With millions of brands existing in every corner of the world, it takes a lot of effort on the part of a marketing team to create unique campaigns and ads that will stand out. Although it becomes a bit easier when your target audience is defined, uniqueness is still a vital factor when your number of users is huge and rapidly growing. With gaming slowly but surely evolving into one of the most popular hobbies on the planet and more than 2.4 billion people joining in on the fun worldwide, companies must use relevant platforms if they want to reach this ever-expanding population. Let’s take a look at how the use of advertising in media can easily convert a gamer into a potential customer.
Television adverts
Why is the content in television advertisements so powerful and influential even today? To begin with, data shows that, in 2019, there were 1.67 billion people worldwide with a TV in their household, a number that increased from 1.64 billion in the previous year. In 2020 the number of TV content consumers continues to rise, despite many people using Netflix or their mobile phones as a means of entertainment. In fact, in the United States, it is estimated that over 96% of all homes have access to the television via broadband internet connection, table, or other methods.
Even though gamers may be playing on a console or a computer for most of the day instead of watching the television, many gaming brands continue to use TV adverts to reach users and gain massive benefits through their campaigns. Old-school and contemporary commercials have proven to affect online gaming space whether it be the Nintendo adverts using British comedian Rik Mayall, PokerStars’ safer gaming advert that appeared live earlier this year, or the successful Believe campaign for Halo 3. The truth is, no matter how advanced technology continues to become, most households will always want to have a television set, and that television will play commercials.
YouTube
In February of 2005, video-sharing and the world as a whole was changed forever. The introduction of YouTube revolutionized what it meant to watch and share videos over the internet. Today it has become one of the globe’s most visited websites after Facebook and Google. With all these viewers, there’s no doubt that YouTube’s influence on consumers is high and wide, but what about for our target audience? You probably won’t be surprised to know that the giant social media platform is one of the greatest resources for marketers trying to reach gamers.
Because they have a huge presence on the site, brands turn to important people to sell their products. In 2020, these people are called influencers. YouTube gaming influencers like the famous ‘Pewdiepie’ is one of the most popular out there, with more than 100 million subscribers. He has worked with various brands like Volvo and Razer Kaken who believe that influencer marketing has serious benefits. The bottom line: if your company has something that gamers might be interested in and they aren’t using a high-profile YouTube influencer to help them sell it, they may just be doing something wrong.
Facebook is currently the most popular social media outlet on the planet, and with that title comes some serious power. Gaming brands have taken note of the Facebook effect and pay for featured advertisements to reach interested customers. Many of them have also made their presence known in gaming communities and internal Facebook groups where their target audience hangs out. General images, videos, and written content is sprawling up all over Facebook by marketers attempting to reach gamers. Because most enthusiasts of the hobby are also Facebook members, campaigning on the social media platform can be greatly beneficial. The popularity of Facebook will only continue to rise as more and more generations of users are born.
Since its creation in October 2010, Instagram continues to be a social media favorite, with users either aiming to get more followers or spending hours on the application perfecting a photo edit. Regardless of the way you engage with Instagram, you’d be hard-pressed not to find someone, even older generations, who haven’t yet created an account. Gaming brands know that their audience of gamers comprises some of the most tech-savvy members of the population, so posting advertisements on Instagram is extremely logical.
Marketing on this platform is quite similar to Facebook, but because Instagram’s main focal point is photos and photo sharing, marketers that use this option will want to make sure their visual content is well-lit, professional, and of course high-quality. Gamers know a good gaming chair or lit-up keyboard when they see one, so photos should not only be convincing from a seller’s point of view but also aesthetically pleasing for consumers.
Discord
Originally created to give gamers a place to chat and build their community, Discord is an extremely important platform for this target audience. Not only can companies directly connect with gamers through a live chat model, but the two parties can get to know one another in a casual conversational way. Visibility on Discord is vital. With the platform home to over 250 million users, it sure is a great place to be if you want to get a gamer to notice you.
If you’re a gamer, chances are you are also a frequent visitor to the site, Reddit. The bustling online community that launched only a year after Facebook is used by gamers all over the world to share information and chat with fellow gaming fans. Companies can use the platform to engage with users in many ways: answering questions about a game, software or hardware related, research which users are playing your game, or even asking an audience directly for feedback. As with any of these platforms, the most important thing is to follow the site’s rules when it comes to sponsored posts and other advertisement opportunities.
There are many social media platforms out there and you may feel pressured to have a presence on all of them, but marketing to gamers through specific media outlets will be much more effective than creating accounts on random pages without your target audience in mind. The user will feel cared for and noticed, causing your campaign to shine brighter than the rest.
