what real money gaming can learn from social gaming
DESCRIPTION
Our Marketing Department Manager Louis Deering shares his insight from Casual Connect, a leading social gaming industry conference. "I began working in the iGaming industry nearly six years ago, around the same time that social gaming began to emerge as an industry of its own. Over the years, as the influence of social networks has grown, so too has the potential of social gaming. Following my recent experience at Casual Connect, a leading social gaming industry conference, there were a few major takeaways that are relevant for the iGaming industry. Market Crossover This is the $17 billion question that has been at the forefront of the discussion about the relationship between real money gaming and social gaming. Key stakeholders haven’t reached a consensus on how large, or small, the overlap among players is. However, this much is clear: an opportunity exists in understanding the crossover between the two sectors. Engagement and CRM Silicon Valley has had a distinct impact on social gaming, as technology has enabled engagement and CRM, an important takeaway from an acquisition perspective. In the social sphere there is a greater emphasis on acquisition volume as opposed to player quality. In the future, as the industry matures, player quality will become increasingly important because of increasing acquisition costs. Acquisition An area in which the social gaming industry excels is the mass acquisition of players. Desktop and mobile are viewed as two separate entities, but the data shows that multi-platform players are the highest value players. Consequently, cross-channel acquisition efforts and diversifying away from a reliance on Facebook will pay dividends long-term. Smarter Advertising Simply put, advertising needs to stop interrupting and start adding. They need to engage the user and add value, while also being presented in a ‘native’ manner. In addition, operators should be aware of their competitors’ strategies while staying true to their own acquisition and business strategies. Analytics and Attribution Marketing is a numbers game, but leveraging ‘big data’ is ineffective without gaining, and applying, insight. It is integral to any marketing campaign to understand how each acquisition channel adds value. Users interact in different ways depending on brand messaging and the various stages of the sales funnel." -Louis Deering, 2014TRANSCRIPT
What Real Money Gaming can Learn from Social Gaming
August 2014
Key topics:
Market Crossover
Engagement
Acquisition
Advertising
Analytics
Market Crossover“Opportunity exists in understanding the crossover between real money gaming and social gaming”
Social RMG?
Amount of overlap in user profile varies by product
RMG traffic sources can work for social – monetize players looking for free money.
Social traffic sources can work for real money – low cost acquisition which increase liquidity and monetize through strong CRM.
Key positions and trends:
- Richard Weil of SciPlay
In the future of the games industry [...] it will be essential to devise ways to take advantage of the social gaming boom as it intersects with real money gaming and the bricks and mortar retail business
Engagement and CRM“Technology is the primary engine to support engagement and CRM, an essential point from an acquisition perspective.”
[Tropicana AC’s] top online players spend big on entertainment at their brick and mortar facility rather than gaming.
Many brands in social gaming place a higher emphasis on acquisition volume than player quality
As the industry matures, player quality will become increasingly important because competition will increase acquisition cost
Advertising can be used for re-activation and increasing engagement, in addition to acquisition
Many platforms now allow a robust automated communication strategy based on player activity
Key positions and trends:
AcquisitionTechnology
Engagement and CRM
Acquisition
Tweet
Desktop and Mobile are viewed as two separate entities to many Social Gaming Operators
Desktop is not dead; it still has higher player values than mobile
Cross channel acquisition efforts need to be explored, as over investing in a single source (Facebook), could be risky in the long term
Multi-platform players are the highest value players
An underutilized area in social is the mobile web
Key positions and trends:
Android = largest opportunity
iOS = highest spender
“Seamless cross-channel acquisition efforts will pay dividends in the long run”
Advertising
Tweet
“Advertising needs to stop interrupting and start adding.”
Engage the user and add value
Be presented in a ‘native’ manner
Be aware of competitors strategies
Represent the company’s acquisition and business strategies
Give the player something in exchange for a click
Key positions and trends:
Analytics and Attribution
Tweet
“Understanding how each channel contributes to acquisition is essential to marketing planning.”
Marketing is a numbers game that is about mining data wisely and gaining insight
Channels differ in the way users interact with brand messaging in that channel
Attribution platforms can help understand how each channel contributes and help to maximize the value from each channel
Key positions and trends:
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