Clash of Clans Users are Their Marketing Stars

By
Matthew Yeoman
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Clash of Clans has become one of the most popular mobile games around over the last year. For this to happen, a great game is always the first need, but a lot can be done with the right mix of video marketing, social media and a killer website. The Clash of Clans team have certainly done some incredible online marketing over the last year, and you can learn from them to perfect your own strategy.
I’m going to look at one video which exemplifies their entire strategy, and then show how it connects to their website and social media. Having a good YouTube strategy is one thing, but cross-platform marketing is another.

Clash of Clans Users are Their Marketing Stars

 

1. Clash of Clans’ YouTube strategy

First off, Clash of Clans has a very wide variety of video content. Funny animated videos using their characters are the most common, and they do some great tutorials. Every now and then, however, they put together something this incredible:
 

 
Look past the great Christoph Waltz, have your laughs at James Corden and take a second to think about what’s going on here. The true star of this story isn’t the Academy Award winner, or the late night TV show host: It’s a lone Lava Pup and the gamer who set the action in motion.
What they have done is combined the popular ‘Let’s Play’ style of video with great animation and entertaining actors. Like a PewDiePie video featuring Christoph Waltz and Walt Disney. The core of it is still the gaming, showing players what’s possible …and giving them a little hope that they can catch a little fame if they play the game well.
Clash of Clans have created a number of other videos like this, some without Christoph, and they have all succeeded wildly. There are 3 reasons behind this:

  • The true stars of all these videos are their fans. It’s user-generated content at its core.
  • Fans can watch the videos and pick up tips and make their own plans. And since they saw another fan getting featured they may be more prone to share their results as well.
  • It gives their fans a place to talk about incredible events in the game. This video has over 14,000 comments. You can’t underestimate comments. They’re a big part of how The Diamond Minecart once beat PewDiePie for monthly views.

These are 3 powerful motivators for online users, and they take them even further across the rest of their online marketing strategy.

2. The Clash of Clans website is where it starts

As I was saying, this video was user-generated at its core. They had to get this footage from somewhere, and they have built the tool to harvest it: The Clash Achievery Board. This is where users can share their best moments, and the CoC team can comb through them and choose from them. They are spoiled for choice:
 
user generated marketing website
 
Each square is another story, and you can scroll down through dozens. This makes their website a huge draw for gamers wanting to hear new and interesting stories, as well as those looking for strategies for their next battle.
The CoC team have set themselves up for success on many levels here:

  • People freely share their content, which the CoC team can use to create videos or share on social media.
  • They bring people to their website again and again as they look for the latest stories from gamers just like them.
  • CoC never has to worry about their content creation ideas, and things stay fresh.
  • There are many new pieces of content going out which keeps interest in the game high as users think ‘Hey, I’ll try doing that now!’

This is just another example of how user-generated content can, and will, change your entire online marketing strategy for the better.

3. Social media is the last link in the

With all of this user-generated content floating around you can be sure that their social media is active. Not only can fans submit Tales of Clash Achievery through their website, they also do so via Twitter:
 
https://twitter.com/BeaverThirdd2r/status/685263717072789504
 
That’s the story in the upper left of the screenshot I took off the Clash Achievery board. The user used the #clashachievery hashtag so the story could be found, and found it was.
Some fans put some serious effort into being noticed, making the game all the more appealing to users who haven’t yet started playing it:
 


 
They also use their Facebook for a unique bit of user-generated content sharing. This fan art by jepoyeee was met with lots of positivity.
 
fan art example
 
‘Positivity’ as in 16,000 reactions and 460+ shares on the three image series.
Their Instagram has some user-generated content on it too:
 


 
And what did CoC have to do in all of these instances? Nothing, they just shared the content that their users made, which is their very strategy from the video, to social, to their website.

What Clash of Clans teaches about your users

I’m going to put this as plainly as possible: Your fans, followers and users are not just numbers you make money off. They are your surest source of content, your best marketers, and your equals in this world of online marketing.
You can implement CoC’s strategy with your own products, too:

  • Ask your fans about what your products are doing for them.
  • Create content around these ideas.
  • Share this content on social media and tag the content owners.
  • Encourage your fans even more by featuring them outside of social media on your website.

Every step you take towards adding your fans more into your online marketing is the right step. You may not be able to afford Christoph Waltz, but your true fans will help you come up with great content ideas.
 
See also: The Addiction of Smartphone Games
 

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