Why affiliates are the real content kings

With acquisition costs on the rise and advertising costs spiralling, operators need to consider all elements of their marketing mix are optimised – even areas they may not have focused upon previously.

Many operators are missing the ideal opportunity to get more eyes on their websites for longer via a sound content marketing strategy. It can happen as simply as bringing content management in-house and ramping up its quality. It’s time for operators to play affiliate, at least in a few respects.

Building the right team

When assembling a team of content creators, it’s important to bring in professionals from a range of different markets to ensure you are getting the most out of your products. A provider will always tailor their offering to suit local trends, knowing a game that works well in one market may not prove as popular elsewhere. The same tailored approach is essential when putting a team together.

It’s not enough to create a piece of content and then have it translated into various other languages and farmed out. Instead, it’s the knowledge and local industry experience that can only be attained with a diverse team which really unlocks the value.
Each team needs to be built to provide top level, quality content for each of your target markets, but they also need to be compatible with the brand’s values. We have found that extensive experience and a varied career path, in areas such as banking, egaming, and journalism tend to be beneficial.

Former journalists in particular have worked well. When dealing with a high volume of slots going live daily, it’s important to deliver fun-filled and relevant information for players, giving them the added value.
It’s always important to make sure the content team is producing something that goes beyond the run of the mill. By making that extra yard for players and providing them will all the information they need they are going to choose you over a competitor which hastily uploads a 50-word description.

The in-house approach

Of course, affiliates still have a crucial role to play in the gaming sector. But it can be worth taking some of their content-focused functions in-house, where you can keep tabs on your own quality control and teach players about what they can expect whenever the latest products are rolled out.

Affiliates tend to write 250-word reviews of slots, but at Videoslots.com we produce 1,000-word in-depth articles ensuring a player knows exactly what a game is composed of. That includes a description of the theme, as well as bonus rounds, staking types and a breakdown of percentages, all designed to leave the audience more engaged and informed.

Now it’s easy to write a sales pitch saying how great a game is. However, that kind of mentality doesn’t work for Videoslots.com, especially as titles on our website are ranked on popularity thanks to an algorithm which processes player spins.

Not only does this alleviate any operator/supplier agenda when it comes to placing certain branded or non-branded titles more prominently, but it also shows other players which games are being enjoyed the most at any time.

For this reason, articles must be accurate and relevant, because it’s important to reflect feedback from players. We find our game reviews are a fantastic way to build a bond of trust between operator and player.

Focusing on what matters to players and keeping them engaged is the key and this is one way of ensuring exactly that because by thinking ahead and anticipating their expectations, you can be ready to act when your SEO guys have done their job and a player first lands on site.

Overcoming obstacles to reap the benefits

When creating engaging content for a range of different markets and jurisdictions it’s important to offer it in different languages, and that doesn’t just mean putting the copy through an online translator and hoping for the best. Translation is an art, and it is important that those executing the translation understand gaming.

Instead, it’s important to employ those fluent in the languages in questions. Videoslots.com currently has a team of more than 15 creating content for a range of different markets seven days a week to ensure each release is given the full treatment.

Employing 15 people just for content may seem a little excessive to some operators, but it’s important that quality, engagement with players and efficiency remains, especially when slots are being added on a regular basis or even daily.

By effectively bringing certain aspects of an affiliates’ role in-house, an operator can reap the rewards that are usually pushed further down the value chain. Creating your own content may be time consuming and initially an outlay financially, but it allows operators to generate traffic in a more cost-effective manner than via affiliates.

But it doesn’t just make sense financially, but also in terms of brand awareness. By creating your own copy, you can control layout, word count, structure and even add your own promotions and links to ensure maximum traffic on your website. With every passing day, we see a huge increase in numbers of visitors on our website, and most importantly they are staying longer (an average of 20 minutes.)

Don’t be scared to bring content in-house

Engaging customers on your site is very important and it’s not just through game offerings that this can be achieved. Creating natural, informative and exciting content can help bring through new customers while also keep regular ones not only engaged but also loyal.

And while there are challenges to overcome when it comes to creating a game-savvy multi-language team capable of creating this unique content, when done successfully the payoff is big. Operators shouldn’t be scared to bring their content in-house, it’s just important it’s accessible and, informative and engaging.

In an age where operators are desperately looking to differentiate themselves from their rivals, a sound content marketing strategy could be exactly what is needed to win over the next potential player who stumbles upon your site.

Simon Copperstone is head of content at Videoslots.com, managing a team of 15 people to ensure the quality and accuracy of the operator’s website and all of the brand’s content both internally and externally. He has more than eight years of experience in the industry having also worked at Betsson.