作者：Scott Reyburn

昨天，通过付费获取去创造用户的手机游戏市场营销策略的成本显著增加。而今天，甚至是一些优秀的游戏也发现它们需要更具创造性的市场营销策略才能从激烈的竞争中脱颖而出。而对于许多游戏来说最强大的新工具非影响者营销莫属了。

事实上这并不是一条全新的发展道路。在PC游戏盛行的时候，YouTube和Twitch影响者们所发挥的影响力已经超过了三年。而手机领域则稍微落后了一些，因为那时候这里的玩家才刚刚接受这一娱乐方式。但是随着手机游戏玩家越来越资深，他们也逐渐学会在应用商店外部进行探险，即通过外部服务去寻找窍门，策略以及全新游戏推荐等等。

基于各种方式，影响者营销在手机领域的影响力甚至超过了PC：视频内容（而非书面内容）成为了手机用户探索内容的主要方式。在YouTube平台，有超过一半的浏览量都是来自手机设备账号，所以说手机游戏玩家是这些浏览率的最大贡献者。

而以下便是推动手机影响者营销不断发展的4大趋势：

1.传统用户获取渠道太过拥堵

手机用户获取的2大“传统”渠道是应用商店和手机游戏广告。随着应用商店推荐的价值的下降以及手机用户获取成本的上升，许多开发者开始将游戏发行转向一些较有利可图的类型。但这不是一种拥有长远发展的策略，毕竟玩家总是在追求多样性和创造性。

而迄今为止所存在问题是，开发者尝试着在应用商店创造应用发现的行动遭遇了失败。手机视频则是第一个经过证实拥有吸引力的渠道，像《Clash Royale》等游戏便因为它们新颖且吸引人的游戏玩法而创造了数百万的浏览量。

2.视频拥有不断发展的手机玩家基础

YouTube越来越适合手机游戏。根据相关数据，90%的活跃手机游戏玩家每周至少会打开一次YouTube去寻找游戏技巧或新应用。流媒体也快速发展着，像在Kamcord和Mobcrush等专注于手机的网站上，不管是浏览率还是频道都呈现着快速扩展的态势。

但是这些网站却都未真正轰动起来。尽管大多数活跃的手机游戏玩家会定期访问视频内容网站，但是他们却还未真正沉迷于其中。也许到2016年年底，一个或多个流媒体网站将开始在手机领域发起领导作用。

3.YouTube可以推动玩家直接购买游戏

手机游戏玩家似乎只会玩几款游戏，并且他们不会总是去搜寻新游戏。所以手机游戏广告需要对抗这样的基本现实，这也是为什么大多数手机游戏广告都强调短而有力。但在YouTube上，手机游戏玩家便会希望能看到一些新内容—-即来自于他们所喜欢的视频创造者之一。YouTube的作用便在于玩家会在此看到新游戏并马上决定购买新游戏，他们不会有过多思考的空间。

YouTube同样也是一种有效的搜索渠道，玩家可以在这里了解到他们所听过或在其它地方看到的游戏。Let’s Play和游戏玩法视频都是游戏用于说服玩家长久玩游戏的长期广告。

YouTuber(from bilibili)

4.付费活动将创造出有机的覆盖范围

YouTube上的付费市场营销的作用甚至超越了开发者的预期。即开发者可能认为玩家不会太关注付费支持内容，但事实上玩家在看到他们喜欢的YouTube创造者时便会选择相信他们的推荐。

YouTuber值得玩家的这种信任：他们是一些非常聪明努力的人，他们认真去创造着能够帮助玩家更好地认识游戏而不是因为一些无聊的游戏而惹恼玩家的频道。通常情况下YouTuber会选择接受他们所喜欢的游戏的付费活动，这也是为何他们总是会在之后为游戏提供免费宣传的原因。

付费活动的长期影响力能够带给游戏持续的曝光，这也证实了YouTube并不是一种短期的推广手段。连接着游戏影响者和手机游戏开发者的Roostr便发现，30%的访问量是来自付费影响者的推广活动。所以影响者市场营销是一种蓄势待发的推广渠道，我们将能在不久的将来看到它所发挥的巨大作用。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

4 Reasons Influencer Marketing is So Hot Right Now for Mobile Games

by Scott Reyburn

Yesterday’s mobile game marketing strategy of building audiences through paid acquisition has pushed costs into the stratosphere. Today, even great games are finding that they need a more innovative marketing strategy to compete. And for many, the most powerful new tool is influencer marketing.

The path is well-established. Over in the PC gaming space, YouTube and Twitch influencers have been a force for more than three years. Mobile has been slower to follow because its players are newer to the hobby. But as mobile gamers have become more experienced, they’ve learned to venture outside of the app stores—finding tips, strategies and new game recommendations through outside services.

In many ways, mobile is even more primed than PC for influencer marketing: video content, not written, is the primary way that mobile users explore content. Across YouTube, mobile devices account for over half of all views and mobile gamers are an important segment of these views.

Here are the four trends driving the growth of mobile influencer marketing:

1. Traditional user acquisition channels are crowded

The two “traditional” channels for mobile user acquisition have been the app stores and mobile game ads. As the value of being featured in an app store has declined and mobile UA costs have risen, many developers have responded by narrowing their releases to a few profitable genres. But this is a strategy with no long-term future: gamers love variety and originality.

The problem to date has been that attempts to create app discovery outside the app stores have failed. Mobile video is the first channel that has provable traction, with games like Agar.io or Clash Royale getting millions of views as a reward for their fresh and entertaining gameplay.

2. Video has an engaged and growing mobile gamer audience

YouTube is quietly becoming great for mobile gaming. The network’s statistics show that 90 percent of avid mobile gamers head to YouTube for gameplay tips and app discovery at least once a week. Streaming is also growing quickly, with mobile-only sites like Kamcord and Mobcrush seeing rapid expansion in views and channels.

None of these sites are breakout hits yet. While the most active mobile gamers are regularly visiting video content sites, less engaged players are slower to arrive. But it’s likely that by the end of 2016, one or more of the streaming sites gain a lead in mobile.

3. YouTube is where gamers go shopping

Mobile gamers tend to play only a few games and they aren’t always looking for new games to play. Ads for mobile games have to fight for attention against this basic reality, which is why most mobile video ads are short and punchy. But on YouTube, mobile gamers are engaged and open to seeing something new—as long as it comes from one of their favorite video creators. The effect is that gamers see and decide to play new games, without ever making a conscious decision to do so.

YouTube also acts as a useful research source for gamers to take a look at games they’ve heard about or seen elsewhere. Let’s Play and gameplay videos serve as long-tail advertisements for the games they cover, convincing gamers to play for months or years after they’re created.

4. Paid campaigns lead to organic coverage

Paid marketing on YouTube can defy expectations. Where developers might expect that players would put less value into a paid endorsement, the reality is that fans see their favorite YouTube creators as people like themselves and trust their recommendations.

YouTubers deserve this trust: those that are smart and hard working enough to build a large channel know better than to undermine their work by covering a game that bores or annoys their audience. Typically, YouTubers accept paid campaigns for games they like, which is why they often follow up paid coverage for a game with free coverage later.

The long-tail effect to paid campaigns provides an ongoing discovery effect, proving YouTube is more than a short-term promotional technique. Roostr, a marketplace that connects gaming influencers with mobile game developers, found that 30 percent of views come after the end of a paid influencer campaign. Influencer marketing is a channel with staying power, as will be seen in the months and years to come.（source：Gamasutra）