Crafting amazing games is just half the battle. To ensure their success, you need to master the art of marketing. And in today's digital landscape, social media influencers hold the key to unlocking a vast audience. YouTubers, TikToks, game publications, and regulars of various social media sites are vital when it comes to ensuring your games' success. But how do you know which influencers to approach? Read below to find out. Here's how to navigate the world of influencer marketing and maximize your game's potential.

Identify The Audience

Before doing anything else, it’s always best to reevaluate your product and find out which audience it appeals to the most. While it might seem like a lot of busy work for no reason, only by knowing the ins and outs of your product can you identify your audience? By knowing your audience, you’ll be able to research which influencer most appeals to that demographic and, in doing so, maximize the potential reach your games might have.

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Learn About Potential Influencers!

Once you’ve found out more about your game’s potential audience, it’s time to choose who to market yourself to. Whether it's gaming YouTubers, Twitch streamers, or game journalists, pick influencers who resonate with your target audience and share your values. The choice is yours, but remember to choose the type of influencer wisely. The wrong type of influencer might attract an audience you’re not prepared to receive. As the saying goes, you are the company you keep. The influencers you reach out to will become associated with your brand, so it’s best to choose the ones you’re not afraid of being connected to and the ones you can most appeal to.

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Establish Relationships, Form Cordial Bonds

The next step is to reach out. Approach influencers as partners, not just marketing tools. Introduce yourself and your brand and establish the type of relationship you want to form with them. Do you want them to simply show off your game to their audience? Or do you want to personally sponsor them? Whatever you choose, setting the tone and establishing the boundaries needed to make this relationship work is best.

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Do research on them, but never talk down to or patronize them. The last thing you want to do is appear condescending, especially when you’re reliant on their opinions and content to help spread your image. 

Stay Supportive and Approachable!

Support the influencers you hire! Your reputation with your future audience hinges on the good graces of the influencers you contact. Their word means a lot to their audience, and so their recommendation (or criticism) will have a lot of impact on how well your product is received. 

Approach them as you would a partner, and do your best to accommodate their needs and their concerns. Give them game keys to give away, exclusive access to behind-the-scenes info, and more. It might seem excessive, but this is a mutually beneficial relationship. Both you and the influencers you contact can benefit from this partnership, and a cordial relationship will go a long way to ensuring that things go smoothly. Do your best not to step on their toes; they’ll do the same with you.

Play It Straight

Honesty is key to maintaining your company's credibility. Your reputation, good or bad, will influence the public’s perception and the influencer’s opinions on your product.

As such, hold yourself and your company to the high standards the public expects of you. The last thing you want is a PR disaster that makes you look bad and incentivizes content creators to shun or dislike your products. Play it straight and be truthful, and the public will appreciate how you conduct yourself. The last thing you want to do is make yourself and your products look bad. You have to remember that authenticity builds trust, which is essential for long-term success.

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Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for promoting your games, but requires careful planning and execution. By understanding your audience, choosing the right influencers, building genuine relationships, and maintaining transparency, you can leverage influencer marketing to propel your game to success.

At Mega Cat Studios, we're passionate about helping game developers thrive in the industry. Join us on LinkedIn and Discord for more insights and discussions on all things gaming.

This article was written by Alexander Cuaycong.