Gamers unite

On the surface yes, the Farmville’s, Mafia Wars, etc are just that. And consumers are loving them. More and more each day. Plus, they are bringing their friends along in huge numbers to help them grow tomatoes, whack somebody, build an alliance, etc. It’s ingenious how these social media games are built, relying on members to add friends, which in turn rewards them with several exclusive and sought after items. But this is not a game to the programmers, this is big business. And these aren’t kids playing these, with only 6% of the gamers under the age of 21. Which translates into gamers with disposable income, a sweet spot for programmers and marketers alike. This is expected to be a billion dollar industry by the year’s end, with a 100 million plus active participants. The allure is simple, it’s free to sign up and the only equipment you need is the computer you already own. No reason to go out and buy one of the expensive consoles and pay for games, especially when you are going to need that money to pay for a hit, or new farm equipment, or whatever else may come your way. A billion dollar industry based on virtual goods, this needs some attention paid to it. And by whom? Well marketers have stood up and listened and are working to actively target them through the social media marketing techniques. There are a few start-ups that are creating data mining technologies to find out who these people are and then sell them goods, tangible goods, that they want. One of the early leaders is Turiya Media, which has some excellent data gathering tools for online gamers in the social media world. They will be launching their model soon for marketers to activate and go after these consumers based on a number of different fields, like competitive vs social gamers, and so on. Are you unfamiliar with these games? If so, I recommend checking them out, sign up and play, know what potential is out there, and be actively involved so you can understand the power they hold for the future of marketing and advertising. Plus, while you are at it, you can own your kingdom like I am doing in Kingdoms of Camelot.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • HackerNews
  • Ping.fm
  • Posterous
  • Reddit
  • Suggest to Techmeme via Twitter
  • Twitter