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[AlienplayGames]

I'm trying to figure out whether it's a good idea to spend time promoting my PC game on Instagram. So it would be cool if some of you who are already using it tell me what kind of success did you have with it. Does it help with getting gamers, youtubers, press etc?

[FluffyPaws]

While I obviously don't run a successful Instagram profile, I can share my experience. If you look at my Instagram profile in signature, you can find 3 posts promoting my Android game. I use linktree as a link in the bio, which provides a basic tracking of clicks and it says, that 2 people clicked to Google Play link to my game. I guess it could be interesting once you build a big audience of followers.

[wx3labs]

I created an Instagram account last Summer to promote my (now recently released) game. Today I have over 3000 followers on Instagram. My game has sold over 3000 copies. Here is a Venn diagram of these sets:

O O

More seriously, it's possible that someone on IG bought a copy of my game, but I consider it to be a complete waste of time from a marketing perspective for the following reasons:

• Posts on Instagram don't really have the capacity to go viral like a popular Tweet.
• There's no call to action on Instagram-- even if a post gets thousands of likes, there's no way for it to link directly to your game.
• For a PC game, there's a very good chance your viewer doesn't even own a PC.

[binong]

While I obviously don't run a successful Instagram profile, I can share my experience. If you look at my Instagram profile in signature, you can find 3 posts promoting my Android game. I use linktree as a link in the bio, which provides a basic tracking of clicks and it says, that 2 people clicked to Google Play link to my game. I guess it could be interesting once you build a big audience of followers.

You have an average of 30 likes per post while having less than 50 followers? How did you manage to get those likes? I've been planning to promote my mobile game in IG and the likes from your posts are quite interesting. Is this paid or organic likes?

[AlienplayGames]

Hey! I just wanted to say Thank you to both wx3labs and FluffyPaws.

At the end I decided not to go with Instagram for my new project and it already freed up a lot of time that I can use to promote my game somewhere else (like on forums, which worked quite well for my previous project) and I'm also able to engage more on those more effective sources of traffic which will probably lead to better results in the end.

So yeah, Thank you guys for sharing your stats. It really helped me out! 

[AlienplayGames]

While I obviously don't run a successful Instagram profile, I can share my experience. If you look at my Instagram profile in signature, you can find 3 posts promoting my Android game. I use linktree as a link in the bio, which provides a basic tracking of clicks and it says, that 2 people clicked to Google Play link to my game. I guess it could be interesting once you build a big audience of followers.

You have an average of 30 likes per post while having less than 50 followers? How did you manage to get those likes? I've been planning to promote my mobile game in IG and the likes from your posts are quite interesting. Is this paid or organic likes?

IG has a peaty good engagement rate when it comes to likes and besides that he uses a lot of hashtags (which also worked well for me).
And probably the most important thing is that all of his posts are very high quality. He uses nice images and writes interesting description.
I'm probably missing something here, but this is just what I've noticed.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

instagram works but only if your game has good or interesting art, especially if you are the game's artist. because instagram is visually oriented, people like pretty pictures. concept art, pixel art, etc., can work, but if you are just showing random screenshots from your game and your game doesn't even look very pretty, that's not going to work

it also only works if you are active on the site. like don't just go there and post stuff and use hashtags and expect a miracle. you need to be engaging with other people on instagram, commenting on and liking their photos, like with most social media (same as facebook and twitter, they aren't one-way "go look at / buy my game" things). if you don't already normally use instagram for fun, using it just for marketing isn't going to work, because it won't feel natural and you'll look like what you are, someone who is just there to market, and who doesn't care about them or their photos. it needs to be value for value.

there are a number of PC games that have popular instagram accounts that probably helped with their sales. but the goal shouldn't even necessarily be to introduce new people to your game through instagram. it should be to remind people that your game exists. to keep fans engaged, to get them to like you a bit more, so maybe they will buy your future games or recommend your game to their friends. think of instagram as a place for fans of your games to celebrate and appreciate your games, especially the art. if your game isn't worth celebrating, first, make it worth celebrating.

i regularly do learn about new indie games with amazing art through instagram, and then often wishlist them on steam and buy them later.

[TribeOfLions]

if your game isn't worth celebrating, first, make it worth celebrating.

You said just about everything and more I would have said in response to this. It's not just about the platform, it's also about your plan and your creative promotion. That's what you need to have first, and then you go about looking for which platforms can help you meet those goals.

[Josh Bossie]

I find Instagram to be tricky. It's obviously very popular, but many, many users are simply there to make a buck - moreso than any other social platform. I don't begrudge them for that, but it encourages some weird behavior

A lot of the mechanisms of instagram are there to reward people externally - eg., someone being paid to promote an item, or someone getting a sponsorship deal, and so on. People treat likes and comments like actual currency in order to entice or buy these kind of external rewards and there's a definitely rule of reciprocation which has the effect of creating a lot of false relationships that don't translate into anything

So... it's weird. It's also much more time consuming. I don't think I'd really recommend it for indie dev. Your time is better spent elsewhere

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

yeah that's a good point. like... i often post the same screenshot of my game on twitter, facebook, and instagram. it almost always gets the most likes in instagram. but more than half of those likes are from what feel like bots. and the comments also often feel like bots. there are a number of programs that people use to automatically like, follow-unfollow, and comment generic comments on a large number of posts, in the hope of getting more followers to their account, and a lot of people use those programs on instagram. on facebook and twitter, there's less of that, so while my images get fewer likes and comments on those, they are usually genuine people.

still, there is no reason not to use all three. it's trivial to post the same things on all three platforms (especially if you use an extension that lets you post images from PC, like i do) -- they are currently the three largest social media platforms, and i think every indie should probably use all three. the only "time consuming" thing is thinking up hashtags for posts on instagram, but, if you have a list ready to copy and paste, based on the type of image you tend to use, that doesn't take much time.

also, there are benefits of using instagram besides promotion. often i find other inspirational art there which informs my own art, for example.