Content marketing is a popular marketing tool for almost every digital-first brand. But it is more so in iGaming as operators need to leverage dynamic content to get past the conventional banner ads that aren’t as effective. iGaming content marketing also helps to stay on top of the search engine algorithms.
Further, effective content marketing and SEO allows iGaming operators to show their brand expertise and earn credibility.
Let us start by understanding the significance of content marketing for the iGaming industry.
The Significance of iGaming Content Marketing
You need the right marketing tools and strategies in your arsenal to navigate the competitive landscape of the iGaming industry. A well-defined and targeted iGaming content marketing strategy can help you stand out and build a pool of loyal and engaged customers.
Here are the three primary goals iGaming content marketing helps with –
- Driving Conversions: You can provide customers with valuable content and show the unique value proposition of your brand to convince customers to sign up and drive more conversions for your platform.
- Engaging Customers: Rational and relevant content resonates with the target audience. It captures their attention, and ensures high brand engagement.
- Building Credibility: High-quality content highlights your expertise and value, building brand credibility.
Types of iGaming Content
Content in the form of how-to guides and tutorials helps iGaming operators educate and attract new players, thereby boosting revenue. Here are the key iGaming content types that you should know about to prepare your content marketing strategy:
- Live Streaming: Live streaming is a popular content format for iGaming brands. It can drive more engagement among the audience. Moreover, most influencers in the iGaming vertical use the format to promote casino games and their features to their audience.
- Industry Updates: Positioning your brand as a reliable industry news source is one of the best ways to establish credibility in the niche.
- Game Tutorials: iGaming platforms can seem complicated and confusing to the uninitiated. Publishing game tutorials provides people with walkthroughs of the gaming platform.
- Interactive Content: Conduct polls and quizzes that your players can take part in. You can also offer incentives and discounts in exchange for customer reviews.
- Expert Interviews: You can attract more clicks and engagement by inviting popular online casino and iGaming experts to review matches or discuss hacks.
Challenges and Opportunities in iGaming Content Marketing
Content marketing is a great tool for building a community for your iGaming platform. But it works only if you leverage the opportunities it offers and overcome the challenges it throws at you.
According to a study by Newzoo in 2023, over 48% of internet users watch gaming videos at some point. This offers a great opportunity for iGaming operators to produce high-quality videos and gain traction through them.
The same study also found that over 70% of gamers watch gaming-related videos on YouTube. iGaming brands should capitalize on the popularity of videos among their target audience. Creating highly engaging content not only attracts new players but also entertains existing ones.
Some of the common iGaming content marketing challenges that you should know about include:
- Adherence to iGaming-related regulations
- Striking a balance between maintaining content quality and scaling
- Always adapting to changing iGaming market trends and customer needs
- Addressing the gaps in the iGaming content strategies of competitors
iGaming brands should address these challenges to ensure that their content marketing strategy delivers the desired results.
Do’s
1. Determine the Audience
Your iGaming content marketing strategy is only as effective as your understanding of the target audience. Understanding their needs and preferences will help you provide tailored content that hits the mark on your marketing and business goals.
Creating a specific buyer persona and target audience examples will help you share personalized content that appeals to players of every interest level and location.
It is also a good idea to divide your target audience into different segments and target each one of them separately with your content. For instance, expert interviews work well for an educated audience versus tutorials or walkthroughs relevant to novice players.
2. Competitor Analysis
Considering the fierce competition that exists in the industry, chances are that your approach towards content marketing in iGaming has already been considered and implemented by a competitor. Conduct regular competitor analysis to see what your competitors are getting right and wrong in their content marketing strategy.
Replicate and improve on what they are getting right. Look for gaps in their strategy and share content on topics they haven’t already covered.
The skyscraper content technique can help here. Create high-quality content pieces that are similar yet superior to your competitors. This way you can acquire their backlinks and search engine ranking. You can then leverage this opportunity to establish a stronger presence than your competitors on the SERPs.
3. Keyword Research
Making your content outperform an established iGaming brands’ is challenging. But integrating the right keywords within the content can help it rank better. Ideally, your keyword research should have the right combination of short and long-tail phrases that your target audience addresses their intent.
Use robust keyword research tools such as Moz or Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords and phrases. You can then use them strategically in your content to boost its visibility and performance on the SERPs.
4. Leverage SEO Best Practices
To ensure that your content performs well on the search engines, ensure that your content is SEO-friendly. This includes creating informative and engaging header, and meta description tags with the right keywords. You must also have a sound link-building strategy.
Besides, consider optimizing your images and videos. Also, update their filenames and alt tags. All these actions will boost the visibility of your content and the relevance of the traffic visiting your website.
5. Go for Context Marketing
When producing content for the iGaming industry, context is everything. While the quality of your content can establish the trust and credibility, the right context helps achieve the desired content goals.
The whole idea of context marketing is to deliver relevant content in the apt cultural context, and at the perfectly appropriate time.
This requires a thorough understanding of the target audience (taking you back to Point #1). You should be able to answer their questions through your content.
Here are a few pointers to bear in mind –
- Answer the pain points of your buyer persona – Address questions on online casino and sports betting-related queries.
- Tailor content for the audience – Think of ideas like gaming tutorials, strategy guides, online casino reviews, industry news and trends, and relevant research-based content.
- Be aware of the privacy guidelines – Adhere to the GDPR and CCPA regulations when getting permission from users before collecting their information through cookies.
6. Give Your Influencers Creative Freedom
It may be tempting to tailor the influencers’ content to meet your brand’s needs and style. But it could prove counterproductive. Sticking to a template can make your content uninteresting and even negatively impact the results.
Instead, give your influencers the creative freedom to create compelling igaming content that balances their unique voice with showcasing your iGaming brand. As long as the influencers adhere to the content guidelines and limitations you set down for them, you should let them plan and create content that is likely to drive more engagement among their audience.
7. Pay Attention to the Local Regulations
When designing your iGaming content marketing strategy, ensure that your iGaming content writing process adheres to the regulations and laws governing it.
For instance, regulations in Germany require igaming platforms to acquire a license before they can promote their products. Even to run ad campaigns on platforms like Google and Meta, iGaming brands need to secure permissions first.
Local regulations in iGaming should always be adhered to when designing or putting together any communication for the audience in a specific region.
8. Measure Success
The better you get at measuring your campaign performance, the better your chances at building an effective iGaming content marketing strategy. Track relevant KPIs for each campaign to understand whether your strategy is working or requires changes.
In most cases, your affiliate marketing campaigns including content initiatives need to be measured properly. For this, you need robust affiliate marketing software like Affnook that tracks campaign performance in real time and gets access to advanced analytics. The actionable insights into the effectiveness of your affiliate programs will help you plan better.
Don’ts
1. Content Shouldn’t Violate iGaming Legislations
Hire a local legal expert to review your content. These specialists can help ensure that your content adheres to the local legislation and regulations for the targeted region.
Without this vital layer of proofreading, you may end up with marketing copy and messaging that might not even get approved to be published or cause problems for your igaming brand.
2. Do Not Buy Low-Quality Links
Link building is essential to a sound iGaming content marketing and SEO strategy. It is good to start building links as soon as possible but be selective and strategic about the websites you want backlinks from. Pay attention to their relevance and online authority.
3. Do Not Hire Influencers Working with Competitors
Associating with influencers working for your competitors can lead to a conflict of interest. It will dilute your credibility and the performance of your igaming affiliate content marketing campaigns.
Consider including a stringent non-compete clause or drawing up exclusive agreements with the influencers you work with. Exclusivity agreements have to be mutually beneficial to avoid limiting the influencer’s earning potential and prevent them from working with your rivals.
4. Steer Clear from Sharing Misleading Information
A convincing sales pitch is critical to convince potential players but make sure you stick to the facts. In the iGaming sector, trust is central. So, any misleading fact will erode your standing in the industry.
iGaming content marketers and affiliate managers must build a strong mechanism for avoiding inaccurate or outdated information in their content assets.
Summing Up
Coming up with the right content marketing strategy for your iGaming brand is pretty straightforward, as long as you take the right approach. Experiment with different content formats to opt for the one that’s relevant to your target audience and adheres to the guidelines.
More importantly, balance content quality and creativity to get the most out of your content marketing efforts.
Affnook is a robust affiliate marketing software that can help you track, manage, and optimize multiple affiliate marketing campaigns from a single dashboard. You can empower your affiliate programs with accurate attribution, anti-fraud mechanisms, and advanced analytics and insights.
Book a free demo to learn more about how Affnook can help.
