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TikTok Shares New Insights into How Gaming Marketers Can Connect with Audiences in the App

TikTok has published a new overview of key gaming content trends and behaviors in the app, and how marketers can tap into the conversation as a means to boost their messaging among its rapidly expanding audience.
As explained by TikTok:
“Gamers from around the world flock to TikTok to create and enjoy gaming content. In fact, more than half of TikTok users watch gaming-related short video content daily. The immersive, full-screen, sound-on short video format lends itself perfectly to sharing gameplay clips, walkthroughs and tutorials, cosplay and other forms of game fandom.”
More than half – that’s a lot of gaming-related engagement in the app. Expanding on this, TikTok also notes that those within its gaming audience follow around 12 business accounts, on average.
In order to tap into this, TikTok advises that brands should look to create an organic persona for their business that aligns with these trends, while also connecting to their own traits and values.
“Think about the elements of your game that align authentically with TikTok’s culture, and then build upon some of those key components to establish a brand personality that stays consistent across your TikTok content.”
TikTok says that brands then need to consider their content approach from this perspective, incorporating in-game footage, company assets, and more, and reforming them into TikTok trends.
“TikTok is all about shared inspiration. Take a look at the For You page, see what’s working from other videos, and think how you could apply elements to your own content. You can also use the Trend Intelligence tools in our Creative Center to find trending hashtags, creators, sounds, and more. Consider mixing different types of elements: play with sounds, effects, text overlays and tools to fine-tune your storytelling.”
TikTok also says that behind-the-scenes insights can work well within short-form clips, along with promotions for in-game elements.
Game developers also need to develop a long-term plan of attack, which covers all the various elements in a comprehensive strategy.

These are some valuable notes, which largely apply beyond the gaming realm alone, and it’s worth considering how these tips fit with your TikTok strategy, and how you too can lean into similar gaming-related trends.
Gaming is arguably the key driver of modern pop culture, with the majority of the most popular online identities now having at least some linkage back to the gaming community.
That’s been further solidified in recent years, with the pandemic making game platforms an even more social, connective space, and that enhanced, expanded usage of in-game environments is really the framework of the evolving metaverse push.
As more youngsters spend more time in these digital environments, that establishes more habitual, embedded habits, which will eventually inform how they look to connect in all capacities, professional and recreational, in the next stage.
With this in mind, it’s worth considering the connective value of gaming, for all brands, and whether there may be a way into the broader gaming discussion for your products.
There won’t always be a fit, but as these stats from TikTok show, for those that can find a way in, there are big opportunities in tapping into the ever-expanding gaming conversation.
You can read TikTok’s full ‘Content for Gaming Marketers’ guide here.
SOCIAL
4 new social media features you need to know about this week

Social media never stands still. Every week there are new features — and it’s hard for the busy comms pro to stay up-to-date on it all.
We’ve got you covered.
Here’s what you need to know about this week.
Social media sleuth Matt Navarra reported on Twitter that LinkedIn will soon make the newsletters you subscribe to through the site visible to other users.
LinkedIn will make your newsletter subscriptions visible to others from February 11, 2023. pic.twitter.com/iMK2C3TLPE
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 23, 2023
This should aid newsletter discovery by adding in an element of social proof: if it’s good enough for this person I like and respect, it’s good enough for me. It also might be anopportunity to get your toe in the water with LinkedIn’s newsletter features.
After admitting they went a little crazy on Reels and ignored their bread and butter of photographs, Instagram continues to refine its platform and algorithm. Although there were big changes over the last few weeks, these newer changes are subtler but still significant.
First, the animated avatars will be more prominent on profiles. Users can now choose to flip between the cartoony, waving avatar and their more traditional profile picture, rather than picking one or the other, TechCrunch reported, seemingly part of a push to incorporate metaverse-esque elements into the app.
Instagram also appears to have added an option to include a lead form on business profiles. We say “appears” because, as Social Media Today reports, the feature is not yet listed as an official feature, though it has rolled out broadly.
The feature will allow businesses to use standard forms or customize their own, including multiple choice questions or short answer.
In the chaotic world of Twitter updates, this week is fairly staid — with a useful feature for advertisers.
Millions of people on Twitter search for what’s happening every day.
Now advertisers can bid to insert Promoted Tweets solely among specific search results, reaching people with high real-time intent & improving ad relevance.
— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) January 25, 2023
The platform will roll out the ability to promote tweets among search results. As Twitter’s announcement points out, someone actively searching for a term could signal stronger intent than someone merely passively scrolling a feed.
Which of these new features are you most interested in? That LinkedIn newsletter tool could be great for spreading the word — and for discovering new reads.
Allison Carter is executive editor of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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SOCIAL
Twitter Tests Expanded Emoji Reaction Options in DMs

Twitter’s looking to give users a broader set of emoji reactions for their DMs, while also, potentially, enabling personalization of your quick reactions display in the app.
As you can see in these mock-ups, shared by Twitter designer Andrea Conway, Twitter’s testing a new search option within the reaction pop-up in DMs which would enable you to use any other emoji as a reaction to a message.
An extension of this would also be the capacity to update the reactions that are immediately displayed to whatever you choose.

It’s not a game-changer by any means, but it could provide more ways to interact via DMs, and with more interactions switching to messaging, and more private exchanges, it could be a way for Twitter to better lean into this trend, and facilitate a broader array of response options in-stream.
Twitter’s working on a range of updates as it looks to drive more engagement and usage, including tweet view counts, updated Bookmarks, a new ‘For You’ algorithm, and more. Elon Musk has said that he can envision Twitter reaching a billion users per month by next year, but for that to happen, the platform needs to update its systems to show people more of what they like, and keep them coming back – which is what all of these smaller updates, ideally, build to in a broader approach.
But that’s a pretty steep hill to climb.
Last week, Twitter reported that it’s now up to 253 million daily active users, an increase on the 238 million that it reported in July last year. Daily and monthly active usage is not directly comparable, of course, but when Twitter was reporting monthly actives, its peak was around 330 million, back in 2019.

As noted in the chart, Twitter switched from reporting monthly active users to daily actives in 2019, but looking at the two measurements, it’s hard to imagine that Twitter’s monthly active usage is any more than 100m over its current DAU stats.
That means that Twitter has likely never reached more than 350 million active users – yet Musk believes that he can best that by close to 200% in a matter of months.
Seems unlikely – even at current growth rates since Musk took over at the app, Twitter would only be looking at around 500 million users, optimistically, by the end of 2024.
If it can maintain that. More recent insight from Twitter has suggested that user activity has declined since those early post-Musk purchase highs – but maybe, through a range of updates and tweaks, there could be a way for Musk and Co. to maximize usage growth, beyond what seems possible, based on the stats.
We’ll find out, and as it pushes for that next level, you can expect to see more updates and tweaks like this, with enhanced engagement in mind.
SOCIAL
Tarte Influencer Marketing Criticized 01/31/2023

With consumers obsessed over the price of a dozen eggs, could conspicuous consumption-driven influencer marketing falling out of favor? That is the question brands might be considering after the
backlash that cosmetics brand Tarte is receiving after a sponsored trip to Dubai. “Influencers were called out for appearing not …
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