3 Principles for Successful Facebook Games

By Tommy Leung on 01/31/2010 in Games

Excerpted from an exclusive article I wrote for Associated Content:

Online social networks changed the world. King of thee networks is Facebook. Facebook’s user base is greater than the population of the United States and they have overtaken MySpace in popularity. Entire companies have been built on top of Facebook’s platform. Facebook changed the world in the last decade.

The popularity of Facebook Applications has spawned a ton of games that currently flood our Live Feeds. Few days pass without a mention of a quiz result or a lost brown cow. The early days of Facebook Applications allowed for successes like Vampires and Werewolves. Those were Neanderthal apps. Apps can no longer become successful by being incredibly annoying.

The Facebook audience has evolved.

Facebook Applications are only going to get more complex as features become standard. People expect to see their friend’s high scores and how they rank. They expect to be able to interact with their friends. Zynga’s model has become the standard for what a Facebook game can do.

This makes success for new apps more difficult. A couple of guys in their spare time can’t make a game on the scale of FarmVille. Zynga and other large social network game giants can only be defeated at their own game by each other. The little guys trying to break in will need to find a road less traveled.

Continued at Associated Content

Fear is Good

By Tommy Leung on 01/17/2010 in Life

Fear is bad. That’s what we believe. Fear isn’t a pleasant feeling. We’d much rather be happy or excited than scared. Our body doesn’t respond positively to fear: heart races, palms sweaty, hair stands on end, and thoughts go a mile a minute. This is not relaxing.

No one will blame us for avoiding fear. It’s bad. It’s sound advice to avoid bad.

But, fear tells us something. The more we fear something, the more we know we need to do it.

We don’t fear the things we know. Why would we? If we know we’ll perform fine, what is there to be afraid of? We can handle it. We only fear what we don’t know. We don’t know we’ll perform well. We don’t know we can handle it.

The catch-22 is that we’ll never know we can if we are always in fear. We fear, we avoid: nothing changes.

Right now, fear is telling you this is ridiculous. Fear wants you to think there is danger. Don’t listen. There is always danger. Going from crawling to walking was dangerous. Much safer on four limbs than two.

Fear is how we know what we need to do. What we know is safe. We might hate it. It might not be for us. But, we are familiar with it. There’s no surprises. It’s safer to complain about it than change it.

Fear makes the unknown look dangerous and the known look safe.

Once upon a time, the known was unknown. They are both dangerous. It’s a frame of mind. Change your frame of mind. Change your world.

Fear is good.

Branding a Game Company

By Tommy Leung on 01/06/2010 in Marketing

You can’t be everything to everyone. We are all uniquely different. Think of a close friend. What feelings come to mind? What words describe that friend? Now, think of another friend. What feelings come to mind? I bet you had distinctive feelings for both friends. That’s their brand.

Brands are like people. They take on personality traits and we like those traits or we don’t.

This means you are a brand. You evoke certain feelings when people think of you. The entirety of who you are, is your brand. Your beliefs, likes, dislikes, attitude, personality, style, etc. are all things that create you. These same things make up a company brand.

We all have distinct feelings about each of the top ten brands in 2009. Some brands you know better than others; some brands you like better than others. It’s no different than friends compared to acquaintances. Being everyone’s best friend is being no one’s best friend.

Building a brand for a game company is the same as for a car company, beverage company, restaurant, or any business. The major game companies don’t need a lesson in the importance of branding–they already spend millions a year doing it. That’s why their games sell so well. Consumers know their product. We know what to expect from a game with the EA logo on it.

When your target audience sees your game with your logo, do they know what to expect? They should. A company name should sell itself. That’s the power of a brand.

Your company needs to have a brand as much as you need to have a personality. It doesn’t matter how big or small: a one man show or a thousand man spectacle. You need a brand.

Your customers will develop feelings about your company based on points of contact. These experiences can be influenced or the chips can fall where they may. There are brands that people want to evangelize and tell their friends about. That brand makes a top ten list. That’s a brand you want. That brand didn’t happen by accident.

A strong brand allows for competition on more than price. Competing on price is the weakest competitive advantage. Anyone can lower prices until they go out of business. That’s not smart business. Smart businesses create their own market with few competitors. You can’t achieve this without a brand.

thatgamecompany, the makers of the popular flOw, has a distinct brand. Their games are truly unlike any others in the industry. Their games won’t be a fit for everyone and that’s okay. They call their games “core games”. They are in their own market with few competitors.

So how do you build a brand and benefit from it? First, your company needs to know Who am I?

You have an identity. The people who make up your company have an identity. What are they? What makes you tick? What makes your employees tick? Why are you in business? What do you do? Why do you wake up every day? What is your passion? What do you offer your customers?

Don’t try to hide your identity. It is a fools errand to pretend being someone else. Take the example of Superman and Clark Kent in their quest for Lois Lane’s affection.

Clark Kent hides his identity. He pretends to be someone else. He is not a run-of-the-mill small town boy looking to make it in the big city. Clark fails miserably to court Lois. On the other hand, Superman knows who he is. He doesn’t hide his otherworldly origin or his super powers. He saves people from danger because he believes he should. It’s not an act, it’s who he is. Superman wins.

Clark Kent and Superman are exactly the same person. One is true to himself and the other is not. A brand that attracts people is like Superman.

A small game company with a few employees should not be ashamed of being small. That is who you are. Don’t pretend to be bigger. You cannot build a brand on a foundation of lies.

A large game company shouldn’t pretend to be an indie shop. It isn’t you. People will see right through it. No one likes a liar. No one wants to do business with a liar.

The goal of a brand is not to be a fit to everyone. Not a single successful brand does that. Successful brands are like successful people. They know who they are and believe in their work. People are attracted to them because they are real. Not everyone will like them but, those who do will make a real connection. That’s a fan for life. Lifetime profitability is the lifeblood of long term success.

Every point of contact with customers need to be congruent with your brand. The only way to do that is to be able to communicate who you are to your employees. Your brand starts with your employees. You can’t communicate that you are a friendly, loving, smile-flashing company and have employees who are rude to customers.

The people responsible for direct interaction with customers should exemplify your brand. If your brand is fun, social, helpful, and out-going then you need people who have those qualities. Best Buy’s Geek Squad needs technology and gadget lovers working for them or there will be a brand disconnect.

The quickest way to communicate your brand to employees and customers is with a tagline.

A good tagline is essential. Potential customers should know what you do and who you are in a blink of an eye. Your tagline needs to tell them everything they need to know in a few words. A tagline is like a signature, it should be distinctive. Once you come up with a good tagline, use it on everything. There is no point in having a tagline if you aren’t going to use it.

Take the time and effort to come up with a great tagline. It may seem useless to put so much effort on a few words but, you need those magical words that eloquently consolidates everything you are. It’ll help keep everyone in the company focused and on the same page. That is priceless.

Everything about your company needs to be congruent with your brand: company logo, mission, employee attitudes, website, advertising, story, etc. All of it. Every inch of your company needs to reflect your brand.

Building a brand takes time and effort. Two people can’t become great friends in one sitting. It takes a series of meetings, activities, conversations, cups of coffee, pints of beer, etc. Every contact builds the relationship. Every contact provides more information about each other. Showing up as a different person at each contact will never create a strong relationship. Building a brand is like building a friendship.

Brands are like people.

Awesome Tomorrow

By Tommy Leung on 01/02/2010 in Life

There are past accomplishments that hold a special place in our minds. We were awesome then. These are the stories of great triumph. They make us feel good. It’s nostalgic. And why not? It is always nice to look back and know that we’ve done something.

We were awesome yesterday but, that doesn’t make much of a difference today.

There are moments as we live them that we know are awesome. Lives are changing right before our eyes. Someone is better off. This feels even better than being awesome yesterday. We can confirm that we are still awesome. It’s nice to know that.

We are awesome today but, it’ll be yesterday tomorrow.

Then there are moments we haven’t lived. Will we be awesome then? Or did we already live our last great feat? Is greatness going to be a tease now? The unknown is scary–maybe our best days have passed.

Or our best days have yet to come. We might look at yesterday and forget that awesome took work. No great accomplishments happened by pure chance of luck. We were awesome because we chose to be.

Choose to be awesome tomorrow because that’s the one that counts.