Plug into #GamingTwitter: Tips and insights for brands

The #GamingTwitter audience is:⁴

• 72% male, 28% female

• 36% are aged 18-24

• 31% are aged 25-34

While the audience is predominantly male, 2021 saw a +31% increase in gaming Tweets from women.⁵ The countries Tweeting the most about #Gaming includes Japan, the US, South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, India, the UK, France, and Spain.⁶

What are they talking about?

The discussions and interests in the #Gamer community are diverse – which is great news for brands because it means there are countless opportunities to connect. Big themes in the #Gaming community on Twitter include:

• Nostalgia and retro gaming 

• Gaming influencers and live streaming

• Gaming news and launches

Gamers have high-affinity scores with other topics such as food, fashion, beauty, and TV.⁷

@GamerGlamCosmtx is a cosmetics brand that creates products inspired by video games, highlighting the affinity between gaming and beauty.

Make the most of this by collaborating with brands from these industries or leveraging an event or product from the same, to give your followers amplified experiences with your business. 

How can gaming brands best use Twitter?

To connect to the conversation 

Brands use Twitter to connect with what’s happening and build cultural relevance by doing so. We’ve found there’s a 73% correlation between a brand’s cultural relevance and its revenue⁸, so connecting to what’s happening isn’t something to take for granted.

@BulletVilleGame connects to Valentine’s Day while driving cultural relevance. 

To listen to the community 

Social listening is a highly valuable tool, and considering people flock to Twitter to take part in conversations and have their voices heard, there’s no better place for brands to listen. 

What are people saying about your game specifically, or even about the genre of your game? Any feedback you hear on Twitter can be relayed back to your engineers to continuously improve and update your game. 

To launch something new

People on Twitter like to be the first to try new things and are more likely to be the first to buy new products.⁹ That’s what makes it such a good place to launch something new. It doesn’t matter what you want to launch – Twitter can help you build awareness, drive conversation, and connect you with the right audience.

@AmongUsGame launches an update to their game and gets fans hyped about it.

Top tip: Twitter’s Trend Takeover and Trend Takeover+ products will ensure increased reach when launching a new game. These premium products put your ad alongside what’s trending and where conversations start – the Explore Tab. Takeovers help brands to connect with what’s happening by maximizing discovery, building relevance, and securing a place next to what you know will be trending that day.

To learn more about Twitter Takeover products, contact our Twitter Ads specialists.

Tips for a successful game launch on Twitter

To successfully launch a new game, app, or special promotion, take a look at our launch guidelines and best practices. 

Below we’ve also got some game launch tips based on learnings from past brand campaigns:

• Start your campaign at least two weeks prior to the launch 

• Tease your followers by releasing an image, short video snippet, or a release date to build anticipation and curiosity

• Don’t make any campaign modifications during the learning period – within the first four days post-launch

• Target numerous different audience segments for the launch so you can learn which segment is best-performing

• Run frequent ad creative refreshes – up to five refreshes up to 30 days post-launch
• Use a mix of ad formats throughout the campaign – we’ve found that using three or more ad formats increases campaign awareness by 20% and purchase intent by 7%.¹⁰

Tips for gaming brands on Twitter

Use video in your Tweets

The gaming world is inherently visual and graphics-focused, so incorporate the same in your Tweets. And based on our 2020 average, 71% of Twitter sessions now involve video.¹¹ Create Video Ads or Carousel Ads with video assets to leverage this passion for video on Twitter.

@TokenLands uses video in their Tweet to explain a new function recently added to their game. 

Introduce the world to your characters 

Whether it’s part of a launch of a new game, or simply a way to recreate buzz, you can use Twitter to share your characters with the world.

@lostsailorsNFT introduces a character from their NFT-based game. 

Top tip: Carousel Ads are a great way to introduce multiple characters because you can include a maximum of six images or videos all within a single ad.

Tweet reviews of your games

Retweet or Tweet reviews of your game to help build brand trust and affinity. Encourage your followers to engage with the reviews, and extend your reach outside your own followers by using hashtags like #GamingCommunity in your Tweets.

@PlanetofLana shares a review of their game by the gaming news site, Gameranx. 

Create a support page for your customers 

Creating a dedicated customer support page is a great way to give your followers an easier, more streamlined customer experience. Just be sure the account is monitored well so that your followers are responded to in good time.

Interact with fans

There’s an active community of artists on Twitter who create fan-made art of their favorite games on a daily basis, so Liking, Quote Tweeting, and replying to them shows your followers that you value their fandom – which helps build brand loyalty.

@CompulsionGames shares fan art created for the third anniversary of one of their games. 

Take a look at our 2022 Trends Report to read more insights about fan culture on Twitter and how brands can connect to this. 

Host a Twitter Space

Twitter Spaces provides a space for people and brands to engage in real-time, audio conversations together. Spaces offers people the unique opportunity to interact with brands, industry leaders and experts, influencers, and celebrities – while also allowing brands to interact with their followers in an authentic way.

@reelsofchange hosts a Twitter Space to discuss gaming in the public blockchain platform, Solana.

Some ideas you could host your own Twitter Space for include:

• Before a big gaming event to leverage the excitement for it. Or, if it’s an event your brand is running, to build more buzz ahead of the big day.
• Discussions with industry professionals. Gaming fans would love to hear from and interact with professionals or employees from your brand. Think deep dives into topics that have been causing a lot of conversation in the community. 

Professional game streamer, @KRNGStallion, asks his followers what they’d like to see in his recurring Twitter Space.

Here are some tips to make sure your Twitter Space is a success. 

Run contests and promotions

Everyone enjoys the chance to win a prize, and it’s a great way to drive traffic to your account or website, increase your reach, and generate excitement for your followers.

@UniXGamingGuild runs a contest for their followers in collaboration with blockchain game @The_Delysium.

Harness the power of live streaming and influencers

Twitter is a complementary platform to most major streaming services, so brands can reach more gamers using Twitter alongside a streaming service than on a streaming service alone. 

In a Sparkler survey, 73% of gamers admitted to checking Twitter while streaming esports and gaming¹² – they use it as a way of seeing what others are saying about the latest gaming news. 

Streamers are leading the charge on #GamingTwitter – they’re creating a buzz, and opening the door for others to join the conversation online. They can boost awareness of your brand. Twitter Live is the perfect way to collaborate with an influencer and live stream them playing your game. 

These tips will help you plug in and connect to #GamingTwitter, so your brand can level up.  

Launch your campaign today.