What Can Content Marketers Learn from the Viral Success of Pokemon Go?

Pokemon Go may be more than a month old now, but its popularity shows no signs of waning. If anything, it’s just become easier to identify people playing it on the streets — their phones held out at arm’s length, their faces twisted in a look of concentrated glee as they try to capture a wild Psyduck (meanwhile, you make a mental note to check out that spot for yourself later, in case of a rare Scyther or Snorlax).

Even if you haven’t started catching Pokemon yourself, you couldn’t have missed the thousands of news stories written about the augmented reality phenomenon. The numbers speak for themselves. By the end of July, there were more than 100 million downloads of the game worldwide, raking in $10 million a day in revenue from in-app purchases. Even though Niantic, the game’s creators, have said that the long-term financial prospects for the game might be “limited,” it’s still estimated that Pokemon Go could generate a run-rate of more than $1 billion a year from here on out.

Call it a passing fad or put it down in the history books as the dawn of a new augmented era. Either way, Pokemon Go has been exceptionally good at captivating the attention and interest of users, onlookers, and the media alike — and that’s no accident. There are valuable lessons here that could be applied to content creation and marketing across the board, even if your line of work is less about capturing pocket monsters and more about peddling pocket protectors.

Here are the areas where Pokemon Go really shines, and how content marketers can benefit from their example.

The Call To Action

Even doctors are getting behind the Pokemon Go craze, because unlike almost every other video game or mobile app on the market, it forces users to get up and get moving outside of the house. Most content marketers would be thrilled if a call to action simply convinced someone to pick up a phone. Pokemon Go comes with a very literal “call to action” that not only engages and mobilizes users, but forces them to make a commitment to the brand. After all, if I’m going to take the time to lace up my walking shoes and go out on a Pokemon hunt, it better be worth it.

Beyond that, Pokemon Go offers increasing incentives the more time you play. You can level up your monsters or build your Pokemon arsenal (the prime goal, after all, is to “catch ‘em all”). In the end, players feel as though they’ve done something to earn those accomplishments, which leaves them coming back for more.

Too often, content marketers forget to ask themselves a simple question: what does this content marketing campaign actually offer to my potential customers?

“If you want to increase customer loyalty, you need to reward your users for continuing to invest in your product,” writes Jayson DeMers in Forbes. “The thrill of finding a rare Pokemon or winning an intense battle is enough to keep users grinding for more, even through some of the less active parts of the game.”

That points-and-rewards scheme is exactly the kind of “gamification” content needs, and history shows it works. Look at how Tinder has taken over the dating world by making a game out of matchmaking, or the wealth of fitness or productivity apps based on generating points and keeping scores against your neighbors. Studies also show that fast-food apps that offer loyalty programs and digital coupons can get people to spend more money than they would in-store.

Bottom line: Don’t just call your customers to action — reward them for doing so.

Hyper-Locality

Within days of the game’s launch, everyone knew where to find the best local PokeStops and Gyms for gathering supplies and battling out your monsters — especially the people who owned those lucky buildings. Many users say one of the best side-perks of playing Pokemon Go has been the opportunity to explore parts of their neighborhood and local shops that they’d never visited before.

In turn, those businesses and stores have been quick to advertise their PokePresence. Getting new potential customers in the door is often the hardest part of growing any new business, and Pokemon Go offers an easy attraction. It doesn’t cost much (yet) to operate as a PokeStop or Gym or to throw out a lure that attracts more monsters, and the only infrastructure shops need is to hand over some of their augmented reality space to the collective digital ether.

But the real genius is still on the game developers, who essentially set themselves up for free promotion and a whole catalog of IRL backlinks. Think about how many sidewalk chalkboards you’ve seen advertising the cafe next door as a PokeStop, how many pictures of Pokemon you’ve seen on local stores’ Instagram feeds, and how many friends have checked in on Facebook after a particularly thrilling capture. Now think about how many official advertisements you’ve seen for the game from Nintendo or Niantic — probably none. In fact, there was practically no build-up to the launch of the game other than a few Twitter announcements.

Even in this increasingly globalized and digital age, few things are more valuable than word of mouth. Pokemon Go used a grassroots approach to generate a viral buzz that’s equal parts ego-baiting and “you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours.” Too many marketers fall into this trap: they treat marketing as if it’s a zero sum game. But the internet is literally built on connections, and the more connections you make, the wider your reach becomes. When it comes to online marketing, you have to treat your competitors as allies. Think about how you can cooperate or complement other businesses to level up your game.

Modern Nostalgia

Although it feels like Pokemon Go came out of nowhere, it was able to build off of a well-established brand. And since the news cycle brings us a new horror every day, so many people were desperate to slip back into the warm embrace of childhood nostalgia. The original Pokemon games came out 20 years ago, and millions of 90s kids who were once obsessed with Pokemon are now adults with disposable income, and sometimes children of their own.

The timing was spot-on, as 90s nostalgia is everywhere in 2016. But it’s important that Nintendo isn’t just trying to re-hash scrunchies or boy bands; they’ve taken on very cutting-edge technology that’s put the Pokemon of yesteryear in an incredibly novel light.

That’s important from a technology standpoint, too. It’d be less feasible to drop users into the unfamiliar world of augmented reality up creek and without a paddle, but the Pokemon element gives the game a reassuring familiarity where players can say, “Right, I already know how to do this — it’s just a little bit different.”

The lesson for marketers and content creators is that innovation should move more like a steamroller than an anvil. You’re not going to grow if you keep pushing the same content over and over again, but you risk alienating a good number of your current client base if you try to jump on trends too quickly or too soon.

“Use what most everyone is already using, and introduce a new layer of technology that won’t take them too far out of their comfort zone,” advises Jane Chin of the Medical Science Liaison Institute and LinkedIn’s Alternative Ph.D. Careers Group. “This reduces adoption barriers especially during early launch, when gathering critical mass is essential for word-of-mouth or ‘buzz’ marketing.” Aim to strike the right balance between new and familiar.

You don’t have to be a great Pokemon trainer to learn how to catch ‘em all in the content marketing world. What we can learn from the success of Pokemon Go is that it takes a great brand to motivate interest, sharing, and loyalty, no matter your line of work.

Behind the Caterpies and Rattatas, there’s a brilliant marketing strategy to Pokemon that rewards user engagement, that focuses on building community, and that helps consumers learn about and adopt some truly forward-thinking technology. This may be the watershed moment for augmented reality, but it won’t be the end.

Too often, content marketers forget that content can be about so much more than blog posts. And while you can’t make something go viral, anything that taps into a powerful emotion like nostalgia is much more likely to get shared online. Think about where you want to take your brand and how you can get your customers excited for the ride to come.