When game developers venture into influencer marketing to promote their mobile games, it's easy to fall into some common pitfalls.
TIP: Check our previous blog post talking about “Tips for Game Devs working with Influencers”.
Influencer marketing has seen a significant rise in recent years. Influencers offer a reliable and impactful way to acquire users, often delivering thousands—if not millions—of impressions. These impressions come from highly engaged users who are more likely to install your game.
Influencers build trust with their audience, making their endorsements feel like genuine recommendations from a friend.
If you're seeking new ways to acquire users for your mobile apps and games while maintaining an active presence on social media, keep reading for actionable insights!
Summary:
- Why transparency matters when working with influencers
- Finding the perfect balance between clear guidance & creative freedom for your influencer campaigns
- Selecting the perfect influencer for your matching audience
- Digging into your influencer's metrics before partnering
- Tracking & monitoring your campaigns
- BONUS! Tips to getting started with influencer marketing
#1 - Be transparent with your Goals
Transparency is highly valued by influencers.
When influencers promote a product, they take a risk. If the product doesn’t align with their audience’s expectations, they could lose the trust and loyalty they’ve built over years of hard work. This makes them cautious about collaborations.
If the partnership goes poorly, influencers may become hesitant to work with you in the future. Therefore, it’s essential to approach these partnerships with sensitivity and an understanding of their concerns.
An influencer’s top priority is maintaining the loyalty of their audience. Betraying this trust can backfire not only on the influencer but also on your brand. Clear communication and mutual respect are crucial for a successful collaboration.
#2 - Give them some Creative Freedom
Influencers excel at crafting compelling stories that resonate with their audiences. If their narrative aligns with your app’s message, it creates a natural connection with their followers.
To achieve this, select influencers whose style and tone complement the image you want to project. This way, they don’t have to significantly alter their approach, and their audience is already primed to engage with your content.
Providing creative freedom allows influencers to work within their strengths, making their endorsements feel more authentic.
Avoid micromanaging. Over the years, many influencers have invested in improving their creative skills through courses and programs, making them more adept at crafting engaging content. Trust their expertise to deliver results.
Strike a balance between offering clear guidance and remaining open to their ideas and requests.
Influencers understand their audience better than anyone and will naturally find the best ways to present your app or game.
Collaborating with Influencers: Tips for Success
Treat Them as Creative Partners: Don’t view influencers merely as a traffic source. Think of them as creative consultants who excel at user engagement. They understand what resonates with their audience and can showcase your app or game in innovative and effective ways.
Communicate Your Goals Clearly: Ensure influencers fully understand the benefits and unique selling points of your app or game. This allows them to craft a narrative that highlights these features authentically.
Invest in Long-Term Relationships: A lasting partnership fosters trust and ensures better outcomes over time.
By fostering collaboration based on trust, creativity, and mutual respect, you can maximize the potential of your influencer marketing campaigns, connecting with audiences in meaningful ways and driving measurable results.
#3 - Find influencers with matching Audiences for your mobile games
As mentioned earlier, it’s essential to ensure that the influencer’s audience aligns with your target audience.
To achieve this, you first need to define your audience. Start by imagining two or three "ideal players" for your app or game. Consider their habits, hobbies, interests, and daily routines. You can use various online resources to create detailed “user personas” to represent your audience segments.
This preparation will help you save money and avoid costly mistakes, such as signing expensive contracts with influencers who may not resonate with your target audience.
Understanding your audience is a critical step that should precede reaching out to influencers you’ve identified as potential partners. Once you have clarity about your top audiences and are building a sales pitch to engage the influencer, make sure to assess:
- The Influencer’s Audience: Look into follower count, content quality, and engagement ratios (e.g., views or interactions per post).
- The Influencer’s Main Platform: Most influencers are active on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, but you might also discover opportunities in niche forums or smaller communities.
Keep in mind that engagement rates can vary significantly depending on the platform, so factor that into your evaluation.
#4 - Checking the Influencer’s Engagement Metrics
Assessing the engagement and receptiveness of the influencer’s audience is crucial before formalizing a partnership. There are numerous metrics to consider:
There are plenty of metrics that you can take into consideration:
- Number of Subscribers
- The Average Views (per each publication)
- Engagement Ratio: The percentage of likes, comments, and shares relative to views
- Impression Trends Over Time: Analyze how views or interactions evolve for individual posts.
- Audience Reactions to Sponsored Content: Study how the influencer’s audience has responded to promotional content in recent months.
While the number of subscribers and average views may serve as quick scouting tools, they shouldn't be the sole deciding factors. Delve deeper into engagement metrics, and don’t overlook quality indicators like comment sentiment.
These details provide valuable insights to help you make informed decisions about allocating your marketing budget.
#5 - Track & Monitor your Results
As emphasized in our previous article, tracking and monitoring your influencer campaigns is one of the most common yet critical aspects that game developers often overlook.
Real-time tracking of your campaign’s performance across all channels might seem time-intensive, but the insights gained are invaluable. Properly setting up a monitoring system allows you to analyze how newly acquired users interact with your app or game.
Here’s how tracking can benefit your influencer campaigns:
- Campaign Optimization: Identify and address issues users may encounter in real-time.
- Content Insights: Determine which messages, tones, or styles resonate most with your audience.
- Audience Sentiment: Monitor the audience's reactions and refine your approach accordingly.
- Feature Improvements: Enhance in-game features or services based on audience feedback.
- Performance Evaluation: Track which influencers meet or exceed campaign goals.
- Future Negotiations: Use data to renegotiate deals or discontinue collaborations that fail to generate a return on investment (ROI).
Consistent monitoring helps maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns while providing a solid foundation for future decision-making.
#6 (Bonus!) - Start your Influencer Campaign!
Now it’s time to put all these strategies into action. Combine the insights from this article with those from our previous post to develop a robust influencer marketing campaign.
Influencers can be a powerful asset, enabling you to reach new audiences and generate excitement around your app. By partnering with the right influencers, you’ll discover that they’re a valuable resource for driving installs, creating buzz, and diversifying beyond traditional paid user acquisition campaigns.
Start applying these tips to your influencer marketing strategies, build a strong foundation, and watch your mobile apps and games grow as you engage with untapped audiences.
