See How Community Drives Mobile Gamers to Play and Pay

Facebook Business

March 14, 2019

To better understand just how influential community can be on people’s mobile gaming experiences, Facebook IQ surveyed nearly 9,300 mobile gamers in 9 markets. A significant number of those surveyed told us their primary reason for playing mobile games is to play with people they know. We call them community gamers. Our analysis of community gamers compared with other mobile gamers—people who said they play mobile games primarily for other reasons, such as exploring new worlds—showed that community gamers are generally more engaged during their gaming experiences, are more likely to enhance their gameplay through in-game purchases and tend to report spending more time in games. “Global Mobile Gaming Consumer Journey Study” by Accenture (Facebook-commissioned study of 9,275 people ages 18+ in AU, BR, CA, FR, DE, JP, KR, UK, US), Jun–Jul 2018. In fact, community gamers are up to 3.9X more likely than other mobile gamers to spend money to buy or download a game or on an in-game purchase. “Global Mobile Gaming Consumer Journey Study” by Accenture (Facebook-commissioned study of 9,275 people ages 18+ in AU, BR, CA, FR, DE, JP, KR, UK, US), Jun–Jul 2018. This presents an opportunity for gaming marketers to leverage the importance of community to more effectively engage with your audience and drive in-game purchases.

Here are two ways you can start leveraging community to connect with players and inspire them to take action.

1. Cultivate game discovery among online friends

People often want to test out a game before they install it, particularly if they need to pay for the download or in-game enhancements. Help mobile gamers find and ultimately decide to purchase your game by encouraging them and their online friends to discover new games and compare their feedback together. Community gamers are more likely to be open to this given their high level of engagement with their network and social connections. You can use playable ads to let gamers try before they buy, and encourage them to share their experience with their friends.

2. Help foster community during gameplay, in your messaging and ads

Community is built through shared experiences and connections, so it's no surprise that community gamers value playing with their friends and enjoy sharing their gaming experiences online, through posting on Facebook and Instagram. You can help foster this community building by adding features to your game that allow gamers to communicate as they're playing and you can draw players to your game by including this community element in your messaging and advertising.

Check out the full report from Facebook IQ for more insights on how community influences mobile gamers.

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Strategy