Gaming influencers: working with them, doing it right, and succeeding
Gaming influencers, within the broader, ‘lifestyle and Instagram’ stereotype of influencer marketing, might not seem an obvious partner choice. But you’d be wise to reconsider any dated preconceptions. In the modern cultural landscape, videogames are as wide and mainstream a leisure pursuit as they come, and when partnered with correctly, the content creators who serve it can provide access to a hugely diverse spectrum of audiences, communities, subcultures, and cross-over interest groups. Gamers buy cars. Gamers drink tea. Gamers wear clothes. Gamers are everywhere.
And there’s been a natural synergy to the ways that online videogames culture, influencer culture, and modern community management have grown up together. Gaming influencers, as such, now sit at a natural junction point between huge swathes of modern online life. In 2021, everyone is a gamer of some sort. This is no longer a niche market. Gaming of some sort can provide a route to almost anyone, if the partnership and messaging are correct.
So, being an influencer marketing agency with decades of collective games media experience, and a household-name client list to match, we’re well placed to give you the full run down on gaming influencers, gaming influencer marketing, and how to enjoy a highly successful relationship with both. And we’ll do that right here.
What is a gaming influencer?
Put simply, gaming influencers are online content creators - usually operating primarily on one or more of the major social video platforms, such as YouTube or Twitch - whose output in the videogames field has earned them a significantly sized and loyal audience. Like successful content creators and influencers in any field, this makes a gaming influencer a powerful and valuable figure as a trend maker and thought leader in the impassioned and fast-moving videogames sector.
Whether or not you know the intricacies of YouTube gaming formats, or the nuance of how Twitch works, the simple fact is that recruiting the right gaming influencers can naturally be a huge asset in marketing campaigns. From amplifying announcements, to previewing gameplay, to showcasing finished games, and even performing long-term brand ambassadorial duties and early development consultation and testing, the gaming influencer’s unique position at the cross-over between industry and audience gives them immense value as both an amplifier of messaging, and an informed source of grass-roots feedback.
Gaming influencer marketing, and what makes it special
Gaming influencer marketing is unique in the sphere, in that it offers multiple rich directions and creative platforms often overlooked in the wider world of influencer marketing. Firstly, while many influencer marketing agencies (and marketing professionals in general) still persist with a distinctly ‘Instagram first’ approach, gaming influencers - and the platforms they work on - open up a vast range of new routes to greater engagement and audience connection.
Gaming influencer marketing, even in its most straightforward form, facilitates the most direct, energised, and impassioned product demonstration any brand could hope to enjoy, with both YouTube and Twitch being prime locations for short, medium, and long-form gameplay content in both pre-recorded VOD formats, and live, streamed broadcast.
Gaming influencer marketing can also go much further than that, limited only by the creativity and insight of the agency planning the campaign. Twitch offers a plethora of creative options for direct, in-the-moment audience interaction, community involvement and engagement, and all manner of special, virtual events, tournaments, panels, collaborations, and presentations.
With YouTube, the gaming influencer marketing options are limitless, ranging from relatively simple (but well targeted) gameplay demos for the right audiences, right through to huge, cinematic, live-action productions, documentary content, long-form, in-game storytelling series, creative critique, and beyond. Again the means by which gaming influencer marketing can convey, evoke, and relay key messaging to the right, engaged communities simply come down to budget, creative vision, and insight. And you certainly don’t need to be a gaming brand to take advantage of it.
The biggest gaming influencers aren’t always the right gaming influencers
The biggest gaming influencers are often the first starting search for those looking to start out in the field, but choosing talent for an gaming influencer marketing campaign isn’t a simple case of ‘Bigger = better’. Much as is the case with all influencer marketing when done correctly, specialisms, demographics, audience engagement, and organic matching of content and brand are much more pressing considerations. Any sponsored branded content created in collaboration with a gaming influencer has to be a natural fit on their channel if it’s going to be accepted and embraced by their audience, and if the messaging is going to ring true and convert into action. This is what brings about real success, and can ideally lead to longer, more sustained working relationships with ongoing value for both parties.
It’s also important to consider that the bigger a gaming influencer’s audience, the lower their relative rate of engagement may be. After all, the wider the net, the more casual the average audience member often is. Thus, it’s worth considering content creators of every scale, and how they, their reach, their core areas of interest, and their specific relationships with their audiences might really serve your needs. The biggest gaming influencers can undoubtedly hold great value in making a statement of intent with a brand or product, by virtue of the sheer weight of their involvement, but pure scale shouldn’t always be your first priority.
The best gaming influencer campaigns start with a real understanding of the game
The best gaming influencer campaigns, as you’ve probably gathered from the above, are the ones that really understand the videogame in question, a gaming influencer’s audience, and the wider gaming culture that wraps all of them together. With videogames being such a rich, diverse, immersive, and (most importantly) interactive medium, the best gaming influencer marketing campaigns should look to evoke the experience of the game in question rather than selling a simple, back-of-the-box bullet list of features.
Whether this is done through gameplay content presented by the right gaming influencer, able to vibrantly relate the game’s value directly to a receptive audience, or by making a larger splash with a bigger, more ambitious creative event or production, the key to success is always the same. It comes from ensuring that the foundational ideas of any gaming influencer campaign come from a true, nuanced understanding of the game, its audience, and how to present the former to the latter with a language and tone that makes sense and rings true.