Twitter is a powerful tool for indie developers, whether you want to market your game, or generate a following as a solo developer or studio.
This article is for complete beginners. If you’re just starting out and are hoping to connect with the indie game community, then this article is for you. Chances are if you’ve been around on Twitter as a game developer for a while that you have already learned all of this over time. For those of you who are experienced indie dev Twitter users, feel free to go down below to the comments and leave some tips and tricks for our new indie developer friends!
Why You Should Have A Twitter
Twitter may be the largest and most active social media platform for indie game developers. In my experience, it is where your posts are most likely to be noticed, and you can most easily gain a following. The indie dev Twitter community is huge, and if you want to get in touch with the indie scene, this is a great place to start. Through Twitter you may find other organizations and communities, such as discord servers, where you can speak more intimately with a smaller group of people. These communities will often use Twitter as an important part of their communications and community building. So start here, at the heart of the indie game community, and think about other forms of social media later.
What to Post
What should you be posting? The answer to this question depends on the type of account you’re running. If this is a solo developer account, you can essentially post anything game related. If you are a game studio, you may want to be more choice about what you tweet out, but while you’re still small the occasional bad tweet is sure to go unnoticed. Regardless of what kind of account you are running (but especially if you’re running a twitter account dedicated to your game), you’re going to want to post content regarding the development of your game
The best form of content you can post is GIFs of gameplay. You can make GIFs of your screen easily, using tools such as screentogif. These short fast-loading clips of your game grab attention and hold it for the few moments needed to get a viewer to remember you. Videos are also good, and if you have a full trailer for your game you’re going to want to tweet that out at least once (and probably pin it to your profile). Pictures are good too, especially if your game has impressive art or concept design.
How to Get Your Tweets Noticed
When just starting out, you’re likely going to want to tweet as many high quality tweets (video, GIF, image) out as possible to get your name out there and get noticed. You’ll likely want to post once a day if possible, and a few times a week if not.
Hashtags
So how do you get your tweets noticed in the sea of Twitter? The most obvious way is through hashtags. There are four very important hashtags when it comes to connecting with the community. The first three are #gamedev, #indiedev, and #indiegame. Putting these three into your tweets will give you the chance to be noticed by other developers. The fourth is #screenshotsaturday, and important event where developers share a high quality post (usually a short GIF or video) of recent progress on their game. Every saturday, the indie game community Twitter is flooded with high quality posts, and you’re going to want to make sure you participate. If you’re unable to tweet every day or even a few times a week, make sure you at least tweet once a week on saturday to participate in #screenshotsaturday.
Retweet Bots
As a new Twitter account with 0 followers, retweet bots are going to be vital to your growth and exposure. Without these bots, your tweet views are limited to people who happen to search the hashtags in your tweet. So what is a retweet bot?
A retweet bot is a bot that retweets specific hashtags, often at random. Post your post with the appropriate hashtag, and hope that they retweet you! These bots often have thousands, if not tens of thousands of followers. You may have noticed that your feed has just about nothing on it. How do you view indie game tweets? How would you even know who to follow? Easy, follow an #indiegame retweet bot, and watch as your feed is filled with all things #indiegame that this bot has retweeted. There are a lot of these bots, and you’ll notice which accounts they are as your tweet gets randomly retweeted. So make sure you’ve got those hashtags in! Without them, you’re not going to get these free retweets.
Some accounts that do retweets, such as ours, are also more likely to retweet you if you tag them in your tweet. If you really want to get the attention of these certain accounts that offer this, go ahead and tag them.
Don’t know where to start? Follow our twitter account, which retweets #indiegame related content every day!
Gaining a Following
Other than tweeting high quality content frequently, there are various ways to be noticed. Helping out other indie developers thought retweets, likes, comments, and follows will get them to notice you, especially if they are also a smaller account. Retweets are appreciated by just about everyone, and a well placed retweet can gain you a dedicated follower. Comments are also key to grabbing someone’s attention. Liking a post can get you in their mind for a moment, but a comment gets them thinking about you for a least a few seconds. Comment positive things on their posts often enough and they’ll remember all the support you’re giving them.
The idea is to do unto others what you want done to you. If you help other people out, there’s a good chance they’ll return the favor or follow you. Along the way, you’ll make some good friends and friendly acquaintances that you’ll see around the twitterverse.
One other way to show appreciation is to participate in #FF, which stands for “follow Friday.” A #FF post tends to consist of just the “#FF” followed by a list of tagged accounts that you think people should follow. Take this opportunity to tag some people that have been helping you out to solidify lasting relationships. People tagged in your post are likely to like and retweet it, and potentially leave a nice comment as well. Make sure to reply to them all!
If you’re following all of these steps then you’re well on your way to engagement in the indie community! I hope you found this article helpful. If you have anymore tips for new twitter users, let us know in the comments below!
