When it comes to gamified content marketing, there are a lot of tips and trick in terms of programming your content to appeal to your “players:” the people reading, watching, and interacting with the content you create. But how should you go about bringing new players into your game?
The Engagement Gap
Some content creators have noted an engagement gap when it comes to their products, and fixing that gap is an important way to not only improve your relationship to your already-present players, but to also build a more exciting “game” for new players to join.
One of the real keys to building relationships with human players is to be human yourself. Put a face to the brand. Several faces, even. Make real people the key component of your content. Plus, the moving and shifting of the people in your teams can be stories that interest your followers.
Players in video games like to know who they are playing with, even for short “multi-player” rounds of the games they love. Why do you think that one of the Xbox’s big add-on features is a headset and microphone for the controller? The ability to communicate back and forth, even just through responses to player comments, is a great way to keep people interested.
Consider Public Relations
Interestingly, in terms of connecting to players on a human level, there are a lot of connecting points between content marketing and public relations. Using the same terminology and tactics as public relations can be a “cheat code” to a better rate of engagement from players towards your content.
Knowing someone within the world of public relations can help you build a more human experience for your players and keep them playing your gamified content. Consider consulting with an actual PR person or, at the very least, learn concepts and ideas relating to PR and see how you can implement them into your strategy.
A great way of building trust between PR firms and yourself is to do a bit of knowledge exchange. Learn from them as they learn from you. Build a relationship between your two parties just like you want to build a relationship between your content and the people looking at it. Use these contacts as a sort of touchstone going forward.
Build Links Through Social Media
While it’s nice to talk about what to do once you have players interested in your gamified content, some of you are probably wondering about how to get new users interested in your content in the first place. For that, you should consider the power of social media.
Building links through social media can be a great way to bring new players into your gamified content. By using social media to build out your links, you have a better chance of initially engaging viewers.
Three keys to working with this kind of social media link build out are:
- Connecting with the right audience – Know who you are looking to have invest in your content and create that content for them. Essentially, you want to optimize for people, not just for search engines. Consider how your potential audience thinks, what they like, and what they’ll click on.
- Create “linkbait” content – Use that knowledge of your potential audience to build interesting content. Consider including varied content like videos, tutorials, podcasts, and other media that will interest and engage your users.
- Share different links at different times – As Kristin Hines mentioned, “Remember that just because it is 9am to 5pm for you doesn’t mean it is for everyone else.” Know that the time that you go home from work might be the time that people are just waking up. Find auto-scheduling software or put something in place to at least test the waters on different times for your various linked content.
Also, consider building out a Google+ presence for your site, as Google+ links tend to optimize in the personalized recommendations of Google’s search results. Another advantage of Google+ is that you can use it to build an “identity” for your brand, allowing a stronger, personal connection between your content and your users.
With the initial steps to building engagement underway, and with knowledge on how to keep those users coming back, you’re well on your way to content success!
How have you maintained engagement in your content?