Introduction: I saw the end, there were another billion small details.
mentioned the first stop for domestic mobile games to go overseas. The Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets are the first to be hit, while the Taiwan market is the most representative one. According to the report of App Annie, mobile games contributed 85% of Taiwan's overall mobile market in 2020, and paid players ranked third in the world in revenue, and overall mobile game revenue ranked seventh in the global mobile game market.
has long been inclusive of game culture from home and abroad. The Taiwan mobile game market is extremely inclusive and has high player stickiness. The marketing forms of games are also becoming more diverse. Although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have the same roots and origins, overseas promotion in such a market still faces many uncertain factors, and the most significant difference is social marketing.
"social marketing" in the mainland market is in full swing. Understanding the differences in the Taiwan market can improve the compatibility of domestic games in different regions. As one of the social communication case study series of DataEye Research Institute, this article will also be referenced and explored from the perspectives of in the Taiwan market such as player culture, mainstream social communication channels and marketing methods of .
01 Overview of Taiwan mobile game market: high Internet penetration rate, nearly half of female players, large player base
The importance of social communication to the Taiwan mobile game market is determined to a certain extent by the characteristics of the Taiwan mobile game market.
According to statistics from App Annie for the Taiwan market in 2020, Taiwan's network penetration rate reached 86%, and the smartphone penetration rate was as high as 97%. The continuous evolution of Internet devices has created basic conditions for the rise of more social media platforms. With the rise of different generations of players, the habit of players to spread and promote on social media has gradually developed, which also provides more opportunities for social communication for the Taiwan mobile game market.
Taiwan mobile game market overview data source App Annie Picture source Flying birds are not stable "2021 Taiwan Game Industry Analysis and Marketing Insight Report"
As of 2020, Taiwan has more than 1.4 million mobile game players, of which the proportion of female players in the Taiwan market is gradually increasing. Among these 1.4 million players, 49% are women, and female players over 35 years old have more than 55%. This is very different from the female player market in the mainland, and women naturally have more social needs. The larger the base of female players in , the richer the angles that mobile games need to measure in social communication.
From the top 20 mobile game revenue list in Taiwan in Q1 2021 released by Sensor Tower, IP games have performed the best in Taiwan. In addition, combined with relevant research institutions in Taiwan, MMORPG games have always occupied an important position in the Taiwan mobile game market. The world's popular MOBA mobile games also have a wide audience in Taiwan. In addition, locally produced chess and card casual games, the access space for the Taiwan mobile game market is actually very limited. The representative work of the top category of
is always strong. Newly entered the market often needs to face great challenges in promotion. On the other hand, for long-term mobile game products that already have advantages, continuous operation is also a major issue that they need to consider. Therefore, whether is a high-quality product that is fiercely confronting in the market or a new game product that is emerging, it needs to strengthen cohesion in the player community through strong word-of-mouth operations and social communication promotion, and better improve long-term retention.
is based on a comprehensive consideration from a market perspective. Among the many marketing methods, social marketing is very effective in Taiwan and responds in a timely manner. It is also the way to get close to players. Various manufacturers of have emerged in this field.
02 Two key points of social marketing in Taiwan: social media communication and social reputation
Referring to some analysis of game practitioners in Taiwan, we found that Taiwan game distribution and promotion are usually divided into four stages: closed test (2-3 months before online), key warm-up (Taiwan is called "pre-login", usually 4-6 weeks before online), appointment download (one week or day before online), and official .
*The pre-login period for some games may include warm-up and appointment downloads, as the Taiwan server version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" explored below.
According to data from Taiwan's mobile game research institutions, the download volume of a new game in Taiwan often forms a "concentrated" trend in the first month. If it can reach downloads of more than or equal to 300,000 times in the first month, it will have the opportunity to be among the "successful games". Therefore, social marketing combined with game promotion usually gradually revolves around this process from the warm-up stage.
(1) Pay attention to social media communication during the warm-up period. Facebook and Instagram are usually the main social media platforms for mobile game promotion.
Take the "Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" that contributed US$17.8 million in revenue in Taiwan and other , which has been issued in more than half a year, as an example. On November 30, 2020, "Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" announced the "Pre-login" notice of the Taiwan server on its official FB homepage.
As a classic IP, the Three Kingdoms itself has a very high acceptance in Taiwan. With the popularity of the IP, before it was launched, the Three Kingdoms Strategy Edition also consolidated the early popularity of the game by placing effect advertisements online, finding local KOLs or celebrity spokespersons for trial play and promotion, and creating TV advertisements.
According to the DataEye-ADX platform data, the Taiwan server version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" has been launched online advertising since November 30. The main media channel is Facebook. The overall delivery scale during the warm-up period is not large, with an average of more than 110 groups per day, but there are not many supporting warm-up activities.
On December 12, 2020, the official held an exclusive event on the website of Taiwan’s most popular player community, "Bahamut", with local professional e-sports champion Toyz fighting against Taiwan’s well-known Youtuber Gu Amo, and selected KOL, which is closest to the popular trend of Taiwanese players, to hold a preheating event, which also made more local players notice this new IP work that "entered" Taiwan’s treasure land.
cooperates with the event, and the official also organized an interview video mainly with two main characters of the battle, and simultaneously launched the "Gu Amo Takes You to Play the Three Kingdoms" event to attract more players to participate in game reservations online.
was about a week before it was launched, and the official held a "spoke bet" to build momentum for the official public beta on January 8. It announced the back of a mysterious spokesperson through Facebook and put forward the slogan "seeking courage and seeking brothers".
On the last day of 2020 and on the day of its launch, the poster and endorsement image of Jeremy Lin once again established a social media image relationship with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition".
We can see that during the "pre-login" period, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" fully utilized matching popular KOLs and celebrity spokespersons to expand the spread of appointments and sprint for the downloads on the day of launch. According to Qimai data statistics, on the day of launch, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" did successfully top the free ios game list.
In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition", due to the game type and IP style, the operation on Facebook is more detailed and unique, but for some niche styles or female-oriented games, the relevant videos will also receive better results during the warm-up period.
(2) Maintains social reputation after it goes online, and social media such as YouTube and Line are the main long-term gathering platforms.
According to the DataEye-ADX platform, in the form of effect advertising delivery in Taiwan, the delivery of video materials has increased year by year. According to the data from KANTAR Insights of Taiwan's professional research agency KANTAR, the media platform most commonly used by 94% of users in Taiwan is YouTube. Therefore, after the game is launched, it is necessary to have more lasting vitality in social communication, and to produce and place promotional videos on YouTube, it has significant brand benefits. How can
better display the brand image represented by the game on YouTube and expand the influence of social communication? We still take "The Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition" as an example.After the
game was launched, it was the Chinese Spring Festival node. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" released a "New Year's Brand Film" on YouTube and put the title of "YouTube Premiere". This brand film has also caused heated discussion among Taiwanese players. Not only has the number of viewers exceeded 230,000 times, players also sighed: "This company's marketing level is too strong" and "a film company that has been misled by the game."
while the iron is hot. The operation team of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" also launched an event to record game strategies on YouTube, inviting many players to upload their own game strategy videos on YouTube, and contribute and select them with prizes. Many local KOLs and grassroots players also joined the video upload queue, expanding the influence of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" in Taiwan. Judging from the feedback on YouTube, players are more excited and positive about this series of activities. These brands' social communication activities not only strengthen the connection between the game and local players, but also create an atmosphere of "playing "Romance of the Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" is a trend". It also has a wider communication significance for local young players chasing freshness.
In addition to operating the image of a game in videos, a new game that has entered the Taiwan market must also operate social media well, such as the commonly used instant messaging and sharing platform LIne. In Taiwan, 88% of the people prefer to use Line for social contact, but overall, similar to WeChat, QQ, etc., LINE's penetration rate in Taiwan can almost reach 100%, and its own community function has also become a base for gathering player cohesion and loyalty.
"Three Kingdoms·Strategic Edition" Line social group
According to the Taiwan research agency KANTAR Insight Data, among the information sources of Taiwanese players, the top ones include family or friends recommendations, social media (FB or IG), TV advertising, audio and video websites (YouTube), game official websites, etc. Among these channels, the average download willingness can reach nearly 17%, while the word-of-mouth social communication recommended by relatives and friends can affect 40% of players . For game manufacturers with conditions, operating similar community experiences such as Line can bring longer-term advantages to the long-term operation of the game.
03 Case reference: Only by operating a community and improving the quality of social media communication can we expand the natural traffic pool
For most mobile game manufacturers in mainland China to go overseas, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, represented by the Taiwan market, are the first stop. In recent years, some manufacturers have also improved the game quality by testing in Taiwan first and then turning back to the mainland distribution model. These all represent that Taiwan market has very test-standing player quality and taste in the overall game market. Studying the Taiwan market can also help us open up the pattern of thinking about game marketing.
combined with cases and related data, we see that compared with the mainland, if you want to manage social communication capabilities in Taiwan, there are two main focus points in marketing methods: social media communication and social reputation .
In the mainland, the form of social media has relatively different characteristics. Judging from the "coming" of mainland game manufacturers in the first half of the year, the layout on social media has entered a relatively stable stage and is often new. However, in terms of operating a community, the mainland has not seen too many effective cases. Compared with the Taiwan market, there is still a lot of room for exploration.
After all, improving the ability of social marketing is essentially to seize more natural traffic in the increasingly difficult traffic market and expand its own natural traffic pool. can reasonably learn from social marketing in the Taiwan market, and can also develop ideas for social marketing in the mainland, allowing more and more game promotions to "go a step further".
Appendix: Guide to the main social media strategy of the Taiwan market
