Published on January 20th, 2023
Marketing efforts with influencers can be surprisingly effective. Especially in the last five years, advertising agencies have been using social media with increasing frequency, and people have an “influencing” effect on this platform.
This applies to all industries: even promotions on https://verdecasino.com/en/bonuses can reach more people through an influencer. But would this option really be the right choice for the casino industry? How does the iGaming sector benefit from influencer marketing? We will answer these questions below.
What Is An Influencer?
Let’s define the basic terms first because most people don’t know the difference between an “influencer” and a “phenomenon.” Social media phenomena are much more common: they also have the power of interaction on social media, but their influence is due to the production of dramatic content. For example, doing weird challenges, designing practical pranks, or streaming in a “plastic pool”. Although the phenomena are more well-known, they do not create an effect that encourages people to buy or use something.
Influencers, on the other hand, are people who have expertise in a particular subject. The people who follow them know that they have vast knowledge in a certain field, and they try to benefit from this knowledge.
The simplest example of this is content created by professional gamers: they are better than other players in a particular game and are followed for that reason. In this context, influencers’ comments about a product or service can make people buy (or stay away from) it.
There is no consensus on the number of followers required to be considered an influencer, but it is generally accepted that at least 10,000 followers are required. Influencers with 1,000,000 or more followers are invaluable to advertising agencies, as even a single positive comment can mean close to a million new customers.
How Is Influencer Marketing Done?
Regardless of the industry, influencer marketing is pretty much always done the same way. To summarize very simply:
- The advertising agency signs a contract with the influencer.
- Influencer conveys the message of the brand on their social media accounts (Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, etc.) to their followers.
- While this message can only consist of text or images, the influencer can also direct followers to a certain site.
The Difference Between The Casino Industry
These rules apply to the casino industry as well. However, due to the nature of this industry, there are some differences. For example:
- Influencer usually directs their followers to the casino through a referral link. This is done to take advantage of casinos’ refer-a-friend campaigns: every new customer who registers and deposits with that link ensures that the influencer makes money.
- Influencers can do marketing for multiple casinos at the same time. This is unique to the casino industry. For example, when promoting a cosmetic product, its competitors are not included: only that product is mentioned. However, when it comes to casino sites, influencers can share referral links for 5-6 different casinos at the same time.
If the influencer has a really large number of followers, casinos can also make some kind of “exclusivity” deal, but this is very rare. It is not used much, except for those with “superstar” status among gamblers, such as WSOP (World Series of Poker) champions.
How Effective Is It?
We can say that influencer marketing is very effective for the casino industry, like many other industries. Brand loyalty at iGaming can be surprisingly low, and almost every player is ready to join a new casino site to at least take advantage of the welcome bonuses.
If they get a recommendation on which site to go for, and that advice is given by someone they trust, their decision will be much easier.
iGaming’s use of videos and visual elements for influencer marketing also makes advertising campaigns more effective. For example, almost all the gambling streams on a platform like Twitch are sponsored by a casino, and the streamer plays on that casino’s site.
In other words, the followers can foresee exactly what they will get. There is no such advantage for food, cosmetics, or even tech products – trusting what the influencer says is the only option. But in iGaming, you can see the promoted product in real-time.
That being said, how effective influencer marketing will actually depend, of course, on whether it is planned correctly. For this marketing technique to be successful:
- The influencer must be the right person to promote the brand.
- Influencer’s expertise should be appropriate to the brand and relevant industry.
- Influencer’s number of followers, previous business partners, and reputation outside of their platform should be taken into account.
If the right choices are made, the casino industry can become one of the industries where this marketing technique is most successful.
Image Source: unsplash.com
