Hi everyone, I'd like to get some feedback and hopefully some discussion about the MANY social platforms used to communicate with fans, players etc for your game.

We all know about Facebook, Twitter, Steam etc... These are decent platforms depending on your needs.

Personally I feel having the social platform integrated to the game website more efficient from a developer point of view.
All content is easily kept, no need to worry about censors, advertisement fees and the other pitfalls the above mentioned platforms.

How do you prefer to keep your players and fans updated with game information?


Happy discussing!

Artainx
ORK user since 2014. Patron since 2018.
  • @Artainx Just saw this, but I figure I'd throw in my 2 cents.

    I'm speaking from experience with a YouTube channel, but I feel both games and videos offer digital media on the internetz. So its somewhat relevant.

    I feel first and foremost, whatever medium you're selling you're product on, should be your focus. If someone has graced your video game page on, let's say Steam, they've done their part to allow you to show them what you've got. Before I started developing my own, I would often check the discussion board to see how active it was. Also I would check release notes briefly. I use this mentality for my channel and building an interactive community is important to product growth. Other people will see that others are engaged in your product and will offer a sense of belong. I don't describe this as being shallow or not caring about your fan base, but to look at it objectively to prioritize your efforts.

    To me, this is your first opportunity to engage your potential audience and you need to be a active with as you can.

    With that said, I think the big three are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We have others (Google+ and Imzy come to mind), but I'll keep it with these three.

    You can divide these guys up into two categories.. active age groups and interaction types. I find that from oldest to youngest its Facebook>Twitter>Instagram. This is a generalization, but it helps with targeting. Then you define how/what interaction is given. Twitter is "text now with a bit of this", Facebook is "here's a bit of everything guys", and Instagram is "look at this now with some text".

    So pending on what you have to offer and you think will yield you better results, would be your focus. Also, I take into account if I think I'll be more committed to one, it may take precedence over others.

    With websites, I found they are better as the place that die-hard fans that want more than what social media can give will go to. Again, assuming that everyone will go to site instead of their social media of choice is the wrong point of view. They are your customer/potential customer, and if they were already willing to shell out money for your product, we should do our part to engage them where they hang out. Another audience for the website will be for promo packs for your business to other businesses. Publishers, agents, etc. With an active representation on big social media, it adds more power to your promo.

    There are web plugins to help with managing several media sites on the same page, but I don't know. I j

    I could probably go on about it, but I'll close with this. I do have a website. I use YouTube plug-ins and a Twitter plugin to help with the content. But I don't rely on it for my engagement with fans/potential fans. Be most active where you have the largest opportunity to grow your fan base/customers at.

    =)
    j0hnbane
    youtube.com/j0hnbane
  • I fully agree with @j0hnbane
    I think the big three are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We have others (Google+ and Imzy come to mind), but I'll keep it with these three.
    Social Media is the best way to expand and grow your fans but most likely they will want eye candy and other attention grabbers related to what you post to keep them coming back.
    I made a free Website relenting1.wixsite.com/nathanielk on Wix and added a link to my pinterest page to show my pins. All of my Social Media accounts have a link to my website along with linking one to another.
    For testing purposes I paused my Facebook account to see what would happen and it definitely lowered my view per day count.

    =]
    Portfolio - My Website
    Follow my project on Reddit - My Game DevLog
    relentingVids - My YouTube Channel
    Half Super Shop - My Shop
  • Great replies so far!

    @j0hnbane and @relenting_1

    Agree fully with both posts.

    I used to just post to Facebook but that left the content of the site empty. Also Facebook new algorithm put website links above other types of posted content.

    I'm building the site section for these updates to the game and once done I'll be linking the content from the community site to Facebook.

    I've not used other social sites as Facebook is where we've had the most success.

    Relenting_1 how useful is pinterest on reaching new people?
    ORK user since 2014. Patron since 2018.
  • With Pinterest I'm using it more for a way to reach out to artists and get inspiration for different art eye-candy. Don't just restrict yourself to posting only your own stuff, share other peoples work that you like as well as things that catch your attention and hopefully it will be done in return with whatever you make.
    =]
    Portfolio - My Website
    Follow my project on Reddit - My Game DevLog
    relentingVids - My YouTube Channel
    Half Super Shop - My Shop
  • I agree with you as well, but a solo person as myself, I do find I have to "rate" what the most effective avenue to increase exposure and conversions (sales) of a product. Then I go for it.

    Obviously, if you have time and means to promote outside of that, go for it. I've used products like hootesuit to manage multiple platforms at once, but I found myself being more generic than each social media form deserved.

    I fully agree about sharing other's posts, but I found its more effective if you also engage with the post/tweet/pin that you're sharing. Not only does it come across as genuine, but opens a door for engagement with whomever initially put it up.

    With the website, if you can drive traffic there from social media, that's great. And that's where I should generalized more on what audience the focus is on. I meant more so, if you're going to push the website and expect traffic, make sure to have content there that you don't have anywhere else. It sucks when u do go to someone's website through social media and it's a complete rehash of what they're doing already on social media. Maybe if you do put different content on each form of social media you're promoting through, you could consolidate it on the website with a little more to offer as well.

    And I completely agree with the tying in of the social media to your page in some form. Outside of the YouTube and twitter feeds, I have graphical links to all the forms of social media I attempt to manage along within the menu bar.

    Truly, in the end, there is no wrong way to manage it (mostly), it's all about what is effective and what works for you. But having a solid gameplan when you dive into it, will help strategy for growth in the future.
    j0hnbane
    youtube.com/j0hnbane
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