Most people underestimate the time and money spent on their favorite mobile games. Knowing how these games market to you may help you understand how you end up spending small amounts on games without even realizing it. Continue reading to learn more about how smartphone game manufacturers market their immersive games to hobby players, like you and I.
Focus on App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization (ASO) is the continued development of examining and calculating updates to the app store marketing benefits with improving the app’s downloads and publicity. There are two main factions that developers and advertisers look into when they want to publicize their game or app—the App Store for Apple users and the Google Play Store for Android phone users. The ASO is used for advertising in both.
This is detrimental to smartphone games’ success because advertised in the App Store and Google Play Store would determine if people would download the app. Most games use essential keywords to have more hits when people search for specific words like “action” or “puzzle.” Games also include pictures of the gameplay and maybe even a theatrical trailer to help seal the deal and entice users to download their game.
The average time that a user spends on a page of the game in the app store or play store can last just a few seconds. When someone clicks on the app store, developers and advertisers think about the small window to entice them. That’s why they market the app to the best of their ability.
Social Media Virality and Shareability
Now more than ever, people utilize social media for almost everything. Smartphone game developers have done the same for a couple of years already. If you happen to know about games like Candy Crush or 8Ball Pool, they are usually games where you invite other players to join you in exchange for a couple of game rewards. Several different games either link your Google Play Account or Apple I.D. to help you connect with your other friends in the game and invite those who aren’t.
Other games even let you play alongside your friends like PUBG, Mobile Legends, and Call of Duty: Mobile. This creates trends which then creates virality. People invite their friends, their colleagues, their classmates to join them in the fun of playing their favorite smartphone games. And if they don’t, they would still see the game’s name in their social media notifications with every daily invite they are sent. Smartphone games and their developers and advertisers have just scratched the surface when utilizing social media.
Many of them branch out to make prominent internet celebrities like Twitch gamers or YouTubers post about these games on their platforms. You may have come across YouTube videos sponsored by specific mobile games or Twitch gameplay videos from your favorite gamers trying out specific mobile games and doing a review. These tactics not only help people download the game but play it for an extended period.
Commission-Based Influencer Marketing
The next point is similar to utilizing social media for the marketing of smartphone games. These companies connect with prominent personalities on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to further market their game using commission-based Influencer Marketing (the good old affiliate model). The social media influencer would create a post on their respective platforms about the smartphone game.
They may include promo codes for in-game bonuses, and the companies track if someone downloads the game through the link they posted. This means that unlike YouTubers or Twitch Streamers that get paid upfront to market their game. These Influencers get a commission every time someone clicks the link they posted and downloads the game.
These regular Influencer posts about specific smartphone games would also help the game’s shelf life on the user’s phone. If they see that their favorite influencers still post about the game every once in a while. They will get the notion in their head that the game is still hip and not outdated. This will help them continue playing the game and continue inviting their friends to play the game as well.
Welcome Bonuses and Daily Freebies
A lot of smartphone games incorporate bonuses and perks in their games. These come in many forms, and are often found with all types of slot games. One of the popular forms is bonuses every time you would open up the game and play it on your smartphone. There are also daily bonuses and succeeding perks or in-game currency that you could use that depend on the consecutive days you open and play the game.
Then there are bonuses for people you invite through social media that actually download and play the game. These bonuses and daily freebies give users a sense of a grind that hooks them into making the game part of their daily routine. It then translates to them not deleting the game and playing it longer.
In addition to the bonuses and daily freebies, smartphone games have developed a trend of having an in-game currency. This is acquired through progressing the different levels of the game or paying real money to be converted to the in-game currency. Clash of Clans has their gold and elixir, 8ball Pool has chips. Zynga poker and Call Of Duty: Mobile have their own currency that players can use to buy and upgrade their items in the game.
These marketing tactics used by smartphone game companies give people a better understanding of how they hook us into their games for months or even years at a time. If you are aware of these tactics, you can properly decide whether you like the game for real.
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