1. Ensure Influencer <> Content Fit at all Costs

Choosing influencers whose content aligns with your game’s genre and target player base is key for success. 
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Data can and should guide you in choosing which creators to work with. For a given simulator title, specific creators known for sim content may be a better fit than general variety influencers - regardless of CVV.

With Dare Drop’s influencer targeting tools, we see that letting data guide influencer targeting results in 3x longer streams and 30% more viewers for the influencers! Just cause they have fun!

2. Mix Tier Levels (Nano, Micro, Macro) for Budget Flexibility

When looking at influencers, most see the biggest stars first and for good reason! They do take up a major stake of global viewership so it makes them highly sought after- very busy, and extra expensive.

Relying on the chance of getting major influencers alone right before launch might leave you with nothing! Micro and nano influencers often stream exponentially longer than big influencers, have better engagement and tighter-knit communities that are easier to reach and retain.

3. Use influencers in every stage of development.

Influencers are not only a tool for launch!!! Because influencers are so important to launching most games now, it’s imperative to consider how the game will engage them, then structure your marketing strategy around that. This helps you craft an experience for your community that is authentic and potentially unique to your game - which audiences love! In the modern influencer marketing landscape, you have to use every marketing opportunity you have to stand out from the crowd. Influencers can start helping with marketing as soon as a trailer is out, adding to the hype with reaction content. After a successful first activation, you can re-engage those same creators with demos and launches to create bigger cultural impacts. When looking at influencers, most see the biggest stars first and for good reason! They do take up a major stake of global viewership so it makes them highly sought after- very busy, and extra expensive.

Platforms like Dare Drop help brands to retain their core influencer base and grow. Making each beat a cumulative exercise in community engagement that snowballs into your release window.

4. Create a Content Calendar with Key Events and Festivals

Consistency builds familiarity. Long-term influencer partnerships reward brands with greater audience trust, repeat impressions, and better campaign performance over time. It is important to not only have monetary exchange with influencers but also build fun into the community by providing many ways to engage & rewarding community engagement.

Strategies like Dares give influencers pathways to get invested in your game by giving them content prompts linked directly to giveaways for their communities. So everyone wins! Each time a creator engages, it becomes easier to pull them in to engage with title after title.

Focus Entertainment did just that: converting creators into long term partners over 20 games, retaining over 1500 of them to ensure stress free, exponential social coverage without starting from scratch with every release.

5. Create a Content Calendar with Key Events and Festivals

Like it or not, gaming is an event based industry. Peak season at events like Next Fest, GamesCom or any of Steam’s sales and festivals are a core part of any game’s success.

Influencers are critical in these high bursts of media attention to help you get the algorithms working in your favor, and rise to the top of platforms like Twitch. Festivals and sales give gamers an easy call to action to support you and grow your core metrics (be it wishlists, sales, or concurrent players.)