5 ways indie games can use Twitter

I’m going to assume you know what Twitter is. Largely because I haven’t picked up a newspaper in the last 2 years without at least one article being about Twitter. It’s amazing, it’s a revolution, it’s changing the way we communicate. And so on. You may even be on Twitter already. I am. But I always was one of the cool kids.

But this post isn’t about using Twitter for your own use, whether that’s stalking celebrities or sharing pictures of cats. It’s about using Twitter as part of your marketing efforts. It details 5 uses of Twitter which can help in marketing your indie game, not including sharing pictures of cats.

Keeping existing audiences up to date

The obvious first use is to share news with people already playing your game. Encourage your players to follow you on Twitter to keep up to date with news and updates. But remember to make it worth their while. Don’t just post details of patch updates after patch updates, keep it interesting.

Getting feedback from customers

Another great use is to utilize Twitter as a way of getting feedback from your players. Ask them what features they like, or what content they want in the next update. It will help you create a game that people want to play, and make your community feel a part of the game.

Providing customer service and CRM

People complain, they have questions, and sometimes even compliments. Twitter allows you to respond in near real time to queries. And due to the short form nature means you won’t waste hours writing long emails responses. Let people know that they can reach you Twitter and you can turn your angry, ranty customers into happy smiley ones.

Be part of a wider community

Being on Twitter allows you to follow other people in the industry, from trade publications to other developers. It’s an easy way of not only keeping up to date with what is going on in the indie games world, but also a fantastic way to talk to other people in the same business, people you can learn from and potentially even become friends with. Indie game development can be a lonely experience, especially if you are going it alone. Twitter gives you a social outlet, to stop you sitting alone in your room, rocking, talking to your imaginary friends.

Reaching new customers

This is a blog about marketing your indie game, so I’d be a fool for not suggesting that a final use for Twitter is to help market your game to a new audience. The nature of Twitter means that you can talk to almost anyone with a Twitter account. This doesn’t mean that you should start outreaching to people cold, or even worse, create a script to spam people with. But there is an opportunity to have a conversation with people who might be interested in your game, in a non-intrusive way. And depending on the type of content you are sharing, you can easily be exposed to a new audience if your followers retweet your content.