Community: A powerful asset

Once you release your game, it isn’t really yours anymore. In the mind of the player, it’s their game. If you are one of the creative minds behind the game, this may be particularly hard to accept, but it’s important in order to grow.

Think of your favourite games studios and why you like them. There’s a high chance that they will have something in common; they give a lot to their community.

Industries other than games spend vast amounts of money trying to attract audiences, and we are talking a LOT. Often these brands will incentivise a customer with a prize in order to like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. The customer will do so, but once the competition is over they will probably leave. After all, when was the last time you wanted to be part of a toilet paper brand’s community?

The games industry has a massive advantage over other industries in this area. People that play games tend to enjoy talking about them a lot. In marketing terms, this is word of mouth or ‘earned media’. And it’s gold dust.

You also have another large advantage. If you are a games maker, you are almost certainly a games lover. As a result, you should have a pretty good idea of what other gamers will enjoy. In the early stages of design consider what you can give to your potential/existing community? It can be as simple as asking them to test the game (and have a chance to be in the credits), or as complicated as supporting an active modding community with relevant tools.

Too much social media marketing these days is brands trying to forcefully get people to talk about them. Make stuff that your fans will love. Enable them to contribute and enable sharing (more on this in other posts) and the talk/advocacy/earned media will follow much more naturally.