How to Promote Telegram Games: Key Features and Pitfalls

About the key features of Telegram as a gaming platform and how to build marketing within it, Evgenia Shpeit, marketing lead at PlayDeck, and Oksana Vasilyeva, project manager at StepMania, shared their insights in an article for App2Top.

Telegram represents a distinct ecosystem with its own rules, purchasing formats, technical limitations, and strengths. While infinite volumes of cheap installs shouldn't be expected here, it's a platform where you can swiftly test hypotheses and conduct deep analytical dives from click through to game return, purchases, sessions, and more.

Evgenia Shpeit and Oksana Vasilyeva

Telegram as a Unique Environment

Marketing in Telegram is akin to mobile gaming marketing but possesses distinctive traits that must be considered during operations. One significant difference is the complexity for users to transition from external networks into the messenger: added steps can disrupt the transition and worsen conversion rates. Consequently, a substantial portion of purchases happens within Telegram through:

• unique ad networks displaying creatives on channels;
• mini-apps and bots;
• advertorial posts in channels;
• integrations with other apps.

This creates a closed-loop system where a considerable amount of traffic is generated within the platform itself.

Emphasizing again: marketing in Telegram is distinct in that traffic is predominantly attracted within the platform. For instance, we work with the traffic already present in Telegram to achieve better conversions. While it's possible to draw traffic from outside as in App Store and Google Play, conversions typically suffer, and user acquisition costs are higher. Telegram has its own laws on handling audiences and tools that need to be understood when launching a project.

There are a few primary methods to attract users within Telegram.

First Method: Advertising Networks

Most traffic (over 50%) comes from ad banners and announcements placed through advertising networks in Telegram channels and other Telegram Mini Apps (TMA).

When working with networks, consider the following factors:

1. Ad networks allow you to target specific geos and user languages — behavior and costs vary significantly across countries. Some regions offer cheap traffic but users do not pay or play Telegram games just for earnings. Others may have users costing three times as much, but they have a habit of playing and don't chase earnings in games.
2. You can target audiences with particular interests, such as "video games," ensuring that your ads are displayed to users in game-focused channels.
3. The type of engagement matters more than the choice of network. For some games, a brief text suffices, while others are better showcased with static images, and showcasing gameplay typically requires video. Static images are excellent for quickly testing various game aspects like setting, visual style, and characters. However, video generally offers a more predictable level of engagement because players understand the gameplay beforehand and are less likely to drop off initially.
4. Targeting TG Premium users is possible. Although they represent only about 5% of Telegram users, they tend to have higher payment potential. Plus, they are more familiar with and value the platform more. But note, this only applies to TMA ads as TG Premium users do not see them in channels.
5. On-platform analytics offers comprehensive insights: crucial metrics include CTR, CPC, and CPA, enabling quick assessment of what creative performed best and scaling campaigns accordingly.

Second Method: Targeted Actions in Apps

Tasks for targeted actions in other applications are another popular promotion method. However, keep in mind that audiences who follow tasks for rewards monetizes less effectively in games. Nonetheless, this mechanic is useful if the goal is to drive users to a key event: finish the first level, test a key mechanic, make a purchase. Campaigns are customized for specific product steps and are paid based on actual completions. This format turns spillovers into a manageable scheme where results are measured by actions, not just openings.

Third Method: Direct Channel Engagement

Collaborating with author-owned channels and niche opinion leaders is another efficient tool for user acquisition within Telegram. From our experience, we identified some stable patterns.

• Youth channels with audiences aged 13-18 deliver high session volumes and feedback but barely generate payments.
• Integrations on large console game platforms are often met with negativity since it's hard to engage the audience with smaller Telegram games.
• On gaming media channels, the audience might react negatively, yet the posts drive significant traffic due to interest in the Telegram gaming phenomenon.
• Channels about new releases and technologies attract users interested in exploring and trying new things.
• To enter a new market, a viable and generally inexpensive option is channel acquisition in local networks.

In the early stages of promotion, it's best to stay within Telegram. Placements with influencers on external social media platforms yield less traffic, cost more, and fall apart due to extra steps transitioning into the messenger and cross-platform transitions. The channel selection scheme is standard. You should:

• check if the channel is suitable for game promos: topic, audience profile, feed activity, responses to past ads;
• verify the channel's "hygiene" via analytical services: suspicious spikes, bot activities, views-to-subscriber ratios;
• assess engagement: ER (Engagement Rate) for regular and ad posts, reaction quality;
• monitor for negative ad effects: unsubscriptions and mutes post-integrations are markers of non-acceptance by the audience.

How to Filter Out Empty Traffic and Scale Purchases

One of the main advantages of the messenger is the detailed data for analytics that makes it easy to see the effectiveness of efforts. Each placement is marked, building a full path: registration, first launch, session count and duration, termination point, R1/R3/R7/R14/R30, user game progress, purchases, and ad views. This framework quickly filters out sources contributing empty traffic and scales hits within the target audience.

Telegram allows information gathering on levels, triggered events, and target actions, optimizing purchases. Additionally, cohort-based display segmentation is available: for example, targeting an audience playing a similar project enhances effectiveness.

If you wish to scale, testing the game on organic traffic within the PlayDeck catalog is beneficial: basic retention, sessions, and in-game purchases per player will clearly indicate whether further promotion is justified. If the core audience consistently returns, the budget is incrementally increased: each purchase batch is accompanied by cohort, event, and monetization analysis to decide the next step. For a single launch without a catalog, this approach works via Telegram's internal ad tools and small test budgets.

When Do Push Notifications Become Too Much?

Due to the high noise level in the messenger, regular reminders of your presence and climbing up the dialogue list are necessary. From our experience, user tolerance for notifications depends on context and frequency. A spike in blocks is noted when shifting from one to two daily notifications (from 1.48% to 3.51% over three days), though further increases to 5-7 are more smoothly tolerated.

Block rates are also tied to push quality: loud and pointless ones irritate users more. Don’t just talk gameplay — it’s better to discuss competitions, raffles, etc. Event and reward-related pushes open more willingly and are more tolerantly received with increased frequency.

Push notifications are typically linked to the following scenarios:

• event: event announcements — leaderboard starts, game or feature releases, etc.;
• social: friend activity in other games or the catalog;
• retention: user inactivity in the game/catalog over a set duration;
• reward: prizes for leaderboard or event wins, and more;
• emotional/competitive: "someone surpassed you," "you missed a great game," and similar prompts.

A significant portion of the audience receives personalized notification sets tied to their actual behavior.

Understanding user habits and integrating with Telegram's functions is crucial for user retention and engagement.

Telegram's audience is accustomed to interactions with bots and TMA. Users know how greetings, onboardings, notifications, and social features should work. Therefore, the product must respect these habits: integrating with chats, leveraging platform features, and providing value through subscriptions, gifts, emojis, and other bonuses.

Challenges with Game Discoverability in Telegram

Finding a game on Telegram is challenging: the basic search demands precise bot names, and the mass audience generally isn't used to looking for games within the messenger. Highlighting apps via ad searches partially addresses the issue but only works when users have a clear intent to find a game. Pushes help raise the bot in chat lists, contributing to user reach.

Under such circumstances, a good way to introduce your game is through direct links to the web app. Users enter the game without an additional operation with the bot command. After session closure, a chat remains that can be used for ongoing interaction. Our measurements show this path significantly boosts registrations per thousand clicks compared to starting the application via a bot.

We recently changed the game loading process for users: previously, when clicking an ad link, they saw just a static placeholder for 5-45 seconds (depending on game loading speed). We noticed a declining conversion from the click to the player. We suspected new users (unfamiliar with the TMA phenomenon) simply didn't understand the process when a black screen appeared.

The solution was to add a progress bar: users saw the loading dynamics, resulting in a 15-25% increase in conversion from ad click to game session start. Consequently, the player acquisition cost significantly dropped (in some Russian market cases, halving for specific campaigns).

Metrics and Internal Currency in Telegram

Compared to traditional mobile, Telegram users are often cheaper, but achieving significant traffic volumes for pennies within the messenger is not feasible. Large-scale reach is possible only with substantial budgets and sequential purchase scaling.

Social mechanics within games are vital to boost traffic not only through paid but also organic means (via referrals). This allows games to self-generate an audience if there's a strong sharing base. Social mechanics in Telegram games enhance user interest and encourage player retention, so competition-oriented messages consistently work in adverts: "come to defeat friends," "show who’s stronger," "secure your rank on the leaderboard."

Our experience indicates that click cost is not particularly meaningful as it is influenced by numerous external factors and technical losses. Basic metrics we monitor are active player cost, retention across different days, and monetization occurrence (purchases or ad views).

In the initial days, our focus is on evaluating user payability over direct ROI. The first campaign analysis can be done within 1-3 days: we observe user costs, their game behavior, return patterns, and based on these metrics, make rapid scale or halt decisions. Testing hypotheses requires only small budgets: $100 can bring 200-400 people for initial statistics. Purchase then grows incrementally — via fixed budget portions with traffic evaluation post each step.

Occasionally, transition issues can drastically change costs. Blocking and filters on the bot path can sharply raise registration prices: known cases show increases from 60 cents to $5 due to external technical restrictions (like RKN blocks). Constant monitoring and readiness to agilely redistribute budgets among touch types and sources are the only defenses.

Payments in Telegram occur through the internal currency, Stars. For some users, this is a novel procedure, so explanations and tips are necessary. It's crucial to consider that users are used to one-step bank card payments, whereas paying with Stars might seem too cumbersome, making it trickier to convert interest into purchases. It’s not a dealbreaker but introduces resistance that must be compensated and aided.

We are currently working on implementing a payment solution developed by our colleagues from a partner project Tribute. This service will enable users from Russia to quickly and easily buy Stars via SBP, making in-game purchases as accessible as on other platforms.

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In conclusion, let’s revisit the main points of this article. Telegram is not a source of endless cheap traffic but is a great platform for experimenting and iterating. Telegram's ad platforms allow launching various ad types, and with in-depth analytics, you can assess their effectiveness within 1-2 days and retain those that truly work.

Several content formats are available: even a simple text creative can be effectively launched in Telegram for quick and relatively cheap hypothesis testing. Banners are another accessible option for relatively quick tests. Video ads work excellently when aiming to attract a more engaged audience — they might cost more, but they are more likely to stay in the game.

Remember, Telegram is a social platform. Games here thrive on virality: referral links, inviting friends for PvP, and then sharing your fight result in a chat. All this helps a game transition from paid traffic to organic.

Precisely tuned analytics enable accurate ad campaign assessments — facilitating decisions based on specific metrics.

Launching a marketing campaign is best started within Telegram, incorporating external platforms selectively once it’s clear which creatives yield results. Early days help spot monetization trends to decide on budget increases.

Telegram is inundated with noise, hence constant visibility to users is a must — utilize push notifications, organize in-game events, offer daily rewards (to foster a user habit of returning to the game), and continuously engage your audience.