There Are Imposters Among Us
“Among Us” has become a smashing hit as its popularity spread on the Internet like wildfire!
It is a social deduction game, similar to Werewolf or Mafia. The game itself takes place on a spaceship 🚀 with 4 to 10 players. Crewmates are preparing the spaceship for launch, but there are imposters disguised as crewmates who sabotage the launch and kill 🔪 crewmates on board.
Throughout the game, crewmates use deduction 🤔 to figure out who the imposters are. Imposters need to use deception to mislead the crewmates because they are disguised as crewmates.
In September 2020, Among Us was downloaded over 125 million times across platforms. By the end of September, Among Us reached 3 million concurrent users playing the game at once. There are some things marketers learn from the spiraling popularity of “Among Us”.
🤫 Piggyback on viral trends
A big part of marketing is staying up-to-date with where your customers are spending their time. Ask yourself these questions: “What is your message?”, “Who does your message need to get in front of?”, and “Where are they spending their time?”. As a marketer, a part of your job is to notice 👀 trends and apply them to your industry creatively.
🤫 Collaboration helps growth 📈
“Among Us” is played with groups of 10 or less people. This helps both the game and the streamers grow in popularity. As a marketer, collaborate with other brands or partner with influencers. Collaborating is one of the best ways to hack growth. Brands and people put time and energy towards building relationships 🤝 with their communities. It is a great way for all parties to get visible in front of new audiences.
🤫 Repurpose content
Creating content takes a lot of time. An important yet overlooked part of marketing is distributing that content. Take extra time to repurpose your content for different platforms. Repurpose the content in a way that people engage with and share that content for each specific platform. For example, gamers 🎮 who stream Among Us repurpose their live streaming content into longer YouTube videos and shorter video clips for Twitter.
🤫 Create culture
It is human nature to crave a feeling of belonging. People like to feel like they are a part of something bigger - a community 👥. When you create a community culture, that community becomes your brand’s advocates. Culture creates superfans, and it is created in Among Us through the slang people use:
“That is pretty sus”
That person is suspicious; I think this person is a suspect; I am the imposter, but I am deflecting suspicion
Marinating
When an imposter stays close to a crewmate so that the crewmate will defend the imposter’s innocence to the crew
🤫 Be persistent 💪
If the Among Us developers developed purely for popularity and money, this game would not have achieved today’s success. Another part of marketing is understanding that not every piece will be a success 🌟. Be that as it may, it will always serve you to ask how can you use your brand’s culture to piggyback on viral trends? Otherwise, your team might think you are “pretty sus”.
With these key marketing lessons from Among Us, you will be a step closer to winning the game of marketing. So, are you a crewmate or an imposter? Let us know in the comments below 👇👇👇😎.
Reference:
Aoki, K. 2020, October 22. Key Marketing Lessons from Among Us. Medium.
