Social media, although often fraught with distraction, also acts as a constant source of information within our lives in the modern age. Whatever your chosen interest may be, you can find a data-stream to suit it and deliver straight into the palm of your hand everything you need to know.
For the indie industry Twitter acts not only as a welcome escape and painful abyss of opinions, but also a dumping ground for data through the vehicle of threads. Whether it’s sharing experience, or pulling back the curtain on a variety of unseen metrics, the little blue bird has become a welcome fount of knowledge within the indie space.
There are hundreds of valuable and knowledgeable people worth following within this industry but here are presented, in no particular order, five that are a great place to start if you’re looking to get more out of your Twitter feed within the indie sphere.
Five Twitter Accounts You Should be Following
Simon Carless
Simon Carless has been around the video game industry for many years across a breadth of roles but was particularly known for his role in shaping the Independent Games Festival, as well as the Game Developers Conference, into what we know today.
The one-time editor-in-chief at both Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, Simon is now widely known as the founder of the GameDiscoverCo agency and runs the popular GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter (which I would highly recommend you subscribe to).
You should be following Simon for a wealth of data and commentary on marketing games within the indie space as well as broader commentary on the industry as a whole. If you’re looking for ways to navigate development smarter, then Simon’s timeline is going to be a welcome resource.
Chris Zukowski
Chris Zukowski is a video game marketing consultant with years of experience in design and development. Publishing his popular HowToMarketYourGame newsletter (which you should sign up for!), a regular blog as well as hosting a number of marketing focussed talks, Chris has brought his ‘direct-to-player marketing’ approach to a wide audience within the industry.
Chris loves keeping ahead of the curve within the indie space and has a wealth of experience and knowledge to share on the topic. In fact, he recently published a free class on how to set up a Steam page that is definitely worth checking out.
Follow Chris for inventive ideas on how to approach marketing, especially within the indie space, and general know-how if you’re looking for more creative ways to get your games out there.
Victoria Tran
Victoria Tran is a speaker, writer and all-round community wizard within the games industry, frequently sharing her knowledge with the Twitter-verse. Currently working as Community Director at Innersloth, you may have caught her stream with Jimmy Fallon, Victoria built a reputation as Communications Director at Kitfox Games sharing her goal of creating kinder communities within the gaming space.
Victoria frequently shares threads covering the ins and outs of community management, marketing within indie games and some general best practices to keep in mind.
You should be following Victoria for excellent tips, including advice around everything community from content creation to messaging and moderation. She recently did a talk at GDC you should definitely check out called ‘Making Marketing Mistakes’.
Derek Lieu
Derek Lieu is a trailer designer with years of experience working across the industry on both big and small titles. Some of his accomplishments include trailers for games such as Half-Life: Alyx, Spelunky 2, Firewatch and Subnautica.
Derek has a whole heap of knowledge on his website about making trailers, a lot of which is specifically geared towards working on a budget for indies. As one of the most important assets when it comes to marketing your game it’s worth taking the time to read over his advice.
Follow Derek for expert advice and guidance on making trailers within the industry. If a trailer is something that has you worried as an indie dev, then fear not as you’ll find some of the best advice around on Derek’s Twitter feed.
Jake Birkett
Jake Birkett is an indie veteran with years of experience under his belt in the industry and a self-confessed data nerd. Acting as a Twitter fountain of knowledge when it comes to the indie scene, Jake is a frequent sharer on a range of topics within the space.
Jake’s threads are perfect for the data lovers among you who love to dig into the numbers. Marketing has become more informed over the last few years thanks to developers sharing information with each other and more accurate analysis taking place.
If you follow Jake you can expect some excellent threads on everything from development to marketing including the odd Steam data dive. You can also check out some of his Gamasutra blogs here for some interesting data trends.
So, there are five great accounts to get you started, you can also follow the Game If You Are Twitter if you’re looking for even more indie marketing insights.
