Word of mouth and mobile games
Almost all developers, even beginners, know that making a mobile game is only half the battle. Much more important is the question of how users find out about it. Gamasutra has published the results of a study whose main goal was to get an answer to this question.
According to the analytical company EEDAR, mobile players learn about games mainly thanks to word of mouth, which works great on social networks as well. More than half of all users use it to find games. It is worth noting that the role of word of mouth in the segment of mobile games is much more significant than in the field of “big games”, where it affects only 25% of players.
As for alternative ways of promotion – such as, for example, paid advertising – they are not nearly as effective on mobile platforms as on the web. Hardcore online games get about 50% of their users through advertising campaigns, and for mobile advertising is often too expensive and unprofitable.
A logical conclusion follows from this: publishers and developers of mobile games should rely more on their fans and take care that they tell everyone else. According to EEDAR, those who spend at least 25 bucks a month on your games can be considered the most loyal. And if they like the new title, they will tell their friends about it with almost one hundred percent guarantee. This could be the start of a viral campaign.
The conclusion, let’s be honest, is far from new. The fact that friendly advice works better than an intrusive banner on the site, perhaps only a lazy one did not write. However, the problem is still that no one can give specific instructions on how and what exactly you need to do to “turn on” word of mouth so that social media users voluntarily start writing about your game. On the same Facebook, it is almost impossible to promote an application page without a large advertising budget. What to do?
Firstly, you still need to focus on the quality of your product. No matter how much money you invest in marketing, people won’t write about something they don’t like. The purpose of the promotion is to give your potential fans the opportunity to find out what a cool game you have. If the game is not good enough, promotion will not help it.
Secondly, the easiest way to start promotion is with journalists. If you interest them and manage to agree on the publication of reviews, preferably author’s, on popular resources, the chances will increase dramatically. The more of them there are, the better. It is on these sites that people will be able to learn about the game and, ideally, thanks to the review they have read, they will download it. Then we return to the first point: if the game is good, they may want to tell their friends about it.
Thirdly, make sure that it is as easy as possible for players to write about the game: integrate social network buttons into it, which will allow you to share your opinion with friends with one click. As a rule, all successful publishers use this method.
However, the questions to which there are still no exact answers are good because they do not put you in the frame: since no one knows for sure how to do it, you can do what seems right. If you have already had the experience of promoting your application using word of mouth, share your experience in the comments!
