by Game Marketing Genie, on 19-Jul-2022 11:07:24
The life of a Tweet is 18 minutes (source: Moz)! Yes, that’s how fast-paced Twitter is. But that is the beauty of this platform — people get quick updates in abundance about the topics they are most interested in. But Twitter has transitioned quickly from a mere thought-sharing platform to a powerful marketing channel. With over 229 million monthly active users, Twitter is ideal for brands to build brand awareness and gain traction.
And with the growing gaming audience, Twitter is an even better platform to spread the word about your new game. Avid video gamers use Twitter to discover new games and stay up-to-date, as developers often share Tweets about upcoming sales, updates, and the latest features.
The abundance of gamers relentlessly waiting for new exciting releases is an excellent reason to invest in Twitter game marketing. So, let’s dive into the whats, whys, and hows of game marketing on Twitter.
Why Twitter marketing?
Twitter is one of the most beneficial platforms for gaming marketing. It is one of the most active social platforms, and the engagement rates are incredibly high. Though, in general, social media for gamers is vital, the gaming audience is specifically hyperactive on Twitter.
Data from Adweek shows that In 2021, there were around 2.4 billion Tweets about gaming. Q4 2021 was the biggest quarter for gaming conversations EVER on Twitter. Over 90 million avid gamers on Twitter are responsible for the fast-paced discussion on the platform. Their average tweeting rate is 70 gaming-related Tweets per SECOND, according to 15 Minute News! This large gaming community generated over 156 million Tweets about gaming in 2021.
The gaming audience flock to Twitter to engage with brands they love and monitor what their gaming icons say. A study from Twitter shows that 42% of them follow their all-time favorite brands with a desire to discover more. And 24% use Twitter to research a game, while 30% hunt for promotions and great gaming deals on Twitter. Reports have even revealed that Twitter influences 73% of the buyers at the beginning of their purchasing journey. Besides, 86% of Twitter gamers end up engaging with a brand after viewing its gaming content on Twitter. These statistics indicate that Twitter game marketing is worth it!
Additionally, one of the lesser-known reasons that make Twitter an engagement-worthy platform is that the conversations here are anything but trash talk. People engage more thoughtfully and proactively voice their opinions. This gives Twitter an edge over other gaming social media platforms.
What you've got to do
Optimize your presence
Figure 1: Nintendo’s well-optimized Twitter profile. Source: Nintendo
Success on Twitter is improbable without a well-optimized profile. An optimized profile can help you get more sales by reaching the right audience. To optimize, start by analyzing your profile name. Businesses often use their brand name as their profile name — you can do it, too. Next, optimize your profile picture. Use your brand logo as your Twitter profile picture for enhanced recognizability. If your logo is too detailed to be added as a display picture, create a secondary, less cluttered logo that matches your current logo.
Additionally, pay special attention to the bio. It is a 160-character long description of what your company offers. A keyword-rich bio can give you a higher rank on the Twitter search results, leading to improved brand awareness. But since the bio is only 160 characters, add words wisely, and don’t forget to add a brief call-to-action. Ensure your bio has all the relevant keywords and hashtags for better discoverability. If you have a branded hashtag, a bio is the right place to add it.
Figure 2: Vox is known for its to-the-point, catchy bio. Source: Vox
Once the bio is sorted, move on to your header image. It is just like Facebook and LinkedIn’s cover images. The header image should describe who you are and showcase your brand’s personality and value proposition. You can update the header image when announcing new game launches or campaigns.
Besides, ensure your Tweets are public and not protected. This will make them accessible to every Twitterati. To further optimize your accessibility, allow everyone to message you directly.
Most importantly, don’t take action based on your stereotypes about gamers — there are great prejudices about gaming on social media. Align yourself with your target audience’s likes and culture. To that end, research their location, game preferences, interests, and Twitter usage. Twitter analytics will come in handy, giving you a nuanced understanding of your audience. It will also tell you the type of content and format they like engaging with the most. This piece of knowledge will help you widen your follower base.
Develop a Twitter content strategy
Let’s put this straight: Twitter differs from other gamer social media platforms, especially in terms of content. While posts on popular social platforms have certain word limits, Twitter is way too specific about the length of Tweets — write more than 280 characters, and Twitter will split the Tweets, often making your message unclear. Therefore, creativity is a must when posting content on Twitter.
To ensure your content adds value and positions you as an industry expert, create a powerful Twitter content strategy. Twitter aims to offer users the best and most engagement-worthy content. The algorithm will reward you with a higher rank when you share riveting Tweets that get more traction. At the same time, if you post mediocre content, Twitter will penalize you.
Bottom line: Prioritize posting engaging content with ample keywords and relevant hashtags. And avoid self-promoting and spammy Tweets.
Though quality is foremost, pay attention to the quantity, too. You’re highly likely to get more views and likes if you post multiple Tweets daily. Studies show that you can post as many as 15 Tweets in a day, including retweets. But make sure each Tweet adds value. And if this is too much to handle, use a scheduling tool to automate your posts.
Use paid Twitter advertising
Paid advertising is the best way to complement your organic efforts. Twitter allows you to target your potential customers and monitor engagement to optimize your campaigns. An added advantage is that the cost of Twitter advertising is decreasing. In other words, you can get more bang for your buck with Twitter marketing!
There are a few ways you can market on Twitter. You have the option to promote a single tweet, a Twitter account, a trend, or a Moments. Gaming studios get fruitful results by promoting their Tweets.
Figure 4: A Promoted Tweet. Source: Instapage
Promoted Tweets are like ordinary Tweets, except advertisers purchase them for enhanced awareness and higher engagement. They are clearly labeled as “Promoted” when placed on users’ feeds. Promoted Tweets are used to spread the word specifically amongst a target audience. They can help drive traffic, leads, and sales and promote awareness about new products. A promoted Tweet can get you more eyeballs on your upcoming game, increasing your download rate. Here are some convincing reasons to invest in promoted Tweets:
- Cost-effective type of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising
- 1-4% more click rate
- Increased traffic to the landing page
- Increased Twitter growth, especially in terms of followers
Other types of promotions include:
- Promoted accounts — You can promote your entire Twitter account instead of promoting a single Tweet. This will help you get more new followers.
- Promoted trends — Trends appear on the right side of Twitter. Promoted trends will appear under the “Trends for you” section in the Explore tab and timeline of your target users.
- Promoted Moments — Promoted Moments are like Twitter story ads. They are a curated collection of similar Tweets narrating a story. You can promote such stories for improved engagement.
Once you’ve decided the type of promotion to go for, start creating your ad campaign. Here’s what setting up a campaign, more or less, looks like.
Begin with deciding the goal of your campaign. You can start a campaign to increase your:
- Followers
- Tweet engagement
- App installs
- Promoted video views
- Website clicks or conversions
- In-stream video views
- App re-engagements
- Awareness
Now, select the audience you want to target using Twitter’s advanced targeting features. You can choose from the pre-fab options or create your custom audience list.
Next, choose ad placement, where you want the ad to appear.
Next comes the auction. You’ll have to compete in an auction to decide how much to pay for each action you want your audience to take. Twitter will recommend a bid based on your targeting parameters. Nonetheless, the price is what you decide it to be. And there is no minimum campaign spend. Choose a daily budget, and Twitter will never cross the threshold. And you’re pretty much done!
Pro tip: Create visually engaging ads and use strong media to grab your audience’s attention. Understand your audience and what they’d respond to. Accompany the media with strong copy. Use language that aligns with your brand voice and add a clear call to action.
Want to transform your social media game marketing strategies?
The entire process of setting up a campaign and getting everything right is challenging as well as time-consuming. And when you have a complete game to create from scratch, marketing can be even more difficult. Therefore, you need a Twitter marketing expert who can help you reach your business goals. And if you’re looking for one, search no more! Game Marketing Genie has you covered.
Game Marketing Genie is a full-service game marketing agency offering effective strategies that get more conversions. We specialize in Twitter marketing and video game marketing. So, we can help you create a robust personalized Twitter marketing strategy for more sales.
Let's chat to find out how we can help you!
