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Getting Big on Facebook: A Case Study Dan Laughlin • Executive Director, Business Development
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Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Jan 14, 2015

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Facebook's gaming environment has rapidly matured, creating a highly competitive environment with challenging economics. Understanding how to implement a multi-faced marketing strategy that complements ongoing content development is crucial to giving your game the longevity needed to produce a sizable profit. In a case study you don't want to miss, 6waves, the largest independent publisher of social games, will share key insights from one of its most successful titles.
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Page 1: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Getting Big on Facebook: A Case StudyDan Laughlin • Executive Director, Business Development

Page 2: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Agenda

6L Intro

Facebook Growth Strategies

Case Study: Mystery Manor

Q&A

Page 3: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

About Me

Dan Laughlin is Executive Director, Business Development at 6waves Lolapps (6L):

• Responsible for growing the company’s global portfolio of developer partnerships for social and mobile.

• Previously at Microsoft Game Studios as a Lead Producer and a Senior Business Development Manager.

• Before entering the industry, spent time at Thomson Reuters and MarketOne International.

• Holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Page 4: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

About Us

Page 5: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

6L…

A network with tens of millions of users multiple platforms

Games from over 50 global partners

Expanding its strategy to mobile

Providing critical services to developers :

Distribution Marketing Localization

Hosting Game Advisory

Page 6: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Our Network Size

25 MILLION Monthly Active Users

3.7 MILLION Daily Active Users

Page 7: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Top Games We Have Published

6L has helped scale many games across a range of genres

Peak 1M+ MAU Titles on Facebook: Ravenskye City Airport City Zombie Island Baby & Me Mystery Manor Ravenwood Fair Mall World Kingdoms of Camelot

Animal Paradise Resort World Simply Hospital Big Business Birdland Legacy of Rome Spartacus: The Game My Fishbowl

Page 8: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Russia / Eastern Europe

The region is extremely important to 6L

Existing 6L Partners: Game Insight, Vizor Interactive, Signus Labs, Playrix, Drimmi, Redspell, Can’t Stop Games, iLogos, iEvoTech, OSA

We are seeking to expand our presence in the region and bring more Russian games to a global audience

6L now has full-time representation in Moscow!

Alexey Shcherbakov, Director of Business Development

Page 9: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Facebook Growth Strategies

Page 10: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Click Exchange

Click exchanges are effective on a small scale, as growth is bounded by the size of the game joining the exchange.

Credits can be purchased to engage more actively in exchanges

Traffic quality should be monitored closely

Page 11: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Self Publishing

Key Considerations:

1. Capital to fund expensive user acquisition

2. Headcount and mindshare for marketing

3. Time to build marketing effectiveness

4. Ability to distribute globally

5. Desire to own End Users and build a network

Long-term company goals and financial strategy should inform if self-publishing is the appropriate strategy

Page 12: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Publishing Partnerships

Key Benefits Network for cross-promotion Funds for user acquisition Marketing efficiency Localization / regional

knowledge Studio focuses on

development

Key Tradeoffs Revenue share Exclusivity Competition versus rest of

portfolio End User data ownership

Publishing is an increasingly relevant model on FacebookEstablished:

Starting Up:

Page 13: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Case Study: Mystery Manor

Page 14: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

The Partnership

Focusing on its strengths in game production and Russian markets, Game Insight partnered with 6L to grow on Facebook

With six titles from Game Insight’s talented developers, the partnership has yielded a collective peak of 14M MAU on Facebook:

1. Mystery Manor (3.8M)2. Resort World (3.5M)3. Airport City (2.8M)4. Big Business (2.2M)5. Vegas (1.1M)6. My Country (0.6M)

Multiple titles also launched on Mixi and Yabage social networks in Japan

Page 15: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Mystery Manor: Game Overview

For ten months 6L and Game Insight have worked closely to evolve and grow Mystery Manor (MM):

• The first major Hidden Object release on Facebook• Gameplay built around the free2play model• High quality art• Consistent content and feature updates

Page 16: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

MM Pre-Launch Planning

6L Product Management worked with MM producers to build towards full global launch:

1. Iterate on game feature roadmap

2. Review game flow, tutorial, virality, etc

3. Localization start4. Hosting / Scaling plan 5. User acquisition planning6. Facebook platform changes

(e.g. early tester of “fluid canvas”)

Page 17: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Cross-sell Test Traffic

Quality EN Cross-sell

Traffic

Test EN Paid

Acquisition

Full EN Paid

Acquisition

Localized Acquisition

email Campaigns

Phased User Growth

6L has spent millions of dollars promoting Mystery Manor

6L cross-promotion and email campaigns drive “soft money” installs

SE AsiaTurkey

US, UK,

Aus/NZ

~$10K test spend

Spending tens of

thousands per day

Localized ad copy / images

200M+ emails

per campaign

Page 18: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Expanding the Addressable MarketMystery Manor in 10 languages:

Live: Russian, English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Turkish

In development: Portuguese, Arabic, Thai

6L manages translation and shares costs with developers

6L employs native speakers for final quality assurance tests

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Ongoing Development

Continuous development allows 6L to sustain marketing:

Feature Development – monetization improvement shows impact of an improving game

Content Releases – Healthy retention and revenue spikes due to predictable content releases

Page 20: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

User Acquisition

The 6L user acquisition team employs marketers, analysts, artists, and programmers in San Francisco and Hong Kong.

Internally developed tools and processeses analyze spend efficiency and cohort performance.

Mystery Manor Marketing:

Continuous A/B testing

200+ pieces of art

25+ variations of ad copy – each in 7 current languages

Extensive keyword targeting

Page 21: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

The Results: Sustained Success

Page 22: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

Mystery Manor: What Worked

1) A close relationship

2) Constant product improvement

3) Evolved targeting

4) Marketing coordinated with product updates

5) Translated content and ad copy

6) Cross-promotion and email campaigns

7) Spending big to acquire users

Page 23: Growing Big on Facebook: A Case Study - Dan Laughlin - 6waves Lolapps

THANK YOU!Contacts:• [email protected][email protected]