Marketing Discussion (social media and otherwise) - The Bear and Badger

AJ

So, I promised superflyninjaÂ that I'd pass on what I've gleaned about promotion via Facebook pages from working around the fringes of media and advertising most of my adult life. Since I know we've got a handful of devs here, I thought I'd make a general marketing thread for any discussion of stuff like this.

So, off the top of my head, notes on running a successful marketing page on Facebook:

Regularly post stuff that's relevant to your fans and, preferably, topical. Interesting is obviously good, too; you want people to comment on, like and/or share the posts.
Posts with images get more attention than posts without.
When possible, ask people something that they'll want to reply to at the end of your post.
Try not to make your posts so long that they get that "click for more" link on them (this one just occurred to me and isn't backed up by any evidence).Â
Don't post so often you annoy people (we limit it to 3 times a week, but when you've less fans a couple of times a day should be fine).
Know your audience; what appeals to one demographic, another finds stupid and annoying.
If you have any websites etc. make the like buttons on them point to the Facebook page rather than the site/page they're sitting on.
If you can afford them, Facebook ads and promoted posts are actually (sadly) a really good way to get a bigger audience for your page and so, hopefully, your game.

And the key point to any marketing is that it should add to the viewer's life, not irritate them. Ideally, you want people to seek out your marketing material, you never want to shove it down their throat. Fosters is a really good, recent example: their ads were Alan Partridge episodes.

I'll post more, if I think of it, but welcome any discussion.Â Oh, and I fucking hate promoted posts on Facebook; coming into my carefully managed feed and throwing their weight around like some drunkÂ heifer.

beano

'Buffer' is a social media app that'll stagger updates (to a variety of networks) so they don't flood peoples news feeds. I've never used it but have noticed it about the place.

equinox_code

I had a marketing job for a few months last year. Kinda blagged it as I'd no relevant qualifications or experience. Was supposed promote the launch of this big statistics database thing in the US. It's very popular in Germany already. Anyway, the pay was good and the opportunities were fantastic, but I absolutely hated it. Marketing just doesn't sit comfortably with me at all.

AJ

Yeah, I can understand that. Most marketing looks pretty shit to do. Marketing things you like with campaigns that people will genuinely appreciate seems okay, but too few people do that.

beano wrote:

'Buffer' is a social media app that'll stagger updates (to a variety of networks) so they don't flood peoples news feeds. I've never used it but have noticed it about the place.

We discussed using something like that, but it was decided that the ability to make the post topical if there's something relevant going on in the news or whatever outweighed theÂ convenienceÂ factor.

I'll send the link to the rest of my team (apparently me on my own doesn't justify tech/dev being it's own team) to see what they make of it, though; thanks.

beano

Just coz you employ buffer to stagger a queue of updates doesn't mean you can't go direct to the network and immediately post if the update is of the highest priority.

Facewon

What are we marketing?

equinox_code

Sales too. I really hate the idea of trying to make something sound better than it is, or feigning enthusiasm. And 99% of all things sold are fucking boring. If I were in charge of selling trousers, for example, I'd be inclined to say "hey, here's some trousers. I don't really like them. But maybe it's your sort of thing". To me that's acceptable. What I can't do is all this "Wow, check out the dual-funnel technology on these badboys. I bought two pairs myself!". Just fuck off with that.Â

*don't mean to derail the thread here

AJ

beano wrote:

Just coz you employ buffer to stagger a queue of updates doesn't mean you can't go direct to the network and immediately post if the update is of the highest priority.

Quite true. I'm sure someone would have mentioned that, but I don't actually care much for marketing so wasn't paying attention to hear the response.

Have you used Buffer? I assume it's possible to remove a post from the queue or reschedule it.

AJ

Facewon wrote:

What are we marketing?

The game superflyninja's making, among other things. Not sure he's shown anything of it, yet.

I can quite understand that 'noxy. I worked in a computer shop when I was younger, after a while they stopped letting me talk to the customers for that very reason.

beano

@face games what we wrote; but this is a general marketing thread.

@AJ, I just saw that photo today and was reminded about it when you mentioned team. Wasn'tÂ facetious. Nope I haven't I did some reading on it and I have knowledge of how it works out when to update but I have no idea about its features.

beano

AFAICT if you tweetÂ in betweenÂ it it knows and thus adjusts its next update timings.

edit: doh dbl pst!

AJ

beano wrote:

@AJ, I just saw that photo today and was reminded about it when you mentioned team. Wasn'tÂ facetious.

No worries, I didn't think it was; just couldn't think of a good way to respond in a timely fashion.

Facewon

Ah, cool. I thought you were pushing to advertise the forum, and I was all WTAF.

AJ

Man, that would be a hard sell.

Facewon

Also: show out here called greun planet. And/or gruen transfer. Depending on which season. Absolutely worth a watch for in depth and funny look at all things marketing related. Some of it is obviously focused on oz, but there's plenty of international discussion as well.

Skerret

Just noticed this thread, yes please. Â We know little of marketing.

google

When emailing for business always make the email something I can read on my phone.

AJ

Skerret wrote:

Just noticed this thread, yes please. Â We know little of marketing.

Your website could do with having it's metadata (and tags - you've got incorrect characters in your markup) sorted out.

Skerret

Ahar, cheers AyJayUnderscore.Â We'll be reigniting the games bizzo within months so that will be top priority.

superflyninja

HI, Ive just released the game last night.Â Linky
Seeing as its a pretty basicÂ kidsÂ memory game(at the moment) Im not quiet sure whether aÂ FacebookÂ page would do any good. Like I could post a description, images etc but aside from that im drawing a blank. I kinda presume the pageÂ wouldÂ exist to be thumbsupable and have a link to the play store?

dynamiteReady

superflyninja wrote:

HI, Ive just released the game last night.Â Linky Seeing as its a pretty basicÂ kidsÂ memory game(at the moment) Im not quiet sure whether aÂ FacebookÂ page would do any good. Like I could post a description, images etc but aside from that im drawing a blank. I kinda presume the pageÂ wouldÂ exist to be thumbsupable and have a link to the play store?

Nice one! Hope it does well. : )

For a marketing question, given that it's a kids game, who do you target? The kids (who'd want to play it), or their parents/guardians (who'll have the phone, the credit card, and means to pay, and access to one or more social networking accounts)?

superflyninja

dynamiteReady wrote:

superflyninja wrote:

HI, Ive just released the game last night.Â Linky Seeing as its a pretty basicÂ kidsÂ memory game(at the moment) Im not quiet sure whether aÂ FacebookÂ page would do any good. Like I could post a description, images etc but aside from that im drawing a blank. I kinda presume the pageÂ wouldÂ exist to be thumbsupable and have a link to the play store?

Nice one! Hope it does well. : ) For a marketing question, given that it's a kids game, who do you target? The kids (who'd want to play it), or their parents/guardians (who'll have the phone, the credit card, and means to pay, and access to one or more social networking accounts)?

e ll i wasÂ thinkingÂ of the parents indeed...most people i know(myself included) with kids, hand over the phone/tablet to shut the kids up for a while....so keeping the price low hopefully it could be a quick impulse buy.currentlyÂ workingÂ on the lite version.....

AJ

Yeah, that's something that'll need to target parents. Kids go for things like Moshi Monsters and the like; proper characters they can identify.

Strikes me as a tough one to market, that, if I'm honest.

superflyninja

AJ_ wrote:

Yeah, that's something that'll need to target parents. Kids go for things like Moshi Monsters and the like; proper characters they can identify. Strikes me as a tough one to market, that, if I'm honest.

yup deffo. This first release for me was to get a straightforward enough app released and put on my cv. But now i can go one of two ways. I can get working on proper "core gamer" games or spend a bit of time enhancing this kids game. I do think ill put out a lite version....and i better set up a facebook page....

superflyninja

I thought id add in here my current plan.Im releasing free game on the Play store and will have a link to my current paid for app. Im hoping the free game gets a few hits at least...

AJ

Have you researched your keywords? Search the store for anything even vaguely related to your game; anything with few results is a winner.

superflyninja

AJ_ wrote:

Have you researched your keywords? Search the store for anything even vaguely related to your game; anything with few results is a winner.

hmmm i was wondering about that.where are the keywords pulled from? I thought that when submitting an app you could specify keyword style tags? or do they pull from the description/title?

AJ

They come from the title and description,Â probablyÂ with the title being given more weight; you just have to come up with text that uses them.

superflyninja

AJ_ wrote:

They come from the title and description,Â probablyÂ with the title being given more weight; you just have to come up with text that uses them.

well as soon as SUPER JUMPING FART MAN (no joke) is released in the next week or so Ill be knocking out a facebook page next

AJ

I've not read it, but here's a Gamasutra article that might be of interest:

How to make the press notice your indie game

superflyninja

AJ_ wrote:

I've not read it, but here's a Gamasutra article that might be of interest: How to make the press notice your indie game

Cheers, he link to the marketing tools certainly seems interesting......

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