Two years is a lifetime in social media marketing. Tweets are constantly being sent out, Facebook statuses rarely remain static, and even Google has decided that the future of search is going to be in real-time. As the cliché goes, “if you’re not moving forward, you’re getting left behind.” At no point in time has this been more true.
By and large, the gaming industry plays by these same rules. Titles released as recently as a month ago are quickly tossed aside in for the latest flavor of the week without as much as a second thought. This is a world where the target demographic speaks in a language that is generally unintelligible to anyone who is either A. over thirty years of age, B. has an IQ of over 73, or C. still has any hope for the future of humanity. As a company, you pretty much consider your product a wild success if you manage to keep people talking about it for over a week.
So, how is it that in this type of climate, Valve Software has managed to maintain an interest in Team Fortress 2 despite the fact that the game is over two years old? As with anything else, the quality of the product is obviously important. Among gamers, Valve is one of only a select handful of companies who are immediately associated with quality content. In an industry filled to the brim with cut-throat reviewers and a merciless audience, that sort of brand reception is invaluable. But even then, there are clear limits on what it can do for you.
What sets Team Fortress 2, and Valve, apart is the way they’ve continuously used social media marketing to engage their fans and customers. Through both the game’s official blog and forums, the members of Valve’s development team have maintained a constant dialogue with members of the Team Fortress 2 community. It’s no small accident that seeing the team proactively solicit comments, suggestions, and even criticism that eventually makes its way to the game has allowed the company to generate a degree of loyalty from its customers to both itself and its product.
Additionally, Valve constantly employs some tried and true social media marketing tactics which result in surges of sales. Much in the same way that companies are often encouraged to use platforms like Twitter to offer discounts to customers, Valve often uses their game client to announce surprise discounts and limited availability in-game items, which has the effect of keeping customers engaged as they’re constantly on the lookout for these updates.
By doing this, Valve is actively using social media to show its customers that the community matters as much as the content of their game. The community in turn, has responded by actively supporting the company through continued purchases of the game and spreading positive word of mouth which keeps sales at a consistently high level.
Accordingly, in the face of an industry obsessed with the latest game du jour, Valve has managed to create both a revered company identity and a product that has lived far beyond its expected lifetime.
Written by Kenny K.