Promoting mobile games is quite different from advertising traditional video games. It differs in a sense that developers need to factor in many key elements and narrow down audience demographics in order to be noticed.
Promoting mobile games is quite different from advertising traditional video games. It differs in a sense that developers need to factor in many key elements and narrow down audience demographics in order to be noticed. There is a myriad of mobile games that are released throughout the year so it can be difficult to stand out and get featured at the top of the gaming list on the mobile app store.
There are a few elements mobile game developers can do to successfully market their mobile games and these things can be done prior to the release and after the game has launched. These factors can be implemented in game or in the marketing campaign itself. Either way,
What developers need to do before they focus on marketing and advertising is the App Store Optimization. There are four main steps that game creators can follow to make sure their mobile games can be noticed by smartphone users.
App Name
Think of a new mobile game as newborn baby; developers spend months and sometimes years to release the perfect version with the perfect patches. Naming a game is a very crucial part in game-making, just like how naming a child is. The name of the game should be easy to remember and pronounce, with a little bit of uniqueness that will separate your mobile game from the rest. Popular mobile games have used alliteration, puns, and clever word play in the official game name. Some examples are Clash of Clans, Jetpack Joyride, and Plague Inc.
Keywords and Descriptions
Just like anything else on the internet, if one wants to gain more attention, one needs to make use of the right key words. Look for which key words people often search for on the mobile store so your game will be one of the first few results that will come up. Write your game descriptions using those heavily-search keywords and include meta descriptions of texts, images, and videos.
Other than using SEO-based keywords, write creative descriptions and taglines that is unique and memorable. For instance, Happy Wheels tagline is “Choose your inadequately prepared racer, and ignore severe consequences in your desperate search for victory.” This tagline is descriptive and straight to the point as it tells players the premise of the game without being too lengthy.
Ratings and Reviews
Always ask for feedback and reviews from your players and downloaders. The reviews can come in handy when it comes to improving and updating the game’s features and interface. Some mobile games even give out rewards for players who provide ratings and reviews like the quiz game Celebrity Guess, where players will get rewarded with extra coins.
This prompts players to leave a high-star rating and a positive feedback. The better the reviews are, the more chances that the game will get featured on the home page of the app store.
Regular and Frequent Updates
Repetitive gameplays can get boring after a while. It is suggested that developers create and release new patch updates to maintain current players and attract new audience. Games like Temple Run 2 and Sim City Build It rolls out new updates every once in a while to introduce new features and gameplays. The result is apparent, as these two games have stayed on top of the Google Play and Apple App Store since its initial release.
Everyone knows the importance of in-game advertisements, especially when developing free mobile games. While some free mobile games promote in-game purchases in order to gain profits, other developers use advertisements to make a few bucks. It can be highly effective under the right circumstances; however, it can get rather bothersome for players to be seeing ads popping up every five minutes.
A heavy display of third-party advertisements is a big don’t as it can actually drive players away. One way to solve this is to create an ad-free upgrade for players who can’t stand the pesky pop-ups anymore. Developers would sometimes release two versions of the same game: a lite version with advertisements and a full version without the ads.
Promoting mobile games can be costly, so make use of social media platforms to introduce new products to the mass market. Through social media, developers can also build a strong following or fanbase, engage in a quick, multi-way communication, and release new information and updates easily. Rovio’s widely played mobile game, Angry Birds, have a strong Twitter presence that have garnered over 600,000 followers. The Angry Birds Twitter admins would often use hashtags and conduct polls to start a discussion and engagement with loyal and casual players.
Smartphones users nowadays, especially millennial users, heavily prefer visual content rather than text-based content. In this case, beautiful graphics and illustrations can be useful when it comes to marketing any mobile game. Take the puzzle game Monument Valley, for example. It features geometrical landscapes with pastel color schemes along with challenging yet simple gameplay.
On the other hand, some developers utilize minimalism to make their mobile game stand out from the rest. Games like A Dark Room and Lifeline are surely text-heavy, but the intriguing and gripping plotline makes up for the lack of visuals. Another thing the developers did to maintain and attract audience is by releasing sequels and spin-off games. The developers behind Lifeline game, Three Minute games, have released Lifeline 2: Bloodline, Silent Night, whiteout, Crisis Line, Flatline, and Halfway to Infinity to accompany the first installment.
All in all, for all developers struggling to get their games noticed and downloaded, just keep in mind that the mobile gaming landscape is different than traditional gaming. The competition is abundant and the risk is high; it’s possible that a developer’s newly-made game will get no attention at all.
Who knows? Perhaps a developer’s new game can pull a Flappy Bird and become so famous that the creator deleted it from the app. Nevertheless, instead of aiming for uncontrollable virality, focus on creating a well-rounded mobile game that caters to all kinds of gamers. Continue to test patches and trials until the game is perfect and ready to be distributed on the app stores.
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This post was written by Febriani Ramadhanya from iPrice group.
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