5 Tips for Advertising Your Game on Twitter

Ever since my wife taught me how to use Twitter, I've been using it to find games to play, developers to interview, and overall enhance my experience as a journalist. Funnily enough, because of that, I've begun to notice some mistakes that some developers make when trying to promote their games. Don't get me wrong — I'm by no means an expert, but from a press (and fan) point of view, I can see how some of these things have made a difference. Without further ado, here are five tips from the press to the devs! 

Be Easy to Contact!

During my first few times reaching out to developers for an interview, I made the mistake of just contacting them through Twitter. I sent out many requests and got back less than half. I assumed perhaps they weren't interested, so I moved on... and then several of the ones that did reply asked me to send the questions to their emails. I quickly learned that many developers get flooded on social media, and a lot of requests get lost because of it. To remedy this, I tried to contact them through email instead and quickly discovered that many developers don't make their contact information readily available. 

The problem is if I cannot find your info, and you won't see my message through social media, then it's very difficult for me, as the press, to get in contact with you, losing us both the opportunity for interviews, mailing list (for news coverage), previews, reviews, etc. Just using a part of your Twitter bio to give the contact info will be enough!

Never Stop Tweeting, and Not Only For Sales

Another mistake I've noticed — this one coming from the point of view of a fan — is that many developers will only tweet about their game promotionally or very rarely. Don't get me wrong, it's totally okay to promote your product, but if every tweet you make is about how much it'll cost or how much money you'll need, then people won't feel that need to hit the follow button. If instead, your Twitter is a mixed bag of both promotional messages and memes, jokes, or even stories about your game, it'll give people something more to come back for.

A great example of fantastic Twitter usage is from the creators of Bear and Breakfast. I began following them shortly after learning how to use Twitter because I had their game in my wishlist, but they never let me forget that it existed through all the silly, cute, and funny tweets and interactions. Not only did they make their own memes and jokes, but they constantly liked and retweeted fans' art and interactions. Because of this, Bear and Breakfast was always on my timeline and in a way that stood out and stuck with me. I rarely remember when most games will release, yet it was so prominent that I was there on the day Bear and Breakfast launched.

Quid Pro Quo

I don't mean that cringe spammy way that people on Instagram will do, where they message you "follow 4 follow". I mean that fellow developers on Twitter are not your enemies or competition; they're often your best allies and promotion. I have been following a particular developer ever since I asked for an interview with her, and she is the biggest source of incoming games to my follow list because she constantly likes, retweets, and comments on other developers' work. Because of that, they appear on my timeline, and I get exposed to their product. 

The opposite is true as well, as interacting with others developers' posts will also get you seen. Just as was the case with a developer who liked one of the posts that had been retweeted about an interview I made, and lo and behold, I was contacting them upon seeing it because I was exposed to their game and found it interesting enough to reach out.

Bonus: there are many people that constantly urge developers to share their games through hashtags and posts, like #WishlistWednesday. Not only have many developers mentioned that it helps them stay motivated, but obviously, many people use these types of tweets to find games to support or follow (myself included). 

Never Use Trending Hashtags Just to Get Views

Not only is this a great way to get people to hate you because you're being disruptive and irksome, but it's also a terrible idea and a recipe for disaster. Recently on my Twitter sidebar, a hashtag was trending in Spanish (I am Colombian, so they show me stuff from here) that said #VerguenzaNacional, which basically translates to #NationalEmbarrassment. A girl who wanted to be seen used the tag without understanding it and posted a video about her playing an instrument. The first comment I saw on it was a person letting her know the horrendous hashtag she chose to abuse. Also, I then blocked her immediately because it essentially showed her greed and lack of interest or thought. 

Don't do that. You will not get a good community or spotlight from it. Instead, find hashtags that you can actually associate with and be a part of, like #indiedev or #gamedev or even just #gamedevelopment. Heck, even just #indie; anything that shows you truly are paying attention and care.

If You Make a Kickstarter, Put Some Effort Into It

One of the series I write here is called Kickstarter Highlight, where I find games with campaigns that will be over soon and are relatively unknown, and then I write a piece about why they should consider backing it. It's surprising the amount of lessons I learned from this alone. 

For example, developers that pin their Kickstarter to their Twitter, and/or change their names to mention there is a Kickstarter available, make their game much more accessible. It’s very important that the campaign is easily accessible, so don’t fear adding the link to your bio too, as many people might just go into your profile and check that first. 

In addition to the things you can do on Twitter, make sure that your Kickstarter has a good amount of information and humanity to it. For example, a lot of devs underestimate how important it is for the backers to have information on them. If you write down who you are, why you're developing the game, and why people should care, people will connect to your cause much more. Even if it feels like it's kind of obvious or boring, it's never a bad idea to humanise yourself. A great example of an awesome Kickstarter page was this one, the very first one I did my article series on. 

Another mistake developers make is not to give any sort of stretch goals. You don't have to give them all out; even just the first one and the rest being hidden behind question marks will be enough. But if someone goes to your game's page and sees that there's nothing new to add to it, it won't ever be as exciting as seeing a great game and then promises for even cooler things.

Additionally, don't forget the budget and what plans you have in general. The more information you give about your product, the easier it'll be for people to gauge if it’s worth backing the game.

Those are all the tips and tricks I've noticed these past few months while working on Twitter with developers. I think it all really ties down to being confident, engaging, and human, not just a brand or product. I hope my tips were able to help you! If you'd like to drop me a message on Twitter, feel free, I'm always up for finding a cool game.