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MGF 2012: Spilt Milk Studios' Andrew Smith and Stuart Dredge hail Twitter's PR prowess for mobile devs

#mgf2012 Journalists are nice people

MGF 2012: Spilt Milk Studios' Andrew Smith and Stuart Dredge hail Twitter's PR prowess for mobile devs
As many of the interviews on PG.biz will attest, one element of mobile games development many studios overlook when they first set out is the importance of PR.

It was the job of Spilt Milk Studios' MD Andrew John Smith and mobile games and tech journalist Stuart Dredge – formally of PG.biz, no less – to explain the dos and don'ts of modern-day games promotion, and one word stood out more than any other: Twitter.

Friend request

Not just in the context of promoting your game, but rather, engaging the journalists who can serve up regular coverage.

For Smith, his Twitter assault started early.

"I'm a great user of Twitter, and that's where I started engaging with journalists," said Smith, stressing the important of engaging writers before your game is on the digital shelves.

"I started talking about it before it was ready to be shown, and that brought around some interest. I didn't have a plan – I kinda stalked games journalists on Twitter, but I didn't thrust my game into them. I would get to know them first and then bring up the game when it seemed applicable."

It's an account that, speaking from the other side of the relationship, Dredge supported.

Tweet treat

"On Twitter, all these journalists are hanging out because they can't face their inboxes, so they're talking to developers on there," he offered.

The key, he added, was going the personal route, rather than attempting to cosy up to the websites or magazines themselves.

"You shouldn't target publications, you should target people," he added. "If you can get to those people, other people will write about it based on that."

Smith suggested it's the personal nature of the mobile games industry that results in a generally favourable response from most writers.

"Journalists are genuinely nice people," said Smith.

"If you're going to get anywhere, you've got to have a good reputation, so they're going to be at least professional. It's a small industry so everybody kind of knows everyone, so the arseholes are filtered out.

"If you engage guys who are looking for interesting stories that their rivals haven't found yet, why wouldn't you aim your game at them? These people are especially busy, so it's not rude to contact them more than once."

A matter of mind

Don't expect an article or two to suddenly drive sales, however.

Smith said press coverage is more about getting your name out there and putting your games in people's minds rather than looking for a direct sales boost.

"I was kind of expecting the big sites to drive big spikes in sales, but I didn't see it," Smith concluded.

"I suppose cumulatively it has an effect, but the only time we saw a spike was when Kotaku did a story – but that tied in with an update. You always get a spike with an update."

Indeed, despite admitting to receiving "20 or 30 press releases a day", Dredge advised developers not to see the press as a kingmaker.

"Journalism is a way to recommend apps, but it's not the only one," he said.

"There are recommendations from friends. There are apps that recommend apps, and apps that recommend apps that recommend apps. Journalists are just one of many options."

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.