How Performance-Based Influencer Marketing Improves Game Marketing
Influencer marketing is one of many forms of marketing a game and ultimately driving users to at least try your game. While influencer marketing is effective, many campaigns often fail for the following reasons:
- Issues of authenticity
- Over-saturation
- Poor quality content
- Lack of clear objectives
- Trying to go viral
- Neglecting micro-influencers
- Failing to utilize each platform appropriately
- Poor product or service
This is where performance-based influencer marketing steps in to address many of these issues and create better outcomes for both the influencer, gaming publishers, and indie developers. In gaming, performance-based influencer marketing is an effective growth strategy not only for streaming influencers but also for influencers who create short-form content and can be applied to any social platform.
What is Performance-Based Influencer Marketing
One of the major problems with influencer marketing is paying an influencer an upfront fee based on their follower count does not always translate into ROI for the gaming publisher or indie developer. It puts the gaming publisher in the greatest position of risk.
Performance-based influencer marketing is when the influencer is paid based on performance metrics set forth by the publisher. The metrics measure certain actions that take place on any social media and are paid to an influencer per action such as:
- Installs: $1.00 per install
- Comments: $0.50 per comment
- Engagement (Likes, Upvotes, etc.): $0.20
- Shares: $0.10 per share
- Views: $0.01 per view
The gaming publisher or indie developer can change their rates depending on their objectives. For example, new games that want more installs will have higher prices placed on installs. While a game releasing a DLC and wants to re-engage a fan base might pay higher for shares and views.
The content that is created by the influencer can include both streams and social posts such as memes and clips. This means that creators can be rewarded for streaming to popular platforms like Twitch, Kick, and YouTube. Or they can be rewarded for posting content to platforms like Reddit, TikTok, and Facebook.
Benefits For The Micro-Influencer; Impact over Followers
There is a common misconception where an influencer's impact is directly associated with their following size. We often think of an influencer as someone with a large following, and that following translates into their reach. In performance-based marketing, an influencer's follower size may not matter, and micro-influencers may have equal footing with large influencers.
For example, if you are a new creator with a very small following of 5k, yet you are able to create a post on Reddit that generates 150k views for a game, you have created outsized returns that are not related to your follower count. This Reddit post below is a perfect example of creating impact without a following.
In other words, anyone who can create results can become a paid influencer regardless of their followers. It completely levels the field for content creators who are talented at creating good viral content. Micro influencers or every talented content creator now have the ability to create an impact.
Addressing Poor Quality, Poor Products, and Authenticity
When influencers and creators are being paid for performance, this means they cannot just promote any game simply because of cash compensation. Instead, they have to make a clear decision if the game is worth their time in terms of:
- Is the game a quality one? Promoting low-quality games will affect their bottom line.
- Is the game something their audience would like? If it's not, it's not worth the time because of low conversion rates.
- Can I create quality content for the game?
Because of these reasons, the content will be more authentic and higher quality. There has to be real alignment between the game, the influencer, and the audience.
Both the gaming publisher and the influencer benefit from this. The publisher or indie developer is less likely to throw their money away on misaligned campaigns. And the creator will give their fanbase stuff they actually may want.
Better Platform Utilization & Marketing Messages
Influencer marketing has gotten itself into a process, and that process can produce cookie-cutter campaigns. The problem is not every platform and audience responds the same. Facebook groups respond differently from subreddits, which is entirely different from TikTok. And even on the same platform, different groups have different behaviors.
Another problem outside of misaligned platform usage is when the gaming publishers or the indie developers want too much say with the influencers creativity. Good influencers know their audience and what they are receptive to. The publisher should only have to provide assets such as a media kit, and the influencer should be in charge of positioning a game in the best light.
Performance-based influencer marketing forces creators to think more critically about how to best use the different platforms that will create the most impact. It also gives them the creative freedom to customize their messages in a way that will be best received by their audience.
This allows the influencer retain their voice and puts less work on the publisher or indie developer.
Higher Payouts From Publisher To Influencer And Clear Metrics
At first glance, performance-based marketing seems to put a lot more pressure on the influencer, especially those that are accustomed to flat rates and minimum guarantees. Yet with greater risk comes greater rewards.
The chart below represents what an influencer may make based on the follower size.
[soure: https://later.com/blog/instagram-influencers-costs/]
Let's say the influencer you are working with has 5,000 followers. For a post that might cost $150, and that influencer would be capped at that pay rate. Now with performance-based influencer marketing, let's say the publisher sets their price at $1 per install and $0.50 per comment.
If the influencer manages to create a campaign towards a highly interested audience that garners 200 installs and 300 comments on a social post, that influencer has made $350. The risk for the influencer and publisher changes.
The risk for the creator is they may not make any money if their creative work flops, yet their reward is they can make a lot more than a flat rate. The risk for the publisher or indie developer is if the influencer doesn’t perform, they aren’t wasting precious marketing dollars. But if the influencer performs too well, they risk overpaying what was initially in their budget.
This is why the publisher or indie will need to have clear goals and metrics they are using to measure those goals before a campaign, and it decreases the risk of haphazardly spending their money.
Getting Started With Performance-Based Influencer Marketing
If performance-based influencer marketing seems like it can be a benefit to your game, the process is relatively easy to set up and get started for both influencers and gaming publishers and indie developers through an app called Glitch.
For influencers and creators, Glitch provides a streaming application that enables performance-based influencer marketing. The workflow tool combines aspects of multicasting to Twitch, YouTube, and other platforms. Followed by editing to easily create content from their gameplay and post to various social platforms.
For publishers and indie developers, all statistics from streaming to posting on social media platforms are recorded on the streaming application with the details provided to the gaming publisher and the influencer. The publisher simply has to set their campaign metrics.
Getting started as an influencer, publisher, or indie developer is easy. For the influencer, they need to find games they truly believe in and have confidence their audience will love. And the publishers need to have clear goals and metrics they are looking for. So what are you waiting to start your first campaign?