“HOME RUN!” This brand’s digital marketing strategy just HIT the right spots and helped expand its online reach! [Thursdays: FYO!]
PlayStation is one of the most famous video game brands in the world.
Produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, this brand consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, one media center, and a smartphone. All of PlayStation’s iterations of the consoles sold at least 80 million units!
But!
Despite being favored in the gaming industry, Sony still experiences struggles in maintaining the hype of its new PlayStation games long after their launches.
That’s why in 2013, the company decided to go above and beyond to make sure one of its games remains a fan favorite…
“MLB: The Show” is a Major League Baseball video game series that simulates a typical baseball game with the player controlling an entire team or a select character.
It is one of Sony’s most popular video games for the PlayStation consoles. The game has sold over 22 million copies since its launch in 1997!
Each release of the “MLB: The Show” game was met with massive buzz and high sales. However, the hype only lasted for a week and didn’t pick back up until a new title in the series was announced.
So, when Sony and PlayStation released the 8th edition of the MLB series―MLB 13: The Show―they did something new to raise awareness and boost the online presence of the new game.
What was that?
Taking over OPENING DAY and rallying a SECOND WAVE of excitement on social media to reach a broader fanbase online!
[Opening Day: This pertains to the day when professional baseball leagues begin their regular season.]
Sony and PlayStation enlisted the services of digital marketing agency AMP Agency to execute this social media marketing strategy.
Before we dive deep into the details of Sony and PlayStation’s campaign, let’s first talk about social media marketing.
Social media marketing is the use of different social media platforms to promote a brand’s products or services. Using these platforms helps businesses interact with their existing customers and reach more prospects.
According to Adam Hayes from financial website Investopedia, the major strategy involved in social media marketing is the development of content and messages that users will share with their family, friends, and co-workers.
Two of the benefits of this marketing strategy are:
- It increases a brand’s online reach. Social media marketing also encourages consumers to create and share their own content such as product reviews, comments, or testimonials.
- It helps business owners and marketers customize and tailor their brands’ messages. Many social media platforms provide detailed geographical, demographic, and personal information of users, enabling brands and businesses to create messages that resonate with their target market online.
So how did Sony and PlayStation use this strategy in the online promotional campaign for “MLB 13: The Show” game?
Here’s how the online marketing strategy played out:
In the preceding weeks leading up to Opening Day, Sony and AMP Agency released statistical projections for the upcoming Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons using the game’s advanced simulation engines. This was done on Facebook and fueled stat junkies to write blogs and commentaries about the upcoming baseball season on the social media platform.
Furthermore, Sony and AMP agency capitalized on fans’ optimism by creating epic highlights using the game’s ultra-realistic graphics engine. The fans shared these highlights on Facebook and Twitter in the days leading up to Opening Day.
On the actual Opening Day, a massive online event was created. Creatives, producers, and community managers teamed up for an ALL OUT SLUGFEST at the PlayStation headquarters.
This provided fans with up-to-date content via Facebook.
What’s more?
Fans of winning baseball teams got a little bonus: Videos of their teams’ celebrations to share on social media! This led to:
- An increase in Sony and PlayStation’s Facebook engagement by 987%.
- 19.7 million total reach across Facebook and Twitter.
- 4.7 million digital baseball card editorial impressions.
Additionally, 3.4% of all Opening Day conversations online were tied to the “MLB: The Show” game. These results showed that Sony and PlayStation succeeded in raising awareness about the newly released game and boosting the game’s online presence.
Sony and PlayStation’s recipe for online marketing success included three ingredients: The game, social media platforms, and audience.
With the help of AMP Agency, the video game company used the game it promoted as marketing content for a big, real-life event. Sony and PlayStation also used the most viral platforms at the time―Facebook and Twitter―to deliver something that has never been done before.
Lastly, all these online marketing tactics were done based on video game and baseball fans’ personalities and behaviors.
The results?
Hype and excitement for MLB 2013’s Opening Day AND the release of the “MLB 13: The Show” game, which led to numerous conversations online!
Like Sony and PlayStation, you may also take advantage of a real-life event that is relevant to your brand and incorporate the power of social media to connect with your target market.
Think about this: In today’s interconnected business landscape, anything is possible… and there are lots of online marketing tactics you can use to effectively promote your brand!
As long as you use your resources properly and execute your strategies accordingly, you’ll come up with new and FUN stuff that will not only create hype about your offerings but also help your target market easily FIND YOU online.
We hope this strategy by Sony and PlayStation helped you generate awesome ideas for your future online marketing efforts!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Thursdays: FYO! Find You Optimization”
Why should you stop thinking SEO and start thinking FYO?
We’re not saying that you should abandon Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Don’t get us wrong, of course, we know this is something very important, especially in today’s digital marketing age.
The internet landscape is vast, and a world of its own. You really need to distinguish yourself and make your brand/company/website known and easily searchable.
Better yet, get to the top of page one for Top Results on Google or any other search engine.
However, what is the purpose of SEO? It’s that customers Find You!
That’s what matters. So, while SEO is one factor of FYO… it really is only one, and we ought not to abandon all the myriad of ways digitally and offline for improving your FYO.
How can we look at this from a different and better perspective?
Let’s say you have it in the bag! You and your team are experts in SEO. Awesome. But did you ever wonder what else you could do to push it further and give your SEO skills a boost?
FYO! Find You Optimization!
You need your target audience to FIND YOU—your brand, product, service, or offer. This is SEO plus other tools that increase visibility online (and offline).
Every Thursday, we publish content on how you can get your target market to find you, beyond the typical “type and search.” There are other things you can do along with your SEO to give your online advertising process a boost.
Try considering other tactics beyond it—WOMO (Word Of Mouth Optimization), RO (Referral Optimization), and “All-Other-Means-Of-Getting-Your-Target-Market-To-Find-You” Optimization (AOMOGYTMTFY, if you’d like a long acronym).
Part of a great marketing strategy is knowing how to adapt new methods and make use of different types of marketing and promotion that best fit your business goals and which give you the results you want.
Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Thursday’s FYO!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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