Social media is a phenomenon that has evolved greatly over the past decade. It is so integrated in our culture and daily lives, that some people swear they cannot live without it. In fact, according to a report published by We Are Social in partnership with Hootsuite, over 3.8 billion people use social media, with the average user spending two hours and 24 minutes engaged in social media each day.
These are exceptionally significant figures, so it would be a foolish business decision to choose to ignore them. Online and social media advertising are particularly important at the current time, since in many cases, it is one of the only ways to reach your target audience. Moreover, in iGaming, where customers engage with your product in an online setting, it is important to ensure that you are providing them with visibility of your offering in its environment.
Running a successful social media campaign requires planning and coming up with a solid strategy. Here, we discuss five tips that we have put together to help set up an effective social media campaign in the iGaming space.
- Set SMART goals
Before launching any kind of campaign, it is important to determine what you want to be achieved. Setting primary and secondary goals for each campaign will help drive you in the right direction. Examples of common goals for social media campaigns include: lead generation (i.e. player sign ups), increasing sales and growing brand awareness.
It is key to make SMART goals, meaning they are Specific – Well defined and clear, Measurable – Set with specific criteria you can compare progress towards, Achievable – Attainable and not impossible, Realistic – within reach and relevant to your goal, and Timely – set with a clearly defined start and end date.
- Define your target audience
In order to develop effective marketing communication strategies, clearly outlining who you want your efforts to be geared towards, will play a big role in the success of your campaign. This would consist of defining specific profiles with characteristics that connect with your brand and would typically be the players who would be the end users most likely to engage with your iGaming brand.
By determining the target player base you wish to expose your social media campaigns to, you will be able to allocate your resources in a more effective and efficient manner, as you can cater all efforts towards what your target audience wants to see.
- Choose the right platforms
Your target audience, budget, goals will dictate what the right platforms will be to run your social media campaigns on. Some of the most popular social media platforms for advertising, particularly in the iGaming industry, include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
When targeting players, for most brands in the iGaming industry, Facebook and Instagram are the most impactful promotional tools, and should, therefore, have the most time and money allocated towards it. Twitter, and even LinkedIn, are secondary and act as a way of further promoting your brand.
- Educate yourself on promotional rules
When choosing which platforms to run your social campaign on, it is extremely important to educate yourself on what the rules for running a promotion on that site are. Some platforms, such as Facebook, have very strict rules for advertising, and violating these rules could result in the termination of your entire business timeline, which is why it is vital to understand and follow all guidelines diligently.
When it comes to iGaming, gambling related content is not permitted everywhere, so you will need to ensure the parts of your marketing mix allow for it and you obtain all of the required certifications and/or licenses, prior to running any kind campaign.
- Put out quality content
A prime way of effectively engaging with your audience, is to post meaningful content. The type of content will depend greatly on the platform you are putting it out on and on what your objective is for the campaign. What works well on one platform, may not be the best approach on another. It is important to evaluate all factors before running any social media campaign.
Optimising your content for each platform is also a vital task before launching your campaign. There are several tools on the market that can help you come up with both short- and long-tail keywords, so it is advised to conduct research in order to build an effective keyword strategy. Once you have come up with a list of keywords you’d like to rank for socially, be sure to use those keywords within your campaigns.
Content does not only consist of written posts, but of creatives as well. This type of content should be eye-catching, in line with branding and hold a clear call-to-action. It’s also a good idea to have it responsive and optimised to mobile and desktop for viewing on all devices.
Social media is an extremely useful tool that can be used to engage with customers and entice desired actions. And, with such a substantial number of the world’s population using this media, it is definitely in the best interest of a brand to utilise it. When preparing for your next social media campaigns, we hope you will reflect on our above tips and put them into practice to help achieve your goals.
For more information on our social media marketing services, please reach out.
