If Your Digital Marketing Sucks … Your Social Casino Will Too
Maybe it’s not quite as dramatic as my headline suggests, but it is important for our marketing and operations teams to understand that digital marketing is essential for the success of the social gaming platform. To manage the expectations of your team to drive new users to the social gaming experience effectively, you should evaluate your email marketing program, digital advertising, social media insights, website analytics, mobile app performance, and other digital marketing efforts.
Social gaming platforms (for the most part) take great care of users once they enter the experience. They will work with your team to create and host in-game promotions and events, along with incentives to make purchases. Opportunities are made available to users once they are in the social gaming experience; meaning they have signed up with their email address, phone number, and/or loyalty card number to receive information. Automated email marketing programs, mobile app push notifications, text messages, and social media posts keep your users up to speed and provide incentives to enter the social casino.
The success of your social casino is contingent on effectively driving new users into the platform. By taking the following steps, you will be more equipped to understand and manage expectations for your social gaming platform:
- Complete an extensive website audit and analyze your site performance – Is your website easy to navigate and mobile-friendly? Who is visiting and where do they live?
- Evaluate your mobile app – How many active users do you have? How effective are your push notifications? Are you geo-targeting users?
- Social media review – Which social sites are you actively utilizing? What types of content are most engaging for your users? What are your engagement rates and average post reach?
- Digital advertising – Are you running SEO, PPC, Banner Ads, Pandora, Social Media, or other digital advertising programs? How effectively are these driving visits? How much are you spending?
- Evaluate email and SMS marketing programs – What are your open rates, bounce rates, and click-through rates? How many active records do you have in your database? What is the frequency of your messaging?
While completing a full digital marketing audit is not a requirement to launch a social gaming platform at your property, it is a valuable step that will provide insights and action items for your team.
