Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that many brands have been implementing in their marketing strategies to boost brand awareness and drive more engagement. In short, influencer marketing involves collaborating with individuals who have a significant following on social media or are viewed as experts in their niche, for increased brand exposure. For iGaming operators, this can be a great opportunity to partner with influencers who can help their brand reach a larger audience.
How to Get Started
So, you’ve decided to try out influencer marketing to expand your reach and brand exposure. Great! Now where should you begin with this?
The first step in any marketing strategy is to establish clear objectives and set achievable key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge your campaign's impact. Common objectives include increasing brand awareness, acquiring new players, nurturing your existing player base, and enhancing your social media footprint. Some reasonable KPIs you can use to measure your success are follower growth, website traffic, engagement, brand mentions, conversions, and ROI.
It’s important to pick which objective(s) and KPI(s) you want to focus on so you can have a clear plan and can then begin the search for influencers.
Discover the Perfect Influencers for Your Brand
In the dynamic landscape of the iGaming industry, finding experienced influencers who are willing to promote gambling can be a bit difficult. The increasing restrictions on online advertising have created a tricky situation for influencers, because if a creator is caught promoting online gambling in certain respects, they risk receiving a warning from the platform. Depending on the platform, if they accumulate three strikes, their account may face getting banned. This raises the stakes when it come to influencer targeting. However, there are influencers navigating the industry, but it’s important to be transparent and honest. There are also workarounds for promoting gambling content such as using Instagram and Facebook “stories” that expire after 24 hours so there’s less of a chance of it getting flagged on the platform.
To begin, you’ll need to define your target audience before you begin searching for relevant influencers. Typically, for iGaming brands, the most desirable audience center around males aged 20 and above. Finding influencers who share this same demographic is beneficial for your brand exposure.
There are a variety of social media platforms you can use to manually scout for influencers, but amongst the most popular are Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch. If you prefer a more automated approach, this can be done through specialized platforms that search for influencers for you and reduce your time and effort. Think of it as an “influencer search engine”. A few popular platforms to consider are Aspire, Upfluence, and GRIN. Leveraging these influencer marketing platforms can help you save time and get the best results from automated and calculated searches. Alternatively, if you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can do manual searches with relevant keywords, hashtags, and posts associated with iGaming. However, this method can be considerably more time-consuming.
While assessing potential influencers, focus on the quality and relevance of their content to your target audience. Lastly, check their history of past brand collaborations and partnerships to ensure they align with your goals.
Reaching Out to Influencers
When it comes to reaching out to potential influencers, a well-crafted and personalized message can be the key to catching their attention. It’s important to set a good first impression. Communicating with influencers should be no different than how you’d communicate with a friend or a colleague. Begin your message by addressing the influencer by their name for personalization and point out aspects of their content that stood out to you and resonates with your brand. You can outline upfront what you can offer the influencer - whether that’s in the form of monetary compensation, affiliate commissions, or other valuable incentives. Be transparent about specific regulations and legal requirements for your market to ensure that the influencer complies with these rules. It’s normal for influencers to receive plenty of messages so don’t be disappointed if they don’t reply right away. If you haven’t received a response within a reasonable timeframe (typically around one to two weeks), consider sending a follow-up message. It’s important to remember that influencer outreach isn’t just about establishing a partnership but it’s also about building meaningful relationships that are mutually beneficial.
Concluding Thoughts
Influencer marketing in the iGaming industry presents both its unique challenges and opportunities. Brands that navigate their journey with clear objectives, well-defined KPIs, and strategic interactions with influencers are better equipped for success. While the constraints and regulations present in the iGaming sector can make influencer marketing more complex, it has proven to foster long-term and mutually beneficial relationships when done correctly.
