1. Introduction

The popularity and prevalence of social media have not only changed people's social habits but also brought unprecedented marketing opportunities and challenges to businesses and brands. Especially in the highly digitized and information-driven game industry, the application of social media has become an indispensable part. It is not only a powerful tool for promoting games and increasing brand awareness but also an important means of interacting with users and improving game reputation. However, in the context of the constantly changing and developing landscape of social media and game marketing, how to better utilize social media platforms to achieve optimal marketing results has become an important issue and challenge facing the game industry. Therefore, this article aims to explore the application and effectiveness of social media in-game marketing. Through literature review and specific case analysis, it summarizes the social media strategies and best practices in-game marketing, providing guidance and inspiration for the marketing work of the game industry. Specifically, this paper will conduct research from the following aspects: First, through a literature review, systematically sort out the application status and main strategies of social media in game marketing, focusing on how the current game industry puts game products on social platforms for transactions Among them, make full use of the user data of social platforms to attract more user traffic and convert more potential users into game players [1]; secondly, take "Glory of the King" as the research object, and through specific case analysis, first analyze Tencent's The current situation of the game marketing environment of its mobile game "Glory of the King", and then analyze its existing social media marketing strategy, so as to explore the influence of social media marketing on game sales, user retention and word of mouth, and explore the mechanism and factors; finally, the field of vision Put it into the entire game industry, summarize the dilemma of games in social media marketing, synthesize the research results, put forward the best practices and suggestions of social media marketing in game marketing, and seek a way to break the game industry's marketing decisions.

2. Existing Game Industry Marketing Methods

Before exploring the existing marketing methods of the game industry, it is necessary to clarify the types of the current online game market in order to better understand the focus of different types of game marketing methods. At present, the online game market is divided into various types, the main types of which include mobile game market, client game market, and web game market. With the popularization of mobile Internet and smartphones, high-quality mobile games such as "Candy Crush Saga", "Clash of Clans" and "PUBG Mobile" are popular all over the world. The popularity of these mobile games continues to heat up, even driving e-sports and game live broadcasts The development of the industry has formed a virtuous circle and continuously increased the popularity and influence of mobile online games. Mobile online games have become phenomenal, bringing a large number of users to China's mobile game market and occupying an absolute market share. According to Statista, the global mobile gaming market revenue has increased by 270.2% from USD 23.5 billion in 2014 to USD 87.3 billion in 2021[2]. According to Newzoo, the global client game market revenue will grow from $21.1 billion in 2012 to $25 billion in 2021, an increase of 18.2%. The browser game market revenue has dropped from US$5.4 billion in 2012 to US$3.6 billion in 2021, a drop of 33.3%. In 2021, the web game market revenue is expected to continue to decline to US$3.6 billion [3]. It can be seen that the market share of client games and web games is lower than that of mobile games, and the market share of web games shows a trend of decreasing. The game market mentioned in this paper mainly refers to the mobile game market. Based on the mobile game market with the highest proportion of shares, a literature review is carried out to analyze its main marketing strategies and marketing methods.

2.1. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to a marketing method that uses social media platforms for brand promotion, product promotion, and marketing activities. The main advantage of social media marketing is that it can accurately locate the target audience, communicate and interact directly with the audience [2], and expand brand exposure through social sharing. In the game industry, social media marketing is also widely used. It can attract players through social media platforms, improve game popularity and user stickiness, and can also be used for game promotion and marketing activities.

In the gaming industry, social media marketing is widely used. For example, game companies can publish game promotional videos, introduce gameplay, release game guides, interact with users, etc. on social media platforms. These contents can help game companies increase user stickiness and increase game popularity. At the same time, game companies can also organize various game promotion activities through social media platforms, such as online competitions, sign-in lottery draws, welfare distribution, etc. These activities can effectively attract users and increase user activity.

2.2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that attracts potential customers by providing valuable, interesting, and relevant content [2]. In the game industry, content marketing can attract potential players by providing valuable content such as gameplay, strategies, and game tips. This strategy can enhance players' awareness and understanding of the game, while increasing the exposure of the game, thereby attracting more players to participate in the game. For example, Tencent Games' "Glory of the King" has adopted a content marketing strategy in its promotion. It provides rich game guides, game information, game videos, and other content to attract potential players and convert them into loyal game users.

2.3. Spokesperson Marketing

Spokesperson marketing is a way of publicity and promotion by inviting celebrities or famous people to endorse a certain brand or product. In the game industry, endorser marketing is widely used, because the game industry is an industry in which consumer behavior is highly dependent on word of mouth and social factors. Inviting a game spokesperson to promote the game, can effectively increase the exposure rate of the game, improve the popularity and reputation of the game, and thus promote the sales of the game. Spokesperson marketing is widely used in the gaming industry. For example, "Glory of the King" is a very successful spokesperson marketing case. The game invited many celebrities and well-known game anchors to endorse and promote it, such as Luhan, Hu Ge, etc. The fans of these spokespersons are very large, which can effectively drive the traffic and user growth of the game. In addition, spokesperson marketing can also link the game with the personal image of the spokesperson, thereby increasing the recognition and influence of the game. At the same time, spokesperson marketing can also optimize and improve the game through the professional opinions and suggestions of the spokesperson, to improve the quality of the game and user experience.

3. Social Media Marketing Strategy of "Glory of the King"

Marketing expert Philip Kotler proposed a marketing mix theory centered on four elements: product, pricing, place, and promotion, also known as the 4Ps theory [4]. This article will analyze the social media marketing strategy of "Glory of the King" based on the 4Ps theory.

3.1. Product

"Glory of the King" is a hard power to meet the objective needs of the public and enhance the competitiveness of the game market. Among them, it is mainly reflected in two aspects. First of all, the game focuses on taking into account the needs of different users in terms of gameplay design. Through horizontal and vertical design, it can meet the diverse game needs of users [5]. The game provides a variety of game modes for users to choose from, including Flame Mountain, Clone, and Smash Bros. in the entertainment mode, as well as matching, ranking, and summit games in the competitive mode. Second, the game continues to meet the social needs of users. A sound game interaction mechanism enables players to communicate and interact with other players in different ranges, including deepening relationships with acquaintances and friends and making new friends. Through these measures, the game takes both serious competition and lively entertainment into account, continuously meets the needs of users, and enhances the market competitiveness of the game. Not only that, "Glory of the King" inherits the brand slogan of Tencent Games "Create Happiness with Heart” and extends it as a brand concept to the game, with the brand image of "trustworthy", "happy" and "professional" as the core Base. In the game interface, players can see the logo of Tencent Games and the slogan of "creating happiness with heart", which is not only a promise to players, but also an expression of brand value. In addition, "Glory of the King" also supports one-click login on WeChat, QQ, and other platforms, which is convenient and quick, allowing players to enjoy the game anytime, anywhere [6].

3.2. Pricing

Payment can improve the user's experience in the game. Unlike traditional PC games, mobile game users usually play games in scattered hours. For competitive games, how to encourage users to pay voluntarily without affecting the balance of the game is a problem that needs to be solved [7]. "Glory of the King" adopts a recharge strategy that has nothing to do with the abilities of heroes in the game, mainly through the sale of hero skins to achieve profits [8]. This strategy makes the player's game experience not greatly affected even if there is no recharge, which is relatively fairer. At the same time, the game does not have any mandatory consumption, ensuring that players who do not want to consume can also enjoy the fun of the game [5]. In addition, the pricing of skins in the game is also relatively reasonable, allowing players to enhance their gaming experience within a price range acceptable to the public.

3.3. Place

Donna L. Hoffman proposed three core evaluation criteria of social media: popularity, participation, and word of mouth [9]. Brand popularity refers to the public's understanding and familiarity with the brand, brand value recognition comes from user participation, and the brand's communication goal is value recognition and resonance, which depends on the quality of social media word-of-mouth. As an emerging communication medium, social media has many advantages. The first is to achieve precision marketing, that is, through data analysis and precise positioning of social media platforms, brands can place advertisements to target audiences. Secondly, it can improve brand exposure. Social media platforms have a huge user base, and content published on social media platforms can spread rapidly and reach more potential users. Thirdly, interaction with consumers can be achieved. Social media platforms can allow brands and consumers to interact and communicate more closely. Consumers can communicate with brands through messages, comments, etc., and brands can also enhance communication with them through replies. consumer interaction. Finally, it helps to establish a brand image, that is, through content published on social media platforms, brands can shape their image, establish a closer relationship with consumers, and enhance brand image and reputation. "Glory of the King" utilizes the user base of WeChat and QQ, and game platforms that are bound to WeChat or QQ accounts can invite friends to participate in game battles with one click. In "Glory of the King", players can share their moments of carrying the audience and overwhelming the crowd on Moments, Qzone, Weibo, and other social media, making friends amazed. In addition, players can also share the cool skins or new heroes they have obtained with one click so that friends can also enjoy the fun of the game together. In the "Game" button of WeChat, players can also view the game records and "God Operations" of their friends and give them likes. This kind of social interaction makes the connection between players closer and also makes mobile games more social. Paying more attention to strong relationships has further promoted the development of basic social communication [6]. The official Weibo and public account of "Glory of the King" have attracted many fans to participate in the form of forwarding lottery, king information, teaching videos, interactive topics, and other original Weibo, which has enhanced user stickiness. In particular, retweeting lottery microblogs often have hundreds of thousands of retweets, which has attracted widespread attention. As of April 27, 2023, "Glory of the King" official Weibo "Daji Qingqiu Nine-Tails New Skin" will have 264,000 likes, 26,000 comments, and 3,516 retweets. After receiving Weibo information, fans in the center carry out secondary dissemination through emoticons, joke comments, forwarding, etc., and use sharing to spread brand information to sub-center users and marginal users, thereby increasing brand contact points exponentially. In addition, "Glory of the King" makes full use of the Bilibili website, Youku, Douyin, and other video platforms for marketing [10]. Game marketing usually uses methods such as synchronous promotional images and computer animation to improve the quality of video materials [1]. These materials usually revolve around events or activities planned by the game company, and then produced by game marketing executives. For example, the synchronous promotional video series produced by Glory of Kings has been well received by players. Among them, the CG animation "Target" of the game character Lan became the top five most searched on Weibo as soon as it was launched and received tens of millions of views. After selecting the video promotion elements that can attract users to become players, the game company will publish the official and elaborate promotional videos to major social media platforms to attract more users' attention and achieve the purpose of drainage. Not only is the official use of game materials for video promotion on social media, but players can also select their favorite battle clips or new hero skin release animation clips, perform secondary creation and post them on various video platforms, to attract players with the same groups with hobbies and similar values, to gain identity and sense of belonging. Of course, game companies will also encourage players to make secondary creations by setting up creator incentive plans. However, since this method cannot guarantee the level and quality of players' secondary creations, it is difficult to achieve precise marketing. Therefore, game marketing began to cooperate with some high-quality players, allowed them to enter the game's internal production system, and launched a creator training program to improve product recognition [1].

3.4. Promotion Strategy

In the era of the mobile Internet, opinion leaders in social media show some new characteristics, such as active speech, strong discrimination ability, strong logic ability, and the ability to grasp the truth [11]. Therefore, in the process of brand information dissemination, opinion leaders play the role of a filter. Usually, opinion leaders are big Vs who have passed Weibo real-name authentication, so they are more credible than ordinary users in terms of information sources and can reduce the cost of information screening and receiving.

In terms of publicity, "Glory of the King" makes full use of the interactive communication strategy of pan-word-of-mouth [12]. The opinion leaders of "Glory of the King" can be divided into two parts: one is professionals with game knowledge and technology, such as influential e-sports team members, well-known high-end players in the region, game commentators, game live broadcast anchors, and famous game practitioners By. Tencent has established its live broadcast platform "now live broadcast" for e-sports teams incubated under Tencent to cultivate an audience base and convert fan traffic. The other is a popular star with a lot of popularity. "Glory of the King" focuses on interacting with celebrities and creates hot topics by announcing information about heroes and game occupations commonly used by celebrities on the online platform. In addition, the game produced a reality show variety show "Fight to the Peak", and invited popular stars such as Yang Mi, Gong Jun, and Huang Minghao to participate in the recording, further expanding the influence of the game.

4. SWOT Analysis of "Glory of the King"

SWOT analysis is a situation analysis method proposed by H. Weihrich, a professor of international management and behavioral science at the University of San Francisco in the 1980s, which can be used to analyze the internal and external environments of enterprises, products, or projects. When using the SWOT model to analyze the internal and external environmental factors of the digital marketing of the "Glory of the King", it can be divided into four aspects: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

4.1. Strengths

As the largest social platform operator in China, Tencent has a huge user base, and its social software platforms such as QQ and WeChat have gathered a large number of social users [11]. Taking advantage of these strong entrances, "Glory of the King" facilitates users to enter the game and attracts a large number of young players to join the game. In addition, "Glory of the King" also combines games and social interaction, attracting more users to join the game through a large number of social interaction modules. These modules include in-game voice and text chat, team system, couple system, friend intimacy verification, etc., which provide players with the possibility to know each other and increase the added value that players get from the game. Young players can meet their social needs through games to communicate, find friends, seek fun, etc. These advantages provide more users for "Glory of the King" and bring better digital marketing effects.

4.2. Weaknesses

In the "Glory of the King" game, some players have negatively affected the game experience of other players due to bad behaviors such as hanging up and passive combat. Although the game system has a reporting and punishment mechanism, in reality, it is difficult for these negative players to be effectively reported and punished, and their influence far exceeds the punishment received. While Timi Studios may be aiming to control player churn these bad behaviors may cause many old players to lose interest in the game, thus losing a large number of valuable loyal players. This approach is unreasonable, and there are huge risks.

4.3. Opportunities

With the popularization of mobile Internet and the increase in digital entertainment consumption, the market space of game digital marketing is getting wider and wider. This opens up opportunities for games like "Glory of the King". First of all, the popularity of the mobile Internet provides a broader market space for game digital marketing. With the popularity of smartphones, more and more people are using mobile devices for entertainment and consumption [11]. This makes the audience of game digital marketing wider and also provides more channels for the promotion and publicity of games. Second, the increase in digital entertainment consumption also provides opportunities for the digital marketing of games. With the continuous improvement of people's demand and consumption level for digital entertainment, game digital marketing has gradually become a part of digital entertainment consumption. This not only provides more marketing opportunities for games but also brings a higher rate of return for the digital marketing of games. In addition, as a game popular among young people, "Glory of the King" also has extensive opportunities in digital marketing. Young people have a relatively stronger demand for digital entertainment consumption and are better at using digital technology. This allows "Glory of the King" to better attract and meet the needs of young people through digital marketing.

4.4. Threats

With the popularization of mobile Internet and the increase in digital entertainment consumption, the game industry is developing rapidly, and the number of similar competitive games is also increasing. The threat facing "Glory of the King" is the gradual increase in competitive pressure from similar competing games. Not only in the domestic game market but also in the international game market, there are a large number of similar competitive games. For "Glory of the King", it is necessary to maintain its competitiveness and market position in the fierce competition environment. The increase in the number of competitive games has led to a wider choice for users and a reduction in player loyalty. "Glory of the King" needs to keep updating and optimizing the content of the game to attract and retain existing players and attract new players to the game. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the development direction and trend of competitive games and make timely adjustments and optimizations to maintain its competitive advantage in the market. In addition, with the continuous development of mobile Internet and smartphone technology, game players have higher and higher requirements for game quality and experience. If "Glory of the King" cannot meet the needs of players, it may be replaced by other competing games [5]. Therefore, "Glory of the King" needs to continuously improve and optimize the game quality and improve the user experience of the game to cope with the threats brought by the fiercely competitive environment.

5. Conclusions

The application of social media in-game marketing has become an integral part of the game industry. In the successful case of "Glory of the King", social media not only provided strong support for the game's promotion and user growth but also provided a broader platform for the game company's brand building and maintenance. Therefore, in the game industry in the future, we should pay attention to the application of social media in game marketing, and further explore and develop the potential of social media. First of all, game companies should pay more attention to the analysis of user data on social media to gain an in-depth understanding of players' needs and interests, as well as user behavior characteristics on social media platforms. On this basis, game companies can use social media marketing strategies to meet the needs and interests of players, provide a better game experience, and at the same time better interact with players, deepening players' loyalty and stickiness to the game. Secondly, game companies can further strengthen the interaction between social media platforms and games and improve user participation and interactive experience. For example, by adding a social media sharing function to the game, players can share game experiences and achievements through social media platforms, interact with friends, attract more users to the game, and bring more exposure and brand promotion to game companies. Finally, game companies should pay attention to brand building and maintenance on social media. Through social media communication channels and interactive methods, game companies can better convey brand concepts and culture, and improve brand awareness and reputation. At the same time, game companies should also strengthen the management of social media platforms, respond to players’ feedback and questions promptly, provide better user experience and services, and enhance players’ trust and recognition of game companies.