Engage Gamers via Proactive Brand Social Care

In my last blog I explored how games companies can leverage social media to build a better relationship with their players. The three important parts of the process are monitoring online activity, engaging with the players, and then analyzing what has happened – to gain some insights from the available information.

I drilled down into the buzz monitoring last time so I would like to comment here on the importance of engagement. Companies planning a customer service strategy often fail to see that this is one of the key game-changers with social media. A customer no longer reaches out to contact a brand because they have a problem, they might just have a question and they therefore expect a conversation – some form of engagement.

But it doesn't always need to be driven by the customer. If games-players are commenting about the same issue online and addressing their conversation to each other then it’s easy for the games company to step in and comment – proactively engaging with players and offering help before being asked or even better asking the wider audience to provide more details on the issue.

In the past launch dates were always a mystery. Games players would search the Internet hoping that precise release details had been posted somewhere, now players are more likely to tweet a direct question – and they will expect an answer.

Games companies can even use social channels to ‘drip-feed’ information about a release date, issuing teasers and snippets of content such as videos that help to build anticipation before a game is launched, perhaps continuing this teaser campaign for the entire beta period and then building sales momentum after release.

The implication for the games company is that they can build a deeper, much longer-lasting relationship with the players through engagement that begins before a purchase, goes on through the life of a game, and then persists as an ongoing process rather than being triggered by a complaint or problem.

Games companies often rely on formal feedback from beta programs, but removing the formality and just offering an open communication channel can offer a much deeper insight into the views and thoughts of the games players. Players who feel that they can influence a future version or new release with their own feedback will not hesitate to help. Players earn kudos from their peers for being a part of the process and the companies receive deep insight and feedback from enthusiastic players – at no cost.

There are clearly an enormous number of opportunities for engagement with players. Planning how to get the balance right is important and will define an engagement strategy.

Something that really caught my eye last week was Blizzard Entertainment’s recruitment strategy. Current Blizzard employees shared content via LinkedIn that showcased the new career video to engage and attract future employees to Blizzard. This is a great way to showcase culture, engage talent via proactive social conversation. See what you think?

Have you seen a great engagement strategy by a games company? Let me know here.

Photo by Rory O’Donnell licensed under Creative Commons