Level up your game marketing campaign: Where to distribute your content?

You adjusted your campaign to fit your audience, but the question remains - how to even get to these people?  

Modern social media are a vast ocean, and your game could end up undiscovered.  

Fortunately, you are not drifting alone. Let’s explore user acquisition and find an answer to the burning question: which social media to pick to avoid losing money?  

Table of contents:  

PART ONE - How to communicate with my audience?  

PART TWO - Where to distribute my content?  

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PART TWO - PICK PROPER DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS  

1. Spread your content across different media channels

Let’s start with two big points: the announcement date and the target release. Having a timeline will help you create content sharing plans and include different media channels.  

If you are releasing a game for kids, holidays might be a good match. So to release on such a date, you might want to steadily build interest from the announcement and ramp it up two months before launch, with a peak in the final two weeks.  

💡 Here are some useful questions to help you get started:  

• Am I planning a big announcement for my game reveal?

Is it a plain reveal, whole community event or will you start from teasing with clues?  

• Are there any events that may influence my campaign?

This may include holidays, but also main industry events (preparing content for E3), periods with many big releases (do you want to compete in the October-December window?) and important calendar dates.  

• What content do you need to reach this goal? Remember about it early so it could be localized on time.

You have many options: big announcements and events, trailers, short videos, screenshots, concept art… Remember about them early so they can be localized on time!

‍Now, where to post it? Choosing a suitable location will depend on the marketing funnel stages. Each social media channel has its own audience and may serve different goals.

If you are interested in more detailed examples, check out these posts about Among Us TikTok and Twitter strategies from their Community Director. The game is a great example of building social media channels. The social aspect of the game was vital in promoting it during the pandemic; the campaigns used fan-created content and memes to build a community around the game.  

Post regularly, and you will build a community that will drive the success of your game.  

   2. Go where your audience already is  

Matching with an influencer or streamer specialized in your niche will introduce your game to an existing base of fans. Simple ads are too often missed; connecting with a known authority can generate brand awareness and give you more credibility.  

You can't talk about influencer marketing and not mention RAID: Shadow Legends. At some point, you couldn’t even open your fridge without seeing a R:SL advert. Plarium has given the content creators huge freedom to present the game, so the examples range wildly from creating a tattoo with the game character, to putting one of the influencers as a playable character in game.  

Be non-intrusive and respect their choices. Remember that there’s another person at the other side. We won’t repeat the basics here, so check out this guide to brush up your knowledge before reaching out.  

Instead, let’s take a more detailed look at the opportunities connected to influencer marketing in China. It’s one of the best ways of driving sales in the market. Creating viral content with the help of reliable content creators and funneling it to your Heybox page is an effective way to grow your wishlist.  

As we said before, the market is crowded - and when everybody is following the old tactics, there is value in taking a road less traveled.  

Preparing an influencer campaign for your game starts with research. If there has been any content created for your game, it’s important to gather and analyse it. Go through Chinese social media: HeyBox, BiliBili, Douyin, Weibo, and write down everything of note.  

Next, it's time to create an influencer database. Popularity is not the key here - asking if the influencer and their audience are good for your game will get you further. Check your existing contacts and plan reaching out to new content creators ahead of time.  

Don’t underestimate the value of maintaining relationships. Start with contacting the influencers in a personalised way. Focus on the specifics, explain the benefits of working with you and share information of how your game is suitable for their audience. This way, it can grow into a mutually beneficial partnership - you will gain publicity, and they will be able to expand their audience thanks to your game.  

If you want to know more about how we can help your game, don’t hesitate to reach out! At Huqiao, we can guide you all steps of the way. Don’t worry if you gave only a small budget for your influencer campaign - it’s a great place to start.  

   3. Don’t forget your Steam page!  

...Or you could miss the point of the entire campaign! As the endpoint of funneling, it’s the main place for selling your game. Your other social media should redirect interested gamers here - so let’s make the contents professional, helping them decide to buy or wishlist your game.  

💡 Optimise your page, paying special attention to these elements:  

• Short, matching description - it should be a concise, well-written introduction with only the most important information about your game (don’t forget your USP!)

• Sub-genre tags - it will make finding your game in relevant categories easier.
• Add keywords - they will improve the chances of your game getting found.
• Screenshots and trailers - they are the first thing people see. Hook them right away.
• Localisation - it may be a deciding factor if the players will choose your game; remember that you are already on Heybox!

Highlight good reviews - and pay attention to the negative ones! Not only will they help you to improve your game, but also your potential customers are more likely to look at them before buying. Moderate them accordingly.

Long walls of text won’t get you anywhere. Be short and clear, break your text with pictures and use bullet points where needed.  ‍

💡 Leaving this point for a launch week simply won’t do. Wishlisting your game before the launch will correlate directly  to first week sales - so make your page look great as early as possible!  

   4. Consider a different market  

Did you know that the APAC region is where the fastest growth is going to happen in the upcoming years? It will be leading with 56% growth between 2021 and 2026. Out of these countries, China is the biggest market by gaming revenue.  

Don’t take our words for granted. Your favorite games may already be a big hit there! Check Frostpunk’s case - 11 bit studios admitted their biggest community is actually in China! They were responsible for almost ⅓ of their sales. As we mentioned before, it also raised some controversies, highlighting the importance of cultural support.  

Whether you want to take a first step into the Chinese market or increase your current sales , we have prepared a comprehensive package with everything you might need along the way:  

1. Influencer marketing

We covered this one earlier, so you already know how we bring awareness to your game and redirect your audience to your HeyBox page (this is where the sales happen).  

2. Social media marketing  

Here’s a hot tip for you before we begin: you are already on one of them due to Steam’s partnership with HeyBox :)  

We take this further, creating your official account on HeyBox. We do extensive research of the market and keep track of the comments and community interactions. Creating and publishing content in Chinese is not an issue for us, we will do it according to your brief. You can trust us with tracking sales and community feedback, and, of course, report it back to you.  

3. PR Outreach  

Not only do we communicate with content creators, but also track articles created about your games. At every step, we offer you full transparency about our actions.  

4. Community management and monitoring  

Covering HeyBox, Douyin, BiliBili, Huya, WeChat and more, we monitor community interactions in social media weekly and redirect them to HeyBox.  

5. Support with translations and localisation  

They won’t be a problem for our native speakers!  

6. Cultural support  

It’s not limited to providing you with knowledge about Chinese customs. Legal consultations, answering inquiries or even Chinese classes for you, these services are all within our reach!  

This is of course just a quick summary - check more details about services we offer in our All Things-China article!  

It would be easy to say "To succeed with your marketing campaign, you just have to spend loads of money" (preferably at Huqiao of course!) - but money is no guarantee of success. Instead, we took a look underneath the campaigns and found the common traits that will help you reach your audience and fit your content to their liking.  

Behind the exciting numbers, there are people that are looking for your game. Connecting clear, consistent communication with proper distribution channels is the fundament on which you can build your marketing strategies.  

We hope we inspired you with creating your marketing campaigns.  

Contact us directly with any of your questions.  

If you need help reaching the Chinese audiences, managing your communities or choosing the right influencers - we at Huqiao are here to support you at every step of the way.  

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