The core fundamentals of marketing have never changed, but global brands should appreciate the ever-growing significance of influencers in today’s technology-driven society, particularly on live streaming platforms, and engage with the right influencers in the right way.
With this vast industry growth, however, we should recognize both the inherent positives this brings with it, but also the changing regulatory frameworks designed to protect consumers.
The world of live streaming has grown exponentially, and is now a market valued at over $20 billion according to Bloomberg. Global brands are continuing to pay close attention to this growth and thus are actively engaging in marketing strategies comprising global influencers for their products.
Encapsulating a community-first approach when it comes to modernized marketing, platforms such as Twitch and YouTube continue to go from strength to strength in terms of audiences and streamers.
An influencer well known in a particular space (for instance gaming or music) is often best placed to advertise one’s brand or product as a leading voice in the industry. In the same way, consumers themselves might be more inclined to like or support the product if their influencer of choice is promoting it in a respectable manner.
As someone well-versed in the online realm from my school days of playing Runescape with friends, I am part of the generation benefiting the most from technological advances in the world of gaming. Technology has made it possible to connect and play with others at any time of the day no matter their geographical location.
This same technology enables people’s favorites content producers to stream to audiences (in some cases larger than football stadiums) and to directly engage with viewers via live chat features. This is something that I love to do every weekend on my own live stream where I discuss latest marketplace trends when it comes to gaming and gambling with viewers.
Live streaming thus features heavily for myself and my business, Stake.com. On the personal level, I use live streams to engage with fans and customers on a weekly basis. This engagement often brings to light key marketplace issues for us to consider and is also somewhere I can share my direct thoughts on issues of importance.
On the business side of things, it is no secret that at Stake we actively harness the power of influencer marketing via live streaming, but only when we have established that consumers will benefit from it. Putting our customers and their interests first remains at the core of everything we do, and this is something we will never venture from.
As true market leaders in the world of online crypto gambling, we are uniquely positioned at Stake to have a wealth of influencers who have used our product for months or longer. This means that we actively seek influencers who have used our product and truly value it. These organic, real partnerships enable maximum transparency for viewers tuning in to watch content.
Moreover, I can assure everyone that despite certain widespread notions of odds being rigged in some people’s favors or money not being real, we have no direct control of the odds of any of our games as these are controlled by a third-party. Odds are the same for all players regardless of their sponsorship status and money spent by promoters is very real.
Real odds, real money, real players– These are things I believe should be the industry norm when it comes to influencer marketing.
Recently, we partnered with one of the world’s largest music stars, Drake, hosting him on Stake’s official Twitch channel where he played for hours and gave away over $1 million worth of Bitcoin to viewers from across the world. The fact that Drake already had played on the platform for six months made him an ideal partner for promotions as someone genuinely supportive of our mission.
Given Drake’s hundreds of millions of combined followers on social media alone, this of course is a partnership that makes commercial sense, but more crucially to us is the fact that he is an avid gaming and cryptocurrency supporter. Indeed, the very mission of what we are doing at Stake aligns with Drake’s thinking when it comes to technology-driven gaming.
Actively seeking influencers passionate for the industry is therefore a central component of what we do, as engaging with those clearly disinterested in the industry or product adds nothing to the conversation we are having and fails to benefit customers.
Other influencers we engage with such as former Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero also share our philosophy of direct audience engagement via live streaming and harnessing the potential of technology.
The growth of the live streaming industry should be managed carefully, with any promotional content clearly signposted to viewers as they have a right to know if content is ultimately sponsored. Moreover, it should be the norm that leading brands actively seek those genuinely interested in their products and do so in the right way, never manipulating their audiences.
Marketing in the right way, with the right methods and right people. This should be normalized and democratized across not just this industry, but indeed others utilizing live streaming influencers. The reality is that such marketing methods are only set to increase, and viewers have the right to know that the content they are viewing is genuine and transparent.
Ed Craven Bio:
Ed Craven is the Co-Founder of Stake.com, one of the world’s largest online crypto casinos. A pioneering leader in online gaming, Ed has leveraged technological advancements and evolving marketing techniques to catapult his brand as a leader in online casino space. By building a bridge between live streaming and influencer marketing, Ed Craven is creating a community that is genuinely interested in the content and, subsequently, the brand.
