How to make an IPhone Game go viral?

by sjean

Posted: 13 years ago 16 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Does anyone have any ideas on how to make a IPhone game go viral? I have a friend that has been developing a IPhone game for the last two years. This game has just been released. I am an advanced marketer so I know the usual avenues like YouTube, Facebook fanpages, Press Releases, Forum postings etc. I don't know how much you can do with a .99 cent game. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

#game #iphone #make #viral

Jeff Lenney 13 years ago

Needs to be a good game. :-). It's not going to take off if it sucks, simply put.
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Will Leighton 13 years ago

If its good and addictive, it'll take care of itself. Angry birds didnt go viral because it was marketed well, it went viral because people loved it and spread the word themselves.
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Dan Allard

13 years ago

From my experience it's very difficult to do! I do consulting for an iPhone game development company based in Australia.

We focus on the usual avenues you mentioned...YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, press releases, article writing, contests, appearances on gaming podcasts, etc.

There are also ad networks, you need to put the code into your game coding. Some of them work like an ad-trading system (you show ads in your game for game X, game X shows ads for your game). No one likes ads though- so this one's a tough call.

Other than that i don't know, if anyone has ideas I'd also love to hear them. In this market you really have to get creative.

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Chazbo

13 years ago

If its good and addictive, it'll take care of itself. Angry birds didnt go viral because it was marketed well, it went viral because people loved it and spread the word themselves.

This is true, What made angry birds take off was the simple fact that it is a great game.

If you are trying to force something to go viral you will probably want to focus towards a viral advert video, videos appeal to a wide audience If they are made well and plus sharing videos is so easy!

If you do make a virual video try and get some user interaction check out youtube.com/watch?v=tbEei0I3kMQ for an idea about the kind of video interaction I'm talking about.

The video probably doesn't have to be even connected as long as its grabbing and you simply include a 'take action' phrase at the end with some branding it will help expose your iPhone game

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omk 13 years ago

I think one way to make an iphone game go viral is that it has to be good! Most people forget that a game has to be fun, unique and entertaining in order for it to start building the buzz that it needs. You can hype up a game all day and night, if it sucks, it will never go viral.
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kingprince999 13 years ago

if the product is good it spreads like fire thats a given
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standout 13 years ago

The obvious answer is that the quality of the game is the key to success. But let us ignore that for a moment and look at other ways to make a game take off virally.

High score posting to Facebook, Google+ and/or Twitter probably is a good way of increasing attention of your game. Games like Bejeweled and Doodle Jump did great marketing only by posting high scores to your Facebook wall, possible mentioning the Friend you just passed in the high score ranking.

Maybe you could look at direct challenges via social networks? I mean something like "Your friend Steve has challenged you in Egg Plant Squashers 2. Do you think you can beat him?"

Viral Marketing is tough as you know, but every time you succeed with it you know it was worth the hard work. Somehow you have to get the first users interested enough so they tell their friends without feeling spammy.

Good Luck!
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Jesus Perez 13 years ago

Put a $4.99 price on it for 1 month. Then, make it free and submit it to one of the Free App a Day giveaway sites. Make sure the app asks for reviews in game a few times.
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Vlad Romanov 13 years ago

I used to actually write for my iphone game blog which is now converted to an autoblog and I always received emails from developers to review their game. Perhaps that is what you need to do... Get it reviewed by popular blogs and it will take itself from there if it is a good game. Be prepared with game codes.
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tmoby 13 years ago

Add some sweet zombie killing action to it!
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- Canuckystan 13 years ago
  
  That's lightning in a bottle that everyone would like to know. There is no way to "make" anything go viral. Make an awesome unique game that connects with people.
  
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  sjean 13 years ago
  
  Excellent responses by everyone. Thanks for much for the input. I wasn't sure if I would get any responses. It goes to show we have great members on this forum. It's a unique topic that I wasn't familiar with in my Internet Marketing journey. I think the consensus states that if the game is good it will go viral. There was a couple good ideas like posting high scores for people to beat. If you check out Mouse Bros in Youtube you can see the game preview. I am not familiar or play any mobile games so I am not sure how it matches up with anything else. They want me to get involved from an Internet Marketing perspective but I am not sure their is much I can do for a $.99 game. Maybe purchase some likes from Fiverr to get their Fanpage seen. Also, make sure he has Like, Tweet and Google+1 buttons on his blog or website. I am not sure if he has a good YouTube channel. I doubt he has any good PR or backlinking to any promotional videos as of yet. With a low cost there really isn't any advertising funds to promote the game. Let's cross our fingers and see if things go viral.
  
  PS. tmoby, unfortunately there are no mouse zombies in this game
  
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xxxJamesxxx

13 years ago

I was considering making a Iphone app but something tells me it's not as easy as I've been made out to believe (I'm referring to the marketing side of it - not making it)

James

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grover69

13 years ago

Originally Posted by xxxJamesxxx

I was considering making a Iphone app but something tells me it's not as easy as I've been made out to believe (I'm referring to the marketing side of it - not making it)

James

It isn't. I was toying around with the idea as well, but I hang out at another forum where a few guys create iPhone apps/games. They say it is quite hard to rise above the noise (the amount of apps already out there). Sure, if your app/game goes big, it is amazing. But it isn't as easy as making another crappy app and striking it rich once Apple approves it.

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Aclizzy 13 years ago

Hi there, I would suggest that you dedicate time into the quality of the game as that alone will enable your game to go viral. People need to want to tell it to their friends through the word of mouth and no amount of marketing will work if that one factor isn't in place.
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Mary Wilhite 13 years ago

If the game is good, then all is well.
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How to make an IPhone Game go viral?

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