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Which creators actually drive installs?
Creator choice beats CPM. Start with player jobs-to-be-done – why someone would try your game now – and back into creator roles that unlock that motivation: aspiration (I want to be like them), companionship (I want to play with them), or coaching (I want to get better). Then score fit with a repeatable rubric.
– Lookalike: Do their audience demos, platforms, and regions match your payer-rich cohorts? Check device split, top countries, and platform focus (e.g., Android-heavy Shorts vs. iOS-leaning Twitch subs).
– Overlap: Is there genre or mechanic adjacency? Aim for creators whose recent content features similar loops – strategy, survival, gacha, builder, PvP – not just broad “gaming.”
– Affinity: How often do they organically recommend games or tools? Scan comments for trust cues (saves, shares, “downloading now”), not only views.
– Format: Does their native format match your conversion moment? Long-form guides convert for midcore and strategy; short-form hooks shine for casual and hyper-casual; live streams move social games and events.
Score LOAF on a simple low/medium/high scale. Shortlist only creators with at least three highs. Keep a bench of alternates to backfill sudden drops in availability.
How should channels mix by genre?
Channel mix should mirror how players discover, evaluate, and commit for your genre and platform. Align formats to the friction in your funnel – the higher the complexity or price of time, the more depth you need before asking for the install.
– Midcore shooters, MOBAs, competitive: Twitch or Kick live for social proof and squads; YouTube long-form for class/build videos; Shorts for highlight reels. Use creator POV plus spectator hype.
– Strategy, 4X, tactics: YouTube long-form breakdowns, tier lists, and economy guides win. Supplement with Reddit AMAs and Discord co-created spreadsheets. Short-form can tease, but depth converts.
– RPG, gacha, and collection: Narrative TikToks and YouTube mid-form “progression diaries.” Showcase pulls, team synergies, and pity systems transparently to build trust.
– Sandbox, survival, builder: Series content – episodes and mod showcases – to demonstrate emergent stories. Encourage creator server events and community challenges.
– Casual and hyper-casual: TikTok and Reels with 1–3 second hooks, visual clarity, and quick payoff. Use Spark Ads or allowlisting to scale winners natively.
– Rights from day one: Secure allowlisting and post boosting rights for creator assets – without them, you limit scale.
– Cutdowns: Require raw files plus three short-form edits per long-form integration for cross-channel reuse.
– Momentum: Cluster launches weekly by genre channel to create feed density and social proof.
What’s a scalable test plan?
Treat creators like SKUs. Small batch, fast learnings, then tier-up. Use a clear progression so your team and finance know what qualifies as a winner.
– Tease: 10–20 micro to mid creators across 2–3 formats. Objective: find messages and mechanics that pass a quality bar – click-through, watch-through, and install intent proxies – within your target CPI or payback logic. Keep briefs tight and inexpensive.
– Trial: Double down on the top quartile creators. Add creative variants – hook, call-to-action, feature focus – and test allowlisting. Objective: stable performance across at least two drops or streams; confirm retention or tutorial completion lift vs. baseline weeks.
– Tier: Graduate winners to evergreen. Lock monthly packages with clear flighting and content calendar. Add live ops beats, in-game events, or seasonal content to extend lifespan.
Budget cadence: Use a 70 – 20 – 10 rule – majority into evergreen winners, a focused portion for Trial, and a small reserve for Tease. Keep a rolling waitlist so burnout or conflict doesn’t stall scale.
How do you measure impact correctly?
Last-click alone will under-credit upper-funnel creators and over-credit channels with easy clicks. Blend deterministic tracking with lightweight incrementality to avoid false positives.
– Plumbing: Unique links and promo codes per creator and per asset. UTMs with strict naming conventions for platform, format, hook, and episode.
– Windows: Define click and view-through windows explicitly by platform. Shorten windows for short-form; extend for long-form discovery.
– Dedupe: Separate creator allowlisted ads from paid social to avoid double counting. Distinct campaigns and pixel events.
– Cohorts: Track creator-acquired users as their own cohort; compare D1/D7 retention, tutorial completion, and first purchase rates to paid search and social baselines.
– Holdouts: Run geo or time-based holdouts for big beats – off-weeks or dark regions – to estimate incremental lift.
– MMM-lite: Log weekly creator reach, spend, and frequency by platform; regress against new users and revenue with controls for seasonality and updates. Directional is enough to rebalance budgets quarterly.
– Grab: Hook rate and 3-second view rate on shorts; 30-second retention on long-form.
– Act: CTR to store and add-to-wishlist for prelaunch; tutorial start.
– Monetize: First purchase rate and ARPPU per creator cohort.
– Engage: D7 retention and session count vs. baseline. Tie to content themes – guides vs. memes – to inform creative refresh.
What briefs convert players today?
Creators sell experiences, not features. Your brief should make it easy to stage the fun loop and remove reasons to say “maybe later.”
– Bold: A strong claim or surprising moment in the first seconds – “I tried to beat a boss using only traps.”
– Outcome: State the payoff – win, unlock, or fail spectacularly.
– Stakes: What’s on the line – time, loot, reputation.
– Specific: Name the mechanic or feature that delivers the payoff.
– Show, then tell: First 5–8 seconds are pure gameplay payoff; VO explains after.
– One mechanic per ad: Energy systems, build orders, or skill trees – pick one and go deep.
– Social proof: Real comments and stitches, not generic overlays. Use on-screen replies to FAQs.
– Native CTA: “Join my clan,” “Duet this challenge,” or “Beat my time” converts better than generic “Download now.”
– Friction busting: Address device, region, or file size concerns in-screen if relevant.
– Variants: Ship 3×3 grid – three hooks by three CTAs – to discover performing pairs quickly.
How do you budget and forecast?
You need predictability without handcuffing experimentation. Treat influencer as a portfolio with clear caps and upgrade rules.
– Runway: Fixed monthly spend on evergreen tier creators who meet payback guardrails. Renegotiate rates quarterly based on performance.
– Accelerators: Event-based bursts – season launches, collaborations – stacked across top creators within a 72-hour window to dominate feeds.
– Maintenance: Always-on shorts or story integrations that keep awareness warm between beats.
– Probe: Dedicated test pot for new creators, formats, and regions; quick kill rules if they miss quality bars two flights in a row.
– Pricing: Blend flat fee plus performance kicker tied to agreed KPIs – for example, bonus on qualified tutorial starts – to align incentives.
– Usage: Secure 30–90 day allowlisting and cutdown rights. Clarify edit approvals and reshoot terms.
– Exclusivity: Define genre or direct-competitor windows; avoid blanket bans that shrink your pool.
– Deliverables: Lock integration length, placement, and clear disclosure to stay platform-compliant.
What should you do next?
30-day setup:
– Build your LOAF-scored creator bench – at least 50 prospects across priority genres and platforms.
– Draft two briefs: a short-form performance brief and a long-form depth brief, each with BOSS hooks and a 3×3 variant grid.
– Instrument tracking: naming conventions, unique links, promo codes, and a data sheet for weekly MMM-lite inputs.
– Run Tease tests across formats and creators. Kill slow performers fast; document the messaging that clears quality bars.
– Promote winners with allowlisting. Start a Trial phase with expanded deliverables and live ops tie-ins.
– Launch at least one geo or time holdout to baseline incremental lift for your board deck.
– Graduate consistent winners to evergreen in your Runway. Add Accelerators around a content update or season change.
– Refresh creative with new BOSS hooks and creator collabs. Rotate CTAs to prevent fatigue.
– Rebalance budgets using your MMM-lite and cohort data. Present a clear, defensible forecast for the next quarter.
Bottom line: influencer marketing for gaming scales when you industrialize selection, testing, and measurement. Choose creators with LOAF, move them up the 3T ladder, and keep budgets honest with RAMP and G.A.M.E. guardrails. Do that, and creators become a reliable acquisition and retention engine – not a once-a-quarter gamble.