The Definitive Guide to Video Game Influencer Marketing

The world of influencer marketing has grown rapidly in the last couple of decades, evolving from a few popular bloggers to its own industry full of different niches, styles, businesses and promotional material.

Influencers are now a major part of the marketing industry for everyone from small businesses to global enterprises. But what is the reason that it has become so popular? Let’s dive into what influencer marketing is, how it came to be, why it’s so popular, and what you need to get started.

How did influencer marketing all start out?

Casting our gaze back more than 300 years ago, we see that the Queen and the Pope were the earliest recorded influencers. The term “influencer” did not exist then, but a leading figure’s ability to sway their loyal subjects’ desire to purchase sure did!

Since those early days, influencer marketing has gone through many iterations and evolved to become the social media powerhouse that it is today. From leading authoritative figures to popular celebrities, how did social media stars get that level of influence they have today?

Take a trip through time to find out how the industry got its roots and grew to what we now know and love in A Short Guide to the History of Influencer Marketing.

Knowing how to create an influencer marketing strategy

Influencers are increasingly dominating not only the marketing sphere but also the popular consciousness, and are who audiences often turn to for the latest trends, entertainment and recommendations. But they don’t do this on their own. After all, influencer marketing is more than just finding someone that operates in your niche and hoping that they’ll make the right content for the right audience at the right price. Influencers’ recommendations are supported by comprehensive marketing strategies that denote timeframes, budgets, content types, expectations and more.

If you don’t have an effective marketing strategy on hand, then you’ll fall behind your competitors - and you definitely won’t get the results that influencer marketing can provide.

For every thing you’ll need to do to make your strategy a success, check out 7 Steps for Creating a Good Influencer Marketing Strategy.

And create the right strategy with How to Pick the Best Game Influencer Marketing Strategy for Your Studio.

So, what’s the most important part of your influencer marketing strategy?

If approached with the wrong focus in mind, it is without a doubt that your influencer marketing strategy will fail. While focusing on the stars of your campaign is essential, there is something else you need to strongly think about before you even start considering who to work with.

Because at the end of the day, your influencer marketing campaign wasn’t made for the influencers themselves, but for your audience. It is of absolute importance to understand your audience correctly to ensure you work with the right influencer who can help you connect with users that are likely to be interested in your products/services. Otherwise, what’s the point in spending all that time and money if you’re targeting people who won’t convert?

Understanding why your audience should be the primary focus of your influencer marketing strategy is crucial, so learn more about it here: What is the Foundation of Your Influencer Marketing Strategy?

Trying out live streaming in your influencer campaign

As they say, video is the king of all content. Why? Because it gets the most engagement, retains audiences for longer, is easily shared and more! A new major player in the video marketing industry, as well as the game marketing industry, is that of live streaming.

There are a few reasons why “going live” is a great way to get audiences engaged in your influencer marketing strategy. These include:

• The ability to provide an authentic experience
• Affordability
• The ability to reach and capture the attention of a specific and engaged audience
• Content that you can reuse
• Video-specific metrics and tracking
• Live chatting capabilities

Combining influencer marketing and live streaming is a great way to get a higher level of reach and engagement than you could on your own. Find out how to use it in our guide, How to Use Live Streaming In Your Influencer Marketing Strategy.

And find out how to get streamers to work with you in Influencer Game Marketing: How to Get Streamers to Market Your Game.

There are also a variety of platforms you can use for your livestreaming purposes. As a game marketing agency, there are a few that we recommend for your game influencer marketing needs. From the big names like Twitch to smaller platforms, you’ve got a lot to choose from.

Making your mark on Twitch

Of course, Twitch is the figurehead for video game streaming. With an impressive 1,116 billion minutes watched in 2020, there is no wonder that this is the go-to platform when anyone thinks of video game livestreaming. 

But what has made the platform so powerful? Easy - the strength of its authenticity. Here, audiences see their favorite streamers unfiltered and get to chat alongside them as they watch them play.

Find out more about how you can succeed on Twitch in our guide, Video Game Marketing 101: Triumph with Twitch Influencer Marketing.

TikTok influencers and you

Influencer marketing is more than just livestreaming! There are a variety of platforms you can use to reach your audience with the power of social media personalities. One of the biggest entrants into the market is TikTok.

Launched in 2016 by ByteDance Ltd., TikTok is a rapidly growing video sharing app which has created, reserved and positioned its space in the short form video segment. With impressive audio-visual effects, captivating filters, and content available in diverse languages, this platform empowers its user base to create compelling entertainment videos in moments.

Influencers here are fun, engaging, audience focused and require creative freedom to bring you incredible results for your business. But one of the major benefits of this market is that not a lot of brands have broken into it! Follow in the footsteps of big names like Ubisoft and make TikTok influencer marketing a part of your strategy today.

Get familiar with the platform and its influencer marketing capabilities in our guide, Your Guide to Video Game Influencer Marketing on TikTok.

Influencer marketing for games on Steam

Our influencer marketing advice will help you across all platforms, and is adaptable to your specific marketing needs. But sometimes you need that extra little bit of help to master influencer marketing for video games that are on certain platforms.

So, since you’re reading this section, you're probably thinking "alright, my game’s on Steam, how do I make it count with influencer marketing?" Well, we’re here with the answers.

There are a few Steam techniques that you can use that differ slightly from traditional influencer marketing strategies. We recommend giving your chosen influencers early access with Steam keys so they can play your game pre-release to give your audience a taste of what your game is like.

Find out how to reach influencers with your Steam keys in our blog here: How to Promote Your Game on Steam with Influencers.

Working with the influencer marketing experts

Planning, creating, enacting and distributing your influencer marketing strategy isn’t an easy task. A strong strategy requires a large amount of time and resources, as well as an incredible team to pull it all together.

Businesses have to find the right influencers, vet them, explain the campaign (and ensure there are no loopholes), and monitor them to ensure they deliver the expected results. This is a lot of work, and it can derail a company from its primary objective (to provide excellent products for the market) if not done well. 

Outsourcing your campaign to the influencer marketing experts is a great way to get the results that you desire. Influencer marketing agencies are able to dedicate their time to your campaign to ensure that you get the results, metrics, management and support that you desire. 

But like influencers themselves, you’ll need to make sure that you work with the right agency. If you want to know how to choose the right influencer marketing agency to handle your campaign and get you the results you deserve, we’ve got everything you need to know here: How to Choose the Right Influencer Marketing Agency.

Monitoring your campaigns

You’ve planned your strategy, you’ve found the right influencer to work with, they’ve posted some content. What next? Monitoring your results of course! If everything has gone according to plan so far, you need to ensure that it gets you the results that you desire. 

Do you want more conversions? More likes? More subscribers? More referrals? Whatever it is, if you’re not tracking it, how will you know if your influencer marketing campaign has made it happen?

Tracking your performance is one thing, but knowing how to do it successfully is another. After all, examining the wrong metrics at the wrong stage of your campaign won’t lead you to success. 

That’s why we’ve created this guide that’ll tell you what to track, when to track it and how to do it all so you can make the most of influencer marketing. Learn more in our blog here: 4 Ways to Monitor Your Gaming Influencer Campaign's Success.

Influencer marketing is a lot of work, but it promises incredible results unlike any other marketing strategy. If you're looking to break into influencer marketing for your latest video game, our platform can help.

Atisfyreach uses an AI-driven algorithm to find the best fit influencers and create excellent campaigns for your marketing needs. Remove your hesitation about influencer marketing by signing up today!