Chris TottenNov 20, 2022
Has anyone had any luck promoting their games to audiences yet on Mastodon? Is there an instance that has a lot of your target audience on it? An issue with the bird site was always algorithmic siloing, but here it’s much more actual. What are folks’ strategies moving forward? #gamedev #indiedev
Show threadRyan MillerNov 20, 2022
@Totter87 Generally my experience (based on the bird site) is that the audience we build on places like these are made up mostly of other game developers. The consumer reach on this platform (and in our circles within this platform) is quite small. Many game marketers have explained over and over that Twitter is not an ideal space to reach a consumer target audience. I think Mastodon would be even less effective as a marketing channel (I like Mastodon but that's not what it is right now).
Show threadRyan Miller
@Totter87 So that being said, I get about the same engagement on in-development videos for my game here on Mastodon as I did on Twitter, despite having about 1/5 of the audience here. It's nice and keeps me motivated, but I don't expect will turn into many copies sold on launch.
Nov 20, 2022 at 3:06pmWeb
Show threadRyan MillerNov 20, 2022
@Totter87 so for promotion, look at platforms with broader consumer audiences. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, etc. Consider trade shows. Website advertising (a spot on Touch Arcade, if you have a mobile game), etc. Other developers are awesome to be connected with, but you will likely want to build an audience outside that small community!
Show threadRyan MillerNov 20, 2022
@Totter87 these two guys seem to know what they're talking about; worth doing some reading if you haven't seen it already: Simon Carless: https://www.simoncarless.com and Chris Zukowski https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9CBk0FHSM
Simon Carless

Show threadRyan MillerNov 20, 2022
@Totter87 apologies for the extra info and potential mansplaining! I'm also curious to know if anyone is getting meaningful traction on Mastodon.
Show threadChris TottenNov 20, 2022
@ryanmiller I am getting good engagement here, but definitely from other devs. On Twitter we’ve had some luck breaking out of the silo, but it’s tough. I think other sites are easier (Facebook especially) Tik Tok is a bit beyond my preferred way to use social media - I’d rather hire someone to do it. Reddit is odious.
Show threadRyan MillerNov 20, 2022
@Totter87 agree with everything you just said, haha.
Show threadChris TottenNov 20, 2022
@ryanmiller yeah I know about all that - not my first good around. I guess I wanted to see if this site still@factors into folks’ plans or if this is really just the networking place.