The Definitive Guide to Video Game Influencer Marketing

The world of influencer marketing has proliferated in the last couple of decades, evolving from a few famous bloggers to an 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 influencer marketing, how it came to be, why it’s so popular, and what you need to start.

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1. How did influencer marketing all start out?
2. Knowing how to create an influencer marketing strategy
3. So, what’s the most important part of your influencer marketing strategy?
4. Nailing your content
5. Trying out live streaming in your influencer campaign
6. Making your mark on Twitch
7. TikTok influencers and you
8. Influencer marketing for games on Steam
9. Working with the influencer marketing experts
10. Monitoring your campaigns

How did influencer marketing all start out?

Looking back more than 300 years ago, we see that the Queen and the Pope were some of 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 did!

Since those early days, influencer marketing has gone through many iterations and evolved to become a social media powerhouse. From leading authoritative figures to 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 dominate not only the marketing sphere but also the popular consciousness. Audiences often turn to them 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 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, you’ll fall behind your competitors and won’t get the results that influencer marketing can provide.

1. 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.
2. 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 your influencer marketing campaign wasn’t made for the influencers themselves but for your audience. It is essential to understand your audience correctly to ensure you work with the right influencer who can help you connect with users likely to be interested in your products/services. Otherwise, what’s the point in spending all that time and money 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?

Nailing your content

There are many types of different influencer marketing content, and you'll need to ensure your strategy has a few sprinkled through them so it doesn't become stagnant.

From giveaways to challenges, engaging content is at your fingertips when you engage the right influencers. 

Find out what to create in 10 Gaming Influencer Content Types You Can Use for Game Marketing.

Trying out live streaming in your influencer campaign

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 livestreaming.

There are a few reasons why “going live” is a great way to engage audiences 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

1. 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.
2. Find out how to get streamers to work with you in Influencer Game Marketing: How to Get Streamers to Market Your Game.
3. And if you want big names to play your game, then you’ve got a few platforms you can choose from. Check them out in our blog, 6 Livestreaming Platforms To Use For Video Game Influencer Marketing.

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 22.4 billion hours watched in 2022 (source: Business of Apps), 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 chat with 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! You can use various platforms 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 that has created, reserved, and positioned its space in the short-form video segment. With impressive audio-visual effects, captivating filters, and content in diverse languages, this platform empowers its user base to create compelling entertainment videos in moments.

Influencers here are fun, engaging, and audience focused and require creative freedom to bring incredible results to your business. But one of the significant benefits of this market is that few 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 particular 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 your game.

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 significant amount of time and resources and an incredible team to pull it all together.

Businesses must find the right influencers, vet them, explain the campaign (and ensure 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 influencer marketing experts is a great way to get the results that you desire. Influencer marketing agencies can dedicate their time to your campaign to ensure you get the results, metrics, management, and support you want. 

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, and they’ve posted some content. What next? Monitoring your results, of course! If everything has gone according to plan so far, you must ensure that it gets you the desired results. 

Do you want more conversions? More likes? More subscribers? Something else? Whatever it is, if you’re not tracking it, you won't 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!