TL;DR:
- Pokémon Go-related content outperforms on Twitter and Facebook; underperforms on Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, and blogs.
- If you really want to get in on the Pokémon Go craze, prepare to register your business as an official PokéStop.
The mobile game Pokémon Go is the zeitgeist of the moment. Data published by SimilarWeb predicts that the mobile game is on track to surpass Twitter in daily active users among Android phone users. Within two days of its release, was already installed on more US android phones than Tinder.
But the real side industry for the Pokémon Go craze involves businesses attempting to surf the trend with a clever real-time marketing play. Local businesses are already using storefront signage to entice Pokémon-playing passersby inside. Believe it or not, a handful of Fortune 500 companies have already chimed in on the trend, including Amazon, Best Buy, Whole Foods, and Big Lots.
However, our research indicates that businesses should think twice before engaging in any Pokémon-related newsjacking — at least on certain channels. In fact, few business have generated Pokémon coverage that lives up to the hype of the game itself.
In the last seven days alone, the TrackMaven platform identified over 400 Pokémon-related posts from a sample of 34 major media companies. The impact score — or number of social interactions compared to a brand’s average interactions per post — of Pokémon Go content is highest on Twitter, scoring 1.14 times more interactions than average. Pokémon Go content also outperforms for businesses on Facebook, scoring 1.05 times more interactions than average.
On LinkedIn, blogs, Google+, and Instagram, however, businesses have failed to strike a chord with Pokémon Go-related content.
If you are hell-bent on getting in on the Pokémon Go craze, a more targeted option is to bring more Pokémon — and therefore more Pokémon-chasing customers — to your business. The game offers an in-app “Lure Module” which promises to — as the name implies — lure more Pokémon to your premises for a half hour.
The problem? As of right now, designated PokéStops are pre-determined by the game’s developer, Niantic Labs. It is unclear when or how businesses can become registered PokéStops. But rest assured, should the developers decide to monetize with more PokéStops and Lure Modules, marketers will be poised to catch all the consumers they can.