by Game Marketing Genie, on 11-Apr-2019 15:11:12
Big gaming studios have the financial resources to fund wide-scale ad campaigns for their games. But if you're a smaller agency, it's hard to get your game noticed by your target audience, especially if you’re working with a tight budget.
With the mobile and video game marketplace being steadily supplied with more and more games, competition is at an all-time high. In 2022, some 2.11 million mobile game apps were available for download in the Apple App Store (source: Statista), and more than 50,000 playable video games are on Steam (source: Backlinko).
With competition rife, how do you develop a game marketing strategy that best reaches the people who are most likely to purchase and play your game?
The answer: go and advertise where your target audience spends a good deal of their time - social media. With billions of users globally, many of which are on Facebook, you are presented with a huge opportunity to start an ad campaign for your video game.
Why Facebook Ads?
Facebook Ads have evolved into a one-stop shop where game developers can do everything from building to launching to monetizing their games. Facebook’s advertising also offers plenty of solutions tailored specifically to help mobile, PC, and console game marketers meet their goals — as seen in the recent development of three new ad solutions:
Playable ads
Playable ads are an interactive format that allows users to try a game for themselves when they encounter the ad. These highlight the benefits of your game and give your audience a taste of what the full game is like.
More often than not, these work best for mobile games, which is why we created an article that explains the topic in depth: Why are Playable Ads a Great Way to Pitch Your Mobile Game?
Player retention
Ads with this goal optimize player retention by connecting video game marketers to lookalike audiences who have higher engagement with games in various genres.
Minimum ROAS
Smaller gaming developers on a tight ad budget will find this feature helpful in furthering their money. By allowing game marketers to set minimum ROAS to reach players who are most likely to engage with their game, marketers can minimize spending on those who are less likely to.
How do these ads work?
Generally, Facebook advertisements look just like regular posts appearing in a user's newsfeed, except they are marked as "Sponsored." Alternatively, you can opt for video ads over text or image-based ones to improve the reach of your game trailer or sneak peeks.
To start advertising on Facebook, you must first create an ad account on Facebook Business. After that, you'll be presented with a 7-step process that will help you get started by setting advertising objectives and learning about your target audience through the Audience Insights tool.
From there, you can set your campaign's daily or lifetime budget. You will also have complete control over which ad formats you want to use.
After placing your ad order, you'll have access to data on how well (or poorly) your ads perform through the Ads Manager. This will allow you to make the necessary changes and tailor your marketing strategy for better results.
How to best optimize Facebook Ads for your game
There are some tweaks you can do before and after launching your campaign that will optimize your ads for the best results.
Ad schedules
Your target audience won't be online 24/7, so your ads don't need to be either! Running your ads at certain optimal hours and days will help you reach your audience when they are most likely to be active on social media.
A/B testing
The great thing about Facebook Ads is that you can test various ads with A/B testing before launching into an entire campaign to see which works best. You can try different aspects of an ad, from design to copy to campaign objectives, and see their effect on factors like conversion rates.
Paid advertising for game devs
Organic marketing is great, but it won’t take you all the way to game marketing success! Don’t be afraid to invest in paid advertising, as it can help you generate the reach and engagement you need. Still not convinced? Check out The Complete Paid Marketing Guide for Video Games!
Take advantage of the power of social media and seriously consider advertising your game on Facebook. The platform offers a variety of features and ad solutions that can help put your game marketing strategies into action and really get your game noticed by potential players.
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