Influencer marketing is becoming a must-have UA (user acquisition) strategy for apps. By tapping those that hold the attention of target users, gaming apps can leverage one more channel to increase installs. A social influencer who is a gaming expert will have much more sway than your brand promotions if they build trust with their audiences.
However, many mobile game apps are hesitant to pay out large sums of money with no guarantee for returns. Fortunately, there’s a new model for influencer marketing that’s performance-based. That means that you only pay the influencer when players download your app from their posts.
This framework offers many opportunities to acquire users for your app.
Influencer Stats: The Industry Is Growing!
To add context around why this type of marketing can be valuable to you, let’s look at some data from a recent benchmarking report.
The industry expects to reach $16.4 billion in 2022. That number has been steadily climbing since 2016. Those using influencers are also growing, with 75% of brands creating budgets around the tactic. Of those, 68% plan to increase spending in 2022.
Those are all healthy numbers, demonstrating the desire for companies to use influencers and their positive impact on revenue. So, can it really impact UA for your gaming app?
Performance-Based Equates to CPI Models
Performance-based marketing uses CPI (cost per install). When you deploy your campaign after approval of the influencer’s content, they’ll use a unique link that takes them to either the Apple Store or Google Play. If the person downloads your app, you then pay that agreed CPI bid.
Another reason this approach is performance-based is that you’re likely to gain more engaged users. These gamers trust the influencer and will excitedly try out your app since it comes with an endorsement.
Gaming App Influencer Marketing Strategies and Best Practices
Applying performance-based influencer marketing principles can be a smart way to acquire new users. Of course, when investing money in any marketing, you want a return. As noted, in performance-based models, you only pay when a person downloads your app from the link the influencer uses on their profiles.
So, when should you use them? And what best practices should you instill?
When Should You Create an Influencer Campaign?
Pre-Launch
Hype up your game’s launch by getting pre-registrations through an influencer. A great buzz before the game is live can be very valuable. When creating content, the influencer will need inside access to the game to talk about the mechanics and excitement of it.
At Launch
On the day your game goes live, your influencer can introduce the game more fully than in a pre-launch promotion. For example, it could include shots of the person playing the game.
New Features or Versions
If your game is deploying new features or versions, your influencer can talk about these and how they’ll make the game even more fun.
Seasonal or Holiday Events
Depending on the type of game, it may lend itself to more playing time during specific times of the year. If so, an influencer can help you capitalize on this trend.
Just Discovered
Another angle to take is when you’re striving to boost UA after seeing installs drop or stall. The influencer content can take the form of “just discovered,” meaning the person just found your game and has quickly become a raving fan.
Best Practices for Using Influencers to Promote Your App
Choose influencers who are experts in your category of gaming apps, not random celebrities.
The person should have followers that trust their opinions on gaming. To make an impression on the audiences you want to attract, the influencer has to be a gamer!
Working with a celebrity or general social media star is too broad and may not connect with your ideal users. Micro-influencers have larger than average followings but aren’t celebrities. They are perfect for these campaigns.
Leverage a platform that matches vetted influencers with apps.
With this approach, you don’t have to do outreach or research. A matching system offers value for both apps and influencers to make the collaboration more successful. The platform must approve a person to qualify for influencer campaigns.
Determine which social media sites have the largest pool of gamers in your category to determine the potential reach.
TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube are the leading platforms. Gaming tends to lean more toward YouTube, but it’s really about selecting the social media companies where your target audience looks for recommendations and information.
Collaborate with influencers on content creation.
You know your app, but influencers know their audience and what content resonates with them. Allowing the influencer some creative freedom helps with authenticity. You don’t want this to come off as an ad but rather a conversation. You should still have final review or approval, but don’t box them in with a long list of parameters.
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A Success Story: Gaming + Influencers
Our client, a well-known gaming app development company, launched an influencer marketing campaign to hit install and retention goals. Once matched with a high-quality influencer, we scaled the campaign successfully, netting over one million new users a month. As a result, the company added more titles to the campaign and hit nearly every geo available.
Play the Influencer Marketing Card to Increase Your Gaming App Downloads
By using a performance-based model and strategizing on when to launch campaigns and with whom, you can boost UA. If you haven’t tried it before or had little results, you should consider partnering with AdAction. Our Stacks solution creates a streamlined approach to influencer marketing. It helps develop relationships between apps and influencers with the best interests of both considered.
Find out how it works today and get started with influencing that’s scalable, affordable, and trackable!
