10 examples of great social media content
We’ve given out a lot of social media advice here, but sometimes, the best way to learn how to implement proven strategies is to see them in action. With that in mind, here are 10 pieces of great social media content from game developers that provide clear illustrations of social media best practices.
People are big fans of “process” content, and especially glitch content. On Tiktok and Twitter, two of the biggest growth vectors for gaming audiences, do not shy away from showing off the process of developing – especially if you come across a particularly funny or eye-catching glitch. Especially if you’re pre-launch, people don’t expect everything to be completely polished, and showing that you’re aware of glitches before you launch gives your audience confidence that your game will launch without bugs!
This is a great example of the fact that at least on social media, profanity isn’t a no-no. Depending on your target audience, a little bit of profanity on your public-facing social accounts, especially if you’re a solo developer, can build rapport between you and your audience. This post also has the added benefit of showing off an instantly recognizable and fun game feature. Show, don’t tell.
This tweet from the Among Us account beautifully illustrates the fact that you very rarely want to actively put calls to action on your social media accounts. People respond to memes, fan art, and things that foster community – you need to start there before you try to get a followership to buy anything. This post, a simple-but-well-made remix of the well-known Yamcha meme, is a great way to do that. Making high-quality riffs on timely (or legendary) memes can work great, especially if the work is high-effort and polished (as it is here!)’
If you don’t have a Tiktok page, you need to make one right now. As long as you have assets, putting together a short video of your game – an enemy chasing you in this case – is both easy and super, super important. Tiktok allows you to show off your game in easily-digestible slices, and do so in a way that is unobtrusive and not sales-y. You’re not showing off a trailer, you’re just showing off the game. Always remember that!
This is another tweet from Landfall, and for good reason – they have cracked the Tiktok algorithm. This is a lesson in monitoring replies. Simply by reading their replies and responding to them with a very, VERY quick gameplay clip (that they likely already had on hand!) Landfall was able to rack up millions upon millions of views with very, very minimal editing. Social media is generally more about responding quickly and honestly than it is about making sure all the content you put out there looks polished and super-official. In some cases, putting out content that looks too corporate or too much like a trailer can work against you!
Looking to show off a feature of your game as a selling point? This tweet from Nintendo offers a great example of how to do it without seeming sales-y. Instead of simply saying “our game has local co-op!”, Nintendo has shown off the co-op in action in a variety of screenshots. Again, show, don’t tell! As an added bonus, Bandana Waddle Dee is incredibly cute. That always helps!
This is a great example of a company’s social media manager being keyed in in regards to the micro-memes that surround any fanbase. Specifically, in this case, there’s a long-running meme among Ace Attorney fans about a scene in the game where Phoenix Wright declares “Almost Christmas means it wasn’t Christmas!”. Although tweeting this screenshot during the holidays as they did here seems like a no brainer, doing so requires knowledge of the behaviors of the fandom. Always play to your audience! They’ll appreciate it.
When you’re celebrating a win, don’t be afraid to be personal. As a game dev, the work you do is creative. People recognize that you put your heart and soul into your work, so feel free to be honest and open. An excited post about your game’s success will be much more successful if you are open about what the success means to you personally. Show your emotion, and let people feel happy for your personal success – instead of trying to get them to feel happy for a business success.
This Tiktok post was so successful not just because the gameplay feature it shows off is legitimately stunning – but also because from start to finish, it embraces and leans into what people actually want to see on social media. The video is short, and starts off funny, punchy, and personal, with clips of the dev themself – this is a great way to establish rapport, even in a slightly parasocial way. After introducing themselves and the work they do in about 3 seconds, they transition to the musical combo system. So now, not only are you invested in the dev personally, through chuckling at the way they smash the keyboard, but you’re also primed to get invested in the dev’s project. This video takes you through the introduction-to-implied-call-to-action social funnel in a blazingly short amount of time.
Okay yes this is cheating because it’s one of mine, but there’s a great lesson here. This tweet wasn’t meticulously planned out, it wasn’t high effort (I made it with an imgflip meme template), and at the end of the day, I just posted it because I thought it was kinda funny. I didn’t expect much traction, given that Disgaea isn’t a huge mass market title, and given that the joke itself was really, really stupid. I was wrong. The tweet quickly went viral, to the point where even NIS America replied, which in turn allowed me to hop into the replies and interact with them – this in turn allowed for more brand recognition for Vicarious among fans of NIS America.
At some level, the best social media content you can make is the stuff that makes you laugh or smile, even (and especially!) if it’s off topic or ridiculous. You can’t force virality, but if you keep creating content that you’d be entertained by if you were to see it yourself, your content will find an audience of like-minded individuals.