers. You may sometimes be wrong about who your target audience are, but during the testing phase of the game, you will surely find out.

2. Define your budget:

Marketing, in general, is a necessary condition for the success of any app. You must define the amount of money you will spend on influencer marketing. This will determine the kind of campaign strategy you will adopt, the duration of the campaign, the coverage of the campaign and the number of influencers you will engage.

3. Set up Attribution:

It is one thing to begin a campaign, and another to achieve the desired results. You must set up a mechanism to get feedback on the success or otherwise of your campaign. Tracking your app and its users help you know the YouTube channel that is doing well for you. Tracking helps you determine the future of the campaign.

4. Select your Campaign Strategy:

There are two major strategies you can adopt for your campaign: DIY campaign and Managed Campaign.

a. DIY Campaign (Do It Yourself): You can go online and look out for influencers that meet your budget and target audience. E-mail them and wait for them to respond. The challenge with this strategy is that DIY is very stressing. Influencers are really busy people. They obviously receive tons of e-mails daily while still engaged in their primary art of creating content daily. Your e-mail may be lost in their inbox.

b. Managed Campaigns: You can run managed campaigns with influencers. It is better to partner with industry specialists because they have existing influencers who are tested and trusted and have the right audience to promote your app.

One of such influencers is ‘Roostr.’ They provide a fully managed tailor-made campaign with a subscriber base of over 40 million. They have a performance tracking system, proprietary influencer performance data, years of industry experience and an average CR of 25%.

How much will the campaign cost?

There are three models of paid campaigns, and their prices vary.

1. Cost Per Video: it is a flat rate. The price is set per video engagement. This includes integrated sponsorship and fully dedicated videos.

2. Cost Per Mille: also known as CPM. Most YouTube videos for AdSense use this method. You are charged for every 1,000 views.

3. Cost per Install (CPI): you are charged for each install driven by a video.

Which Model is right for you?

CPI is best for the developer. Since the price is set for each install driven by a video, you have access to risk-tolerant influencers as they bear most of the risks.

The Cost Per Video. With access to largest influencers and the highest volume of impressions, this model is best for influencers.

The CPM is the middle ground. You have access to mid-tier influencers, and it reduces performance risks.

The right model for you depends on what you want. You may need one or all of them. With a third party tracker, you can run all three campaigns and discover the one which works best for you.

The good thing about influencer marketing is that with the right influencer, even if your budget is exhausted, your campaign can still continue. Your influencer will continually promote your game with videos on YouTube if his/her subscribers demand more.

Influencer marketing identifies individuals that have great influence on potential buyers.

You can use data to make informed decisions on the influencer apt for you and the kind of campaign that will work for you.

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