Everyone likes video games. In fact, over 3 billion people around the world consider themselves gamers. And many of those gamers enjoy showing off their skills for prizes and bragging rights in tournaments. When you’re ready to host your amazing competition, here are five tips to promote your online gaming tournament.
Get your graphics ready
Gamers know the importance of good graphics. And your online gaming tournament marketing strategy is no different. If you want to get people to pay attention to your tournament, you need to catch their eye with some well-designed marketing graphics.
Since you’re busy setting up a gaming tournament, you might not have time to design killer graphics from scratch. Luckily, there are thousands of free gaming poster templates available online from websites like PosterMyWall.
Simply browse the designs, choose the one that best fits your tournament’s style, customize the information, and you’re ready to post. Upload your posters to your website, social media channels, or anywhere else gamers spend their time. You can even go old-school and hang some physical posters around town to attract local gamers — like in gaming stores.
Work with influencers
There are more than 12 million Twitch channels producing content. That means there are tons of gaming influencers available who may be willing to promote your tournament to other gamers who might want to enter.
The key to finding the right influencer is to do your research. Typically, the more followers they have, the more expensive it’ll be to get them to produce content promoting your online gaming tournament. Find an influencer with the right reach that fits your budget.
Second, you want the influencer to have the right niche. For example, if you’re organizing a FPS tournament, a city-building influencer likely wouldn’t have the audience you want to reach. Look for influencers who play similar games (if not the exact game) that you’re going to be playing in the tournament.
If you don’t want to pay them outright, you could also invite gaming personalities to play in your tournament. That could get other gamers excited about playing against or with the influencers, encouraging more people to sign up — and more action-packed playing.
Offer great prizes
People play harder when there’s more on the line. So naturally, the better your prizes, the harder the competitors will play! And for you, it means a better show.
The tournament prize will essentially determine the level of competition in your online gaming tournament. A great prize will encourage better gamers to enter the tournament. And better gamers attract more attention, helping you promote your online gaming tournament.
The easiest prize is cash. Everyone likes money, so offering a cash prize to the winner of your online gaming tournament is a guaranteed way to make everyone happy. However, it never hurts to get creative. For example, reach out to the game’s developers to see if you can get some custom skins or in-game currency to offer as a prize.
The better the prize, the more gamers you’ll attract.
Announce your teams one by one
Promoting your gaming tournament should be a slow burn. You don’t want to announce everything immediately, then have people forget about your tournament over time. Create ongoing promotions to keep your tournament top-of-mind in the weeks before the competition.
One of the best ways to keep your ongoing promotions interesting is to announce your teams one by one. Sure, you could release the entire tournament bracket all at once, but that burns up the information all at once.
By announcing each team or player individually over time, you can spread out your content more evenly. Plus, it gives you a chance to really showcase the teams and players in more detail, helping other participants or viewers better engage with the tournament.
Stream the tournament
Online gaming tournaments aren’t just fun for the players. Other gamers might like to watch the action for themselves. That’s why it’s always best to stream your tournament!
It’s easy to stream an online gaming tournament. You just have to find a platform like Twitch or YouTube that allows online streaming, set up your account, and provide viewers with the link.
Streaming your tournament might not get you more participants right away, but some viewers might get inspired by the exciting action and want to sign up for your next competition. Plus, you can attract more attention to your channel, helping you promote future tournaments.
Think of streaming like an investment in future tournaments. And it’s just fun for other gamers to watch!
Get more players for your online gaming tournament
There are billions of gamers worldwide looking to showcase their skills. Putting on an online gaming tournament is a fun way to bring gamers together and have a little fun competition. When you’re ready to start promoting your tournament, don’t forget to start with some amazing graphics using gaming poster templates, work with influencers, offer some great prizes, announce the players individually, and stream your tournament.
With all your marketing efforts working together, your next online gaming tournament might just be the best yet!