Open graph spamming, arbitrary rewards for inviting your friends, Facebook ads, cross-promotion, SEO... sounds exactly like Zynga.
Seriously though, hopefully this well shed some light on why Zygna uses the techniques they are known for -- they work. Amazingly well. Anyone who spends time in this industry discovers that pretty quickly. And it's really hard for upper management to see those upward kinks in the graph and say "please stop doing that."
The problem is that you have to become pushier and pushier over time and this leads to a slippery slope.
I don't think inviting your friends and get a reward should be tied to Zynga (and/or frowned upon) - this tactic has been used by many companies, ie: Dropbox. I personally like it.
It's Zynga's pay-to-win/continue concept that I have a problem with. That's the reason why I think Zynga is 'evil'.
Agreed. I found this article generic. Actually most articles of the like are. It would be more interesting to know how companies get their first 500 users.
They must have had some other differentiator. Looking at the product's home page it looks like they had support from Nike and several well known football clubs to promote and legitimize the app:
Now, obviously, they still had to build a compelling product and plan & execute a marketing strategy. They needed to be ready to succeed. Most people don't have a personal or professional network that includes access to decision-makers in large, influential organizations. Even so they still need to be prepared for that opportunity if and when their network expands.
That's why if you're going to present this as a case study (which it is not) the title should be "How 'I Am Playr' Hit 4 Million Users in 6 Months - A Case Study."
Hey Diego
Thanks for the comment. In my opinion the reason 'other companies' don't hit reach 4M users in 6 months using the same tactics are:
A) Their product just isn't good enough
B) They may not have the marketing budget to spend on Facebook ads for the initial boost to help Viral marketing kick in
Hence why you haven't heard of them. Hope that helps
Howard
Hey Zabar
Yeah although 4 million users is awesome, I totally appreciate that 4 million is nothing compared to Zynga who have 290 million MAU's (you'll see I refer to this in the blog post in 'caveats', bullet point 2
Cheers
Howard
On a side note, 4M users for a game in 6 months is great but not that extraordinary. Looking at successes like Draw Something and SongPop, from small developers too, it's more in the 50+M but it's in the mobile social space, not sure if I Am Playr is mobile or not.
xxbondsxx|13 years ago
Seriously though, hopefully this well shed some light on why Zygna uses the techniques they are known for -- they work. Amazingly well. Anyone who spends time in this industry discovers that pretty quickly. And it's really hard for upper management to see those upward kinks in the graph and say "please stop doing that."
The problem is that you have to become pushier and pushier over time and this leads to a slippery slope.
justjimmy|13 years ago
It's Zynga's pay-to-win/continue concept that I have a problem with. That's the reason why I think Zynga is 'evil'.
diego|13 years ago
How about all the other companies who try the same (completely obvious) tactics and don't reach 4M users in 6 months?
donebizkit|13 years ago
pygorex|13 years ago
http://iamplayr.com/
Now, obviously, they still had to build a compelling product and plan & execute a marketing strategy. They needed to be ready to succeed. Most people don't have a personal or professional network that includes access to decision-makers in large, influential organizations. Even so they still need to be prepared for that opportunity if and when their network expands.
adestefan|13 years ago
howardvk|13 years ago
Hence why you haven't heard of them. Hope that helps Howard
unknown|13 years ago
[deleted]
powertower|13 years ago
howardvk|13 years ago
unknown|13 years ago
[deleted]
zabar|13 years ago
What exactly is social in the game ?
On a side note, 4M users for a game in 6 months is great but not that extraordinary. Looking at successes like Draw Something and SongPop, from small developers too, it's more in the 50+M but it's in the mobile social space, not sure if I Am Playr is mobile or not.
ab_thomas|13 years ago
Seriously, you think that's not that extraordinary...
morefranco|13 years ago