User Stories: 16 Bit Nights - Is it still possible to promote a game using Facebook Groups?

I thought about also sharing with you guys a recent marketing experience with 0 funding, mostly because I assume most of us do marketing ourselves so it automatically becomes part of the game development.

So during this post, I want to: 

• point out the importance of knowing your target audience;
• the importance of having good promotional material;
• my personal experience with Facebook groups promotions;
• some Facebook algorithms.

Ok, let`s start! 

First-round

I recently remade my Steam thumbnail and what better way to get some promotional material than this?! Also please note that this information is strictly resuming to Facebook groups.

I first posted in pixel art theme groups on Facebook. Why? Because I try to aim for the target audience and what better way than to start on a place where people love pixel art (since the game is also pixel art) and here are the results from day 1:

1. Pixel art + 35k members = post got 330 likes 30 comments 17 shares​
2. Pixel Art 29k members = post got 111 likes 25 comments​
3. Pixel Art Heaven = post got 136 likes and 22 comments​

Results: 1 follower and 20 new wishlist additions.

Conclusion

I am not some high tec guru dark star fapfap button Wizzard master developer, no, I am just like most developers so when I start to see so many like per post I was very excited, normally my posts on those groups get per average 20-30 likes, I was having high expectations for a wishlist so I was a bit disappointed when I saw only 20 new additions. It can also be the fact that some of them already had my game on wishlist since I posted there before from time to time about the game. Anyhow it was a good result and I strongly recommend you make smart posts, for example, I only stated in the post I made these pixel art banners but I did not put any links in the description so people actually asked for a link and only after that I edited and added the link, so try hard not to be a hit&run poster. Also if you want to keep your post up, respond to comments a few days after so that your topic gets bumped up. Please also consider I did not include the private messages received based on this.

Second round

So why haven't I posted in all FB groups the same day?

Because of Facebook algorithms, for example, even though I made the new custom text for all posts, I did have the same 2 pictures uploaded and if facebook sees you post the same comment too many times it will automatically warn you and mark your posts as spam. The second day I decided to target Xcom players because my game is heavily inspired by Xcom, I am not talking just about some art and 1-2 mechanics, no I am talking about the overall game design and the majority of features, heck, my game is basically Xcom in real-time.

Xcom

And note that I posted same 2 picture but I adapted the text, Here are the results:

1. XCOM players 4k members = post got 80 likes 50 comments​
2. XCOM: Enemy Withinposting 400 members = post got 14 likes 3 comments​
3. Xcom 2 2k members = post got 40 likes 8 comments​

Results: 10 followers and 80 new wishlist additions

Conclusion

Based on pixel art communities results, I was expecting around 8-12 wishlist additions so when I saw the results it was clear for me, I first yelled some mumbo-jumbo spartan DarkStar Sailormoon Voltron lines in a weird language then I realized that even though the pixel groups were A LOT bigger then Xcom ones and that I got more engagement on them then on Xcom ones, the more I get closer to the target audience the bigger the conversion rate is. So I strongly recommend hard research on the target audience before starting marketing. I believe it is the same s**t with wishlist conversion rate into sales, as in if you get wishlists from giveaways and from people who meh or are casuals the conversion rate will be lower, and the more genuine wishlist audience you got the more the conversion rate will grow.

Third round & forth round

At this point, I included both 3 and 4 rounds of Facebook group marketing because the results are non-existent. Round 3 was aiming toward casual gamer groups and round 4 was aiming toward Indie Game developer groups and other small pixel art groups, same promotional picture + adjusted text. Please notice how huge are some groups, how small, and how that factor is truly not important when it comes to smart marketing and knowing your target audience.

Results:

1. Indie Game Promo IGD 56k members = post got 9 likes 3 comments
2. ​Retro Indie Pixel Game 9k members = post got 12 likes 1 comment​
3. RTS game lovers = post got 2 likes

​and other groups not worth mentioning because of results

Conclusion

And for the casual gamer audience, I targeted PC gamer(more than 30k members) group, steam gamers, and so on BUT and it is a strong BUT here, I got 1 or 2 likes per post in these groups, now you are going to say "awww then this is a waste of time I will ignore those groups" and after you say this I will strangle you because you know nothing, Jhon Snow! Why? Some time ago I made TAURONOS game and that game had casual players as the target audience, the thing is that I got good love on this casual player audience group for that game specifically because that was its target audience.

So in conclusion: Know your target audience & do not be a spammer that does hit&run, be smart about it and you will avoid wasting time on promotions that will bring no results. Time is very important. Now I am not saying not to post in Indie game development groups but I am saying do not post in Indie game development groups unless you have too much time.

I will make some more posts during the week in other groups but I estimate the main goal was already achieved.​

Overall:

• always make posts in target audience groups otherwise you would just be spamming;
• adjust the text to each specific group, don`t be lazy or hit&runner, put a bit of soul into your post;
• respond to all comments, it helps when people see you care and it also gets your post bumped back up;
• put quality/polished promotional material;
• have a call to action, either by asking for feedback or support for your wishlist, it is all up to you on what you need;
• do not post in all groups in a short period of time or Facebook will mark you as a spam post;
• do not post the exact content on many groups or again, Facebook will mark you as a spam post.

Aditional:

• I also used ads a few times this year and I must say the conversion rate for Facebook ads is totally not worth it. It brings some traffic but most its from fake accounts.

If you got any suggestions/feedback on what I did wrong please do let me know.

Tauronos developed by Popa Cristian/16bitnights

Also please do not think marketing resumes only on Facebook (I am talking now to the newbies, not to the veterans who obviously know this). If you enjoy this post I will try to share my marketing up-to-date experience for all social platforms and marketing-wise related stuff such as email marketing, PR, marketing plan 1 month before release, and others.

I am not perfect and this is just my opinion & personal experience. I originaly posted this topic on TigSource.

- Popa Cristian/16bitnights

Updated the Cards!

Another new little feature on our weird website! 😁

Inspired by Reddit (and I remember that also YouTube was experimenting it few time ago), now if you put your cursor on the usernames into the comments area and you can see a preview of their stats and profile page! 

Check it out!

We also updated the URL of our social pages!

New Twitter URL, now with over 1,000 followers!

New Facebook URL, now very near to 3,000 likes!

2019 vs 2018

Hey guys! We missed to post the stats about 2019 Vs 2019!
We was distracted by this month that is going very good!
So...Here they are!
The 2019 was very positive! More new users, more page views and more sessions!
What's the main reason? Probably the social networking and the good games!

As you can see Facebook is still the social #1 for our traffic, also because on indiexpo there are a lot of pc games and Facebook is used by "pc users".
YouTube helped us thanks to several big YouTubers that played several games uploaded during the 2019 on the website!

We are continuing to grow up and a lot of users visited the website typing directly " indiexpo.net" in the URL bar!

They know it and they like it! And we continue to improve it with new features, new games, new developers and new events also this year!

Updates! Notification-Icons, a new Area in Homepage and Trending Games!

Recently, we tackled the 'game rating' topic  It will not be immediate, but some 'limiters' will be gradually implemented, regarding things such as how long the user's account has existed, the user's level, etc.
A ranking system is something other sites lack and therefore we aim for it to be as clear and honest as possible. These changes will require effort, but they are necessary. It will take some time and some testing, but they are in the works.

Social Network & Marketing. In the next period, we will focus our 'marketing resources' on Facebook (the best social for a Desktop audience), to promote games that belong in the 'middle tier' on indiexpo.

What updates have been made to the site? 
First of all, you might have noticed new icons in the Notification area, that should make visualization more immediate.

In the homepage, we added a new mini-section, showing three random games that have recently gotten over 1000 players (still in testing stage, we're trying to see if people like it and use it).

Trending Games. By visiting the pages of games uploaded in the latest 30 days, you might have noticed 'Trending Games' written in some of them- indicating that that game is receiving a lot of attention when compared to other games uploaded in that timeframe.

Thanks to the help from the author of Knightin'+, the website has been entirely translated to Ukrainian. The translation, previously only 78% done, is now complete! And the new visits from Eastern Europe are already increasing!

What the hell is going on?

It's going very good!
Recently great free cool games, the new score system on games with a old fashioned Retro Style, new features, monetisation for devs, changing and so many other things!

So... What are the latest news?

• LIVE Notifications!
• AMP pages for the Users
• improved AMP game pages also with the suggested games
• Monetisation [BETA] for indie devs (it needs a separate post, no worry)
• bugfix! bugfix! bugfix! bugfix!
• now the Charts show only the games uploaded/updated in the last 6 months
• Language problem on the website? Now you can select your language on Settings Area!
• Improved Mobile View!

Social Goals?

• Over 2,000 followers on Facebook
• Opened an Instagram Page

And now?
Now we're focusing our energies on two elements: Bugfix & Players
Yes, we want to fix aaaaaall the bugs reported recently and gather new players!

12 Steps to Link your Game's News with your Social Accounts

Link your Game's News with your Social Accounts (Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc) now is very very easy, thanks to the Feed Rss made by indiexpo and IFTTT.

With this system you can save a lot of time!

And it is very easy and fast "to setup"! We can see how with 12 Steps!

Let's go!

1. Sign Up to IFTTT, going on its website

2. Click on My Applets

3. Now click on New Applet

4. Click on +this

5. Now click on RSS Feed

6. then click on New Feed item

7. Now here it is important part: in the Feed URL you have to put the link to your News. It's https://www.indiexpo.net/feed/news/name-of-your-game.xml (obviously replace name-of-your-game with the name of your game...)

8. Click on +that

9. Now you can choose your social. Here we can try with Twitter (but you can also select Facebook, Pinterest, imgur or other social networks)

10. Click on Post a tweet

11. Now in the first part, you can put the main hashtags, like #gamedev, #devlog, #indiegame, etc., then the link and the content.

Here it is the base used (we suggest you to use this): #devlog #indiegame Link:  {{EntryUrl}} News: {{EntryContent}}

12. Click on Create action and then on Finish

Very easy, very fast, very effective.

This is the power of IFTTT + indiexpo feed rss!

indiexpo Facebook Stats

Facebook is actually the most important (and used) Social Network in the World.
As you already know, we have a fan page, called Indie Games.

It's going very good. We use it to share our videos, promote games, interview developers, post funny stuffs, give free tutorials, etc.

But... who's watching and following it?
Today we want to show you our Statistics!

Go with the first slide!

The 89% of our followers are Men. We already know that the men plays more videogames than women. 13-17 are only at the 4%. Also because the "new gen" is using also other Social Networks, like Snapchat or Instagram (and also because several users sign up on Facebook like 18).
As you can see the page is followed by 18-34.

Go with the second slide!

Contries and Cities. Italy is at the first place, also because the website was born in Italy and we're linked with a lot of italian forums and communities.

The views from Brazil is growing up fastly! We shared the website on Brazil Communities only in the last year... and it's going very good!

We hope to reach new players and devs this new year! 

And remember to follow us!

Are you using Facebook to promote your game? Use the videos. 4 Tips (and Stats)!

Facebook is focusing its attention on videos, you know.
It wants to overcome Youtube.
it's possible that you have a FanPage on Facebook to promote your game. So, it's very good to use a video. Not only trailers, but also "GamePlay", "How we made it", etc.

But... what're the features of a good video on Facebook?
Stats and Tips.

1. Upload a short video. Max 90 sec. Facebook rewards videos of that duration.
2. Very short description.
3. Try to use the Live but max 15 minutes.
4. Share the videos with your friends.

6 Tips to Get More Subscribers on your Game

How many time you thinked "Oh! C'mon player click and subscribe!" ... ?

We already talked about how the first players of your new game should be the players of your previous game, inspired by several posts and books of Seth Godin.

If the player click on subscribe it's easier and faster. In fact when you will put a news/update on your indiexpo game page, every subscriber will receive an email about it.
And the 85% of subscibers open their emails on smartphone and check/open them.

So... how to increase your subscibers with news/updates ?

1. Create remarkable content. Your content needs to be amazing if you want people to stay subscribed and forward your games to their friends, family, and colleagues that aren't already on your list;
2. Promote an online contest, like a free giveaway (and don't forget to promote your contest on social!);
3. Add a link to your followers' signatures that leads people to a landing page where they can sign up for your game (you can also use the image that you can see in the Statistics Area)
4. Promote one of your lead-gen offers on Twitter or Facebook. Create a "Sociali Campaign" to promote your free resource to your followers;
5. Run a promotion on a partner game page or social page that targets a new but appropriate audience to collect new followers;
6. Add a QR code to your print marketing collateral (you can find it also in the Statistic Area) that people can scan to opt in to your "database".

Also for the Game Developers is the Time of the Video Interviews !

Community : a social group of any size whose members share the same passions, hobbies, works and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

It's nice to see how the interviews of the developers are showing and making a nice community (and not only on Twitter where the developers use #indiedev only to promote own games and ignore the others), where they report their experience, the followed indie games and authors and how they develop their games.

The interviews for a game developer are very important and in particular the video interviews. Now it's the time of the videos. It's not fortuity if Facebook is making moves to become 'video first'. Mark Zuckerberg says video will soon consume the lion's share of attention of its 1.7 billion users. And it's making aggressive moves to get people to make and view more video.

With a video you can tell fastly and easily infos about your games, passions and your favourite artists. So we're catching this opportunity realizing short videos with fast questions and fast answers.

The previous Summer we wrote posts (on this blog) about the Game Marketing and several developers contacted us. So now you can find their interviews here or on our Facebook Page.

We will continue to publish this kind of interviews and if you are a developer and want to join... contact us ! You will be added you in list ! :D But remember to share your free game or demo on indiexpo! ;)

See you soon !

New Features ! Feed Rss, E-mail notifications, New Games, AMP Pages, New Languages and so on !

New Features !

- Feed Rss for your News !
See the News-Area of a Game page and click on the icon to see the Feed Rss and follow it.
If you're a developer, read here how to link your feed at twitter.

- E-Mail Notifications
Added the email notifications and a Setting Area to customize it.

- Levels, Points and Powers !
Click on the icon on top-right and discover your level and powers !
Read here about how to earn points.

- Added AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for each game.
- Added new Languages : Russian and Polish.
- Coming soon new games in exclusive. Stay tuned !

How to Add your own RSS Feed to Twitter (or Facebook)

Many developers use Twitter (or Facebook) as a way to communicate with gamers, fans and followers, keep up with trends in their area of expertise, like a devlog and advertise their own game. Now indiexpo helps you to share your game (and its news) on Twitter(or Facebook), with the RSS. It stands for Rich Site Summary, is a way that developers can notify others of a newly published post.
By automatically sending their news to Twitter (or Facebook) via an RSS feed, developers can save time and, when publishing scheduled game news, stay active on Twitter even when they’re not online.

Here we explain how to link the News about your game to Twitter (or Facebook).

1. Register with Twitter Feed by entering your email address and a password of your choosing. Twitter feed is not part of Twitter, but a free service that automates the RSS-to-Twitter process for Twitter users.

2. Enter your game name.

4. Go in your Game Page on indiexpo, click on News and then click on the icon. 

5. Copy the URL link. This is the RSS URL.

6. Past the RSS URL of your game.

7. Choose Twitter from the services available. You can also feed your RSS to Statusnet, Hellotxt and Facebook from your Twitter Feed.

8. Authenticate your Twitter (or Facebook) account by clicking on the large blue “Authenticate Twitter” box. This takes you to Twitter, which will prompt you to enter your Twitter user name or email address, and your Twitter password. Then click “Allow.” Twitter will then direct you back to Twitter Feed with a green bar at the top of the page that reads, “Twitter authentication successful.” The same for the Facebook account.

9.  Click “Create Service,” and the service will begin feeding your posts with the next one you publish.

The first players of your new game should be the players of your previous game.

Few days ago we talked about the Fan Base, now we can see why it's so important.
Did you published a new game but you haven't the same downloads of your previous game ?

You have to follow and study your fan base when you're developing your new game.

First of all analyze which kind of gamers are following your projects and will play your new game. Because the first players of your new game should be the players of your previous game. It's more easy share something to someone that already know how you work.

On our Facebook fan page we made a poll, analyzing 6 kind of gamers : The Artist, The Performer, The Collector, The Thinker, The Quester and the Achiever.
The results ? Several "Questers".
How use this result ? We posted, after this poll, a post about a famous rpg game, Nocturne. The result : several Likes -> Test Passed (Fan Base confirmed).

Now let's analyze your games and your fan base.
If you developed a Puzzle game to play in the free time on your mobile phone... you should focus your attention about this kind of gamers. Where do they play my games ? In the metro ? At the bus stop ?
Ok. So, if you will develop a long Rpg ... you can lose your fan base.

Seth Godin (an famous American author, entrepreneur, marketer, and public speaker) says :

"You must develop products, services, and techniques that the market will actually seek out"

And you can start with your little "market". Not all the players in the world... but only your fan base (already created with your previous game).

Let's think about a singer like Michael Bublè. Jazz, Soul and Pop. His fans love him and his music. And when he releases a new album... you know that there are Jazz, Soul and Pop tracks. But.... what's happen if Michael Bublè releases a Hard Black Metal Album ?! His fans don't love the Metal Music... so if he will organize a tour... nobody will come. Neither his fans nor new fans of the Metal (becase he's new in this area).

So, analyze your game. What's the main feature of your game ? Not according to you. But you ask it at your fans. Meet them or chat with them.
Discover what they love of your game.
They love your graphics ? Good. In your next game, use the same graphic style with something of new.
They love your plot ? Good. Analyze the main aspect of your plot and make a new plot like the previous, in your next game.
They love your gameplay ? In your next game use the same gameplay but with something of new.

Think to GTA. It's one of the best game ever made. It changes its graphic style, his features but it has always a gameplay focused on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities, all consisting of action-adventure, driving, third-person shooting, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements.
It works and the Rockstar Games know it.

Remember that all the gamers have the same importance, you as a game designer, you should really think about your  kind of gamers during your design phase and ask yourself if the game has the same strength of your previus game (adding always something of new)

Is it works ? If you're thinking "oh my honey, it's easy to quote the success of a game like GTA... ! But about an indie game ? Where are the examples ?"

You can see Andrea Ferrara (Aprilskies). He released before Coline et le Trésor, then Donald Dowell. They are all funny point & click with easter eggs and a funny graphics. Game by game, the downloads growed up. And also with only a very short demo (Tales) the downloads were good. Because the fan base was the same. When he released a race game, Red Hot Overdrive ... the downloads falled.

How to increase the Fan Base of a Videogame ?

Several developers asked us : "How to increase our Fan Base ?"

Do you have a game... or several games based on the same character/plot... but only few players ?
Do you want to know how to increase your fan base ?

Oh, yes. The fan base, in this time, it's all. If you have a good and big fan base... when your new game will come out, they will download it and talk about it with their friends ! And it will be able "to beat competition" in the first page of the store or on indiexpo in the "Most Downloaded Games !"

But... how to increase it ?
Our answer is very easy... i don't know.

I don't know... and i don't think that there's a right answer.  I can't tell you : "do in this way... and ... ta-da! Here it is !".
Oh, yes. You can pay. You can "boost" the post about your game on facebook with a lot of money... but it helps you only in the first moment. It will be only a big but very fast fire. And few minutes later... it's all like before.

The only thing about "how to increase the fan base" that we can tell you... is our experience... and the our tools.
Do they work ? Mhm... yes. They works good.... they work sufficiently...  so... they work. Until now. I hope.

First of all is very important to know your community. It's very very important.
And not only with polls or generic questions. But every single user.
If you can... meet them ! Organize free event and meet them. Or join and talk to them. Discover what they do and what they love in your game, if they have ideas, if they have tips for you and/or for your games.

Remember that you're doing a game for your community, for your players. You can start the game... and develop the game... but then the game is of the players. So, you should help them and "serve" them. Your game is like a "service" chosen by the users. You can think your Team (or you) like... McDonald. McDonald chooses how to do his "sandwich", it cooks the BigMac but it's for the customers ... and McDonald will serve them.

All of this ... but never give up your identity.

With your laptop you can use the very same tools as the people at the top of the Videogame Industry

Did you never hear say :" Oh ! It's easy for the Blizzard! They have all that they want to promote their games !" ... ?

In this time ... something rare is happening (and it might not last long) !

Today, right now, anyone with own laptop can use the very same tools as the people at the top of just about any industry, videogame included.

If you want to develop, you have the same developing tools available to you as the most successful writers in the world, like Unity, Ureal Engine, etc. and several of them are also free... !

And Youtube, always for free, shows you how to use them.

If you want to join a social network, well, the software that connects the titans of game industry is the very same software you can use.

They use Facebook to promote their creations... and you can do the same. Oh, yes, they can use more money than you to "boost post", but you can see like several videos on youtube or viral memes are made by very normal people and not by titans of industry.

Of course, we haven't democratized access to closed off circles, we haven't changed the inherent and unstated biases of those in traditional seats in power.

But we've definitely given you the tools.

New Share Buttons !

New Share Buttons on indiexpo ! They are always about Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus... but now they are also Faster, Easier and Coolest !

.. they are FEC !

Over 1,000 Like on Facebook !

Over 1000 Likes on Facebook Fan Page!

Thanks !