You finished your game and now you are going to promote it on social media! Yay!
I’ve been coming across this more and more as I talk to different developers from around the world. They’ve been told countless times that they have to get on social media and get the word out, but that’s usually as far as the advice goes. What ends up happening is that these developers tweet a bunch of times about how awesome their game is, then they tweet countless times to their game’s link, and finally they tweet each person they’re following about how awesome their game is and “here is the link!” These same developers then wonder why their sales haven’t budged and why they have no likes on Facebook.
BTW here is a secret about Facebook – you have to spend money at first. Not a lot, maybe $40 at most. That’s enough to get you a couple of hundred likes. That’s enough to get you started. I’ll cover Facebook likes in depth another time.
Back to the indie game developer who isn’t getting any traction. Probably by the time they feel like they’ve exhausted all of their attempts it’s been a couple of weeks. “If nobody cares by now they aren’t going to,” is what they say. And so, at this point, they throw in the towel and start work on the next project. Meanwhile a perfectly awesome game is getting shelved.
How do you avoid this? Get out there now! Before the game is finished, before the first level is finished. Get out on Twitter and Facebook and start talking to people. And don’t spam them, PLEASE. Don’t just tweet, and tweet, and tweet the same thing over and over again. We all know that guy – he’s on all of our feeds. You either ignore him or unfollow him. Don’t do it! Instead start building relationships. Ahhh, there it is. For those who’ve worked in retail sales you’ve heard that before. Your manager comes over after someone walks out and tells you that you need to spend more time getting to know the customer, more time building a relationship with them. The difference between retail and Twitter is that you have all the time you want to build relationships with people on Twitter. And do not be fooled, it is going to take time, know that now. It is going to take more time than you think. In fact, your relationship building is never going to stop. That’s what social media is all about – staying in touch.
Let’s review:
- Get on Twitter and Facebook today
- Follow some people on Twitter that are interested in the type of game you are making or are planning to make
- One way to do this is to find a few big-name games that are similar to what you’re making and begin following some people that follow those games (what a mouthful)
- IMPORTANT: Do not overdo this! Just a few people that look interesting to you from each game
- Begin tweeting content that your followers (potential customers) are interested in
- The most effective tweet-to-hour ratio is 1:1 – yes, you should average 1 tweet an hour
- Over on Facebook you should post once a day
- A great article
- An awesome video
- A random question
After you’ve begun doing this then you will start to get followers. Now it’s show time! Start tweeting at some of your followers and building relationships with them. Don’t just tweet “Hey my game Skin Poison Missile is freaking awesome! Check it out here www…” Instead talk to them about topics you find interesting and they find interesting. You’ll start to notice trends with your followers. People will post about things they are into; this is your opportunity to engage with them.
Back on Facebook answer questions people post and engage in conversation when people comment on one of your posts. It’s the best way to show them that you don’t just care about their “Like”, but you care about them.
All of this is an overview, but it’s a place to start. Also, it takes a lot of time! The biggest thing is going to be sticking to your plan. Social media is here to stay and it is a part of how we do business now. It’s a full-time job in itself and it demands a lot of attention. But the great thing is that it will pay off if you do it right, AND if you have patience. Don’t give up on it. Stay active in your community and when the time comes for you to launch your game you won’t have to tweet about it 30 times a day. You’ll only need to tweet it once, your followers will take care of the retweets.
Talk soon,
-Patrick
Follow me on Tiwtter: @PDS271
Startup Gamers helps you make a name in the indie game space
Patrick Stephens 