"Growing @YourGameStudio Using #SocialMediaMarketing" - as presented at the Canadian Games Conference in Vancouver, BC - 21/05/2011

1. by Matt Tanner Business Development Manager – Snowed In Studios Find me on Twitter! @mtanner613 @snowedinstudios 1

2. 2 Share your thoughts using the hashtag: #CGC_SMM

3. Who is this talk for? Anyone looking to use social media for marketing Positioned towards smaller studios People with at least introductory knowledge of social media platforms People working in any role at their studio/company 3

4. Objectives and Takeaways Gain a better understanding of social media marketing and how to apply it Discover how social media marketing needs to fit into your business plan A few best practicesand inspiration to use social media marketing your own way 4

5. Agenda Introduction The Market Today Social Media vs. Traditional Marketing 3 Big Ones and Best Practices Data and Analytics Conclusion/Recap 5

6. A little about me… With Snowed In for just under a year Canadian, lived in Germany for a year and love to travel Currently playing Black Ops, Forza 3 and Mortal Kombat 6

8. Half a million dollars in revenue in first year

10. Target Market Landscape 9 Mainstream Publishers and Developers Mainstream Gamers Indie Publishers and Developers Niche Gamers

11. Challenge: Noise 10

12. 11 Challenge: Fragmentation

13. Challenge: Consumer Buying Power 12 $137.82 2010 Average total annual player spend on video games in the US ($USD) $40 2010 Average sale price of a video game title (retail boxed) ($USD) 3.5 Approximate number of games bought per player Source: NewZoo, Games Market Report Summary 2010, Chart-Track

14. 13 How do you overcome the challenges?

15. Why use social media marketing instead? 14 Traditional vs. Social Media Marketing

17. Push-based communication

18. Us & Them separation

19. Focus on quality

20. Pull/Interactivity-based communication

21. IntegrationAverage lead cost* $332 Average lead cost* $134 *Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report, 2011

22. Is Social Media Worthwhile? Traditional Marketing Online/Social Media Marketing Average revenue Average return-on-investment per dollar spent Average likelihood to allocate more budget to marketing 16 $22 billion $30.8 billion $1.85 (online) $0.84 (print) 94% (Social Media) 51% (Direct Mail) Source: BCG, The CMO’s Imperative – Nov. 2010

23. Traditional Marketing Dying Off Spending on social media marketing is said to increaseby 53%, only behind website (64%) and seach engine marketing (62%) Spending on traditional marketing is said to decrease, including direct mail (25%), broadcast ads (29%) and print ads (37%) 17 Source: Marketing Sherpa, Social Marketing Benchmark Report 2011

24. Why Aren’t Companies Using It? Fear: some people are afraid of using what’s unfamiliar or fear they could lose control of their brand Uncertainty:return-on-investment (ROI) is harder to prove than with impression-based marketing Track record:there are too few big “success stories” to inspire using it 18

25. People like to share 19 What they’re thinking/feeling/doing Their interests and values Relevant information, data and media

26. Psychology of Social Media Instant gratification “Why send fan mail when I can tweet?” Sense of belonging/community/society “I can talk to this company like I do with my friends” Two-way conversation “This company cares about what I have to say” 20

27. Leverage Psychology Use the psychological benefits of social media to integrate your audience in the context of your company 21

28. 3 Keys to Great Marketing Know your target market and audience Know what action your want them to take Give them a good reason to take that action 22

29. 3 Keys to Social Media Marketing Be consistent and stay top of mind Share relevant, captivating and/or interesting info Be personal, be human – no one likes talking to a logo 23

30. Example: Ask JJB 24

31. What’s Ask JJB? Periodic podcast starring Eidos Montreal’s Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, Art Director on Deus Ex: Human Revolution Answers user questions asked via the studio’s Twitter and Facebook pages about the new game Sometimes included unusual content like hats and cows 25

32. Why is “Ask JJB” Great Social Media Marketing? Consistency:while it was produced, it was released about once a week Relevancy: it spoke to and answered questions about Deus Ex’s development Personality: answered questions directly back at users who asked them, starring the Art Director himself 26

33. Tools everyone should be using and how to use them best 27 The“Big 3” and Best Practices

34. What are the “Big 3”? Twitter (www.twitter.com) Facebook(www.facebook.com) LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) 28

35. Why Should You Use the “Big 3”? They each offer a unique benefit: News & info-based conversation Personal context & conversation Professional context & conversation 29

36. Why Should You Use the “Big 3”? They specialize in different applications: PR, CRM, outbound marketing Word of mouth, viral marketing B2B marketing and research 30

37. Why Should You Use the “Big 3”? They are some of the biggest networks: Over 200 million users Over 600 million active users Over 100 million users 31

38. Marketing to All Age Groups 32 Source: Google DoubleclickAd Planner

40. Strong business needs?

41. Viral distribution?

42. Personal-level?Use them in combination with the “Big 3”!

43. Now that we know why… Let’s look at how to do it right. 34

44. 35

45. Applications: public relations, brand visibility, outbound marketing and CRM Bonus features: include photos/videos, deep-linking between pages 36

46. Twitter is for Information 37 Source: Edison Research (April 2010), Burson-Marstellerstudy (Jan 2010)

47. Twitter Best Practices Post engaging and relevant “retweetable” content Use @s and #s wherever possible, but don’t overuse them Don’t just post news – start a conversation! 38

48. 39 Example: Uncharted 2

49. About Uncharted 2& Twitter Twitter integration in options menu of game to allow players to post Tweets as game progressed Likely intended to spread noise, #uncharted2 trend and reward gameplay Ultimately removed via a patch after feedback from community 40

50. What happened? Consistency:posts were actually too consistent, many Feeds were simply flooded Relevancy: posts were relevant – but very shallow and un-engaging – not re-tweetable Personality: posts were automated. Combined with high frequency, they appeared as spam would 41

51. 42

52. Applications: word of mouth influence, viral marketing, media-rich marketing Bonus features: create “second webpages”, games, apps, media, etc. 43

53. Facebook is for Sharing 44 Source: Adapted from AddToAny via Silicon Valley Insider

54. Facebook Best Practices Post in the morning or in the evening, before and after the work day Make a call to action: “click here”, “tell us what you think”, etc. Include media or media links whenever possible 45

55. 46 Example: Guitar Hero

56. Guitar Heroon Facebook One of the largest video game Facebook pages at over 4 million users 13% growth per month (average is ~4% per month) Mostly driven by user-generated content and media-sharing 47

57. What are they doing right? Consistency:posts about 10 times per week; rarely with “normal posts” Relevancy: posts are music-related, with share-able content like music videos, VIP photos, etc. Personality: calls to action make page relatable, includes links to individual staff’s Twitter pages 48

58. 49

59. Applications: B2B marketing, opinion leadership, networking Bonus features: info-rich Company Pages, Answers, Groups, etc. 50

60. LinkedIn is for Business-to-Business of users are decision-makers in their company of users have generated business using LinkedIn users worldwide, with more than half from outside the US 51 50% 41% Over 100MM Source: HubSpot “LinkedIn by the Numbers”, LinkedIn

61. LinkedIn Best Practices Don’t try to connect with everyone, but don’t be anonymous or hidden Nurture relationships and stay in touch with key contacts Get involved: post Answers, join Groups and add Applications 52

62. Social Media for Lead Generation 53 Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report, 2011

63. How to keep track of your efforts 54 Data and Analytics

64. Data and Analytics Why bother spend precious time and money if you don’t know what you’re getting out of it? You need to measure your efforts and act accordingly! 55

65. Follower Counts Aren’t Valid Metrics Twitter has a high spam rate due to low barriers Facebook network is useless if your Fans don’t share content LinkedIn network is useless if you don’t know most of your contacts 56 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

66. Matching Goals to Metrics Marketing Goal Drive website traffic Increase influence and visibility Increase user engagement Drive sales Social Media Metric Click-through rate Klout score, Mentions, Retweets, Shares, etc. Time spent on site/page, bounces Conversion rates 57

67. Social Media Management Tools 58

68. In case you missed it, here’s what you need to know 59 Conclusion and Recap

69. Recap / Takeaways Be aware of and monitor market conditions and changes 3 Keys to Social Media Marketing Consistency Relevancy Personality Measure your efforts and act accordingly 60

70. 61 How will you reach your audience?

71. 62 Because if you don’t… Someone else will!

72. 63 Thank you!

73. Questions and answers 64

74. Copyrights & Image Sources by Slide Number Logos and related media throughout: Various owners, by logo (StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Wordpress, Facebook, FourSquare, Tumblr, Vimeo, Flickr, Ecademy, Viadeo, Digg, Delicious, Blogspot, Hootsuite, Seeismic, Tweetdeck, CoTweet) 5: Twitter bird illustration, Matt Hamm 7: Logo © Snowed In Studios Inc. 8: via Nash Albacea, Thoughts and Keys blog 13: via concepts.archipelago.ie 14: cell phone via LondonCalling.co, two men TV photo via JazzStreetVancouver.ca 17: iPhone photo via Foresite-nc.com, TV photo via IQuestionAuthority.com 21: keyboard photo via BarbaraLing.com 24-25: © EidosMontreal, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a ™ of Eidos Montreal and Square Enix 34: © Facebook via Vectors4U.com 39-40: © Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Uncharted 2 is a ™ of Sony Entertainment of America 46-47: Guitar Hero is a ® of Activision Publishing, games and material © Activision Publishing 54: via PSDGraphics.com 55: golf photo via Cross Creek Plantation 56: Spam ® logo © Hormel Foods Corp., trash icon JazielValladares 59: Homer framecap © Fox and related entities 61: via Lucy Langdon, SEOmoz.org 62: © MonkeyGrenade via GamerDNA.com 65