What is Twitter?

Twitter is one of the largest and most well-known social media sites on the planet. While many brands see it as a customer-service platform, where they mostly respond to negative comments or help customers troubleshoot problems. These brands are missing out on one of the most conversational platforms on the web! But what about gaming? Well, Twitter’s gaming community is VERY active, with:

• Over 2 billion gaming-related tweets in 2020, up 75% from 2019

• 2020 saw an increase of 49% in unique authors, indicating new users are talking about gaming

• Gaming was the 6th most followed topic on Twitter in 2020

The gaming community is huge on Twitter as it’s a place where developers, fans, journalists, and more can connect and chat on all things gaming… for better or for worse. It’s a place where you can find people sharing their thoughts on the latest news, sharing their experience on a game, or just sharing their everyday life outside of gaming.

Opportunities on Twitter

Twitter can be one of the easiest platforms to dip your toes into the gaming world as there are so many avenues to interact with the gaming community. A few examples include:

• Posting about a popular or upcoming game release

  • Games are being released all the time, some that are triple AAA blockbusters made by teams from all over the world and others made by indie studios or even one person who could live in the same city or country as your brand. Chances are there’s a game that can connect to your brands, such as a city-management game, a historical strategy game, or even a game about food turned into animals.

• Engaging with gamers, developers, and other notable users

  • Gamers of all sizes are always chatting on Twitter, whether it’s fans talking about a game announcement, a developer announcing their new position, or companies sharing their latest announcements. There’s an opportunity to connect and engage with these users, which can help introduce new users to your brand and build relationships and rapport in the gaming community.

• Create content that connects your brand to gaming moments

  • This one involves more creative flex, but it can be well worth the reward. There are always hot topics in gaming, be a game release, news, or even memes about games. While this requires your team to be quick and reactive to what’s happening, you can get great engagement from a well-crafted post. Domino’s Pizza UK had a great example when they poked fun at the game Halo: Infinite, which was being discussed in the gaming world for its graphics.

Twitter can be used in a lot more ways than what was just mentioned above, as it can be a great support channel for any of the other platforms mentioned on this site. With its consistent conversation and community, and an increase of brands entering the gaming space, it’s one of the best platforms to start trying out gaming-related content.

Potential Risks

The biggest risk with Twitter is having the brand come across as disingenuous. Just like with any community, if you don’t do the research and make an effort to be a part of it, you’ll get flack and negative conversation for trying to insert your brand. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Do your homework

  • You don’t need to become a hardcore gamer overnight, but having some knowledge of what you are commenting on or posting about is key.

• Wait for the right moment

  • On social the conversation is ever-shifting; if you can’t decide whether the current trending topics are a good spot for your brand to engage with, hold off and wait for the next opportunity.

• Have fun with it

  • Gaming content can be a great moment to have fun with the brand and the content, whether it’s responding to an esports athlete’s post or sharing a Fortnite meme.