Video Games Why Branded Facebook Games Arent Right For Every Business

,Website Promotion Branded Facebook games can sound like a marketing dream come true. They harness the massive existing user base of the most popular social media site and can be designed to use built in social channels to encourage automatic viral spread. But are they really right for your business?

Are Branded Games Right For Your Business at All?

Using branded games for marketing is really gaining some momentum. Forward thinking marketers are really starting to see the potential to promote brands, products and services in a genuinely new and engaging way. The problem is, they rarely stop to think about target audience. Video games have mass market appeal, so are only really good for promoting mass market products. If you want to promote a tight niche market product, it's probably best to look elsewhere. All you're likely to end up with is people playing your game who are completely outside your target market and have no interest whatsoever in what you have to offer.

Have Realistic Expectations

Unless you have a near endless budget, you're not going to create the next Farmville. These types of games have full time teams working on development and maintenance and an ongoing budget to match. With costs way above and beyond what any business would spend on this type of marketing, it's just not realistic. This is all without taking into consideration the huge technological demands of such a game.

Be Aware of Hosting Requirements

Many people seem to think Facebook games are hosted on the Facebook site. This is not the case. Facebook provide the platform, but hosting is solely the responsibility of the publisher.

Provision must be made by the developer for storage and processing of all application data, backend databases, etc. If your Facebook game really takes off, this can be a massive technological as well as financial overhead in itself. So it's absolutely imperative that hosting is in place to cope with the expected load, both in terms of processing power and data transfer for content delivery. Without this, your game will quickly break down and end up offline.

Viral Spread Should be a Bonus, Not a Necessity

This is where most branded Facebook games fail. Expecting that viral spread created by the Facebook social platform will automatically generate massive exposure from nothing is a mistake. The Facebook platform encourages passing on of your game by players to their friends, but without an initial user base, your game link can't be passed on.

The reality is, successfully launching a Facebook game isn't easy. You can't rely on the magic of viral marketing to make your game a success. Any viral spread should be treated as a bonus, not a necessity. A game should be treated as a way to increase engagement with your brand and social media presence, not a magic traffic generator. Integration with the rest of your marketing campaign to drive initial players to your game is essential.

There will always be a certain amount of viral spread, but without the players to begin with, a Facebook game will die pretty quickly.

Is Your Business Capable of Successfully Launching a Facebook Game?

Don't underestimate just how much work will be involved in successfully launching your Facebook game. Using your existing marketing and PR channels to promote the game in the first instance, along with a bit of creative thinking, is essential. Use everything at your disposal, including mailing lists, social media and press releases sent out to key media contacts in your industry.

If you're not confident of being able to drive the required number of players to the game, to make it a success, then think twice about using a Facebook game.

Still Interested?

If you haven't been put off yet and none of the above worries you, then there's a good chance that a Facebook game will work for you. If you're confident you have a reasonable budget to fulfil your needs and your business has the marketing muscle to launch the game effectively, then there's a good chance a branded Facebook game will not only meet, but exceed your expectations.

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