Face to Facebook

Specialist game agency Adotomi has launched a new Facebook API for developers looking to widen the reach of their creations. Develop caught up with the company’s CEO Joe McCormack to find out more…

What exactly is IronFlyer?
IronFlyer is a Facebook API for games. It allows our users to tap into the rich player demographics that exist within Facebook, in a targeted and intelligent way. We are excited by this new service and really feel that the meticulous development process we went through is going to generate huge value for our clients’ games.

What does the tool allow game developers to do?
The IronFlyer service actually empowers game developers to reach audiences that will make the difference to their games.

Through deep analytical targeting, this service allows us to match specific player profiles with our client’s games.

This is something that has never been achievable before in a scalable environment. Additionally, we are game-centric – all our staff are gamers – this allows us to build engaging ad copy and creatives that really speak with end users.

What differentiates IronFlyer from other marketing tools of this kind?
It is a specialist service for the gaming industry. We combine smart technology with engaging ad copy that targets actual gamers.

One of the key differentiators is our Intelligent Cluster Group technology. Through this proprietary tool we have mapped out gamers and their habits across Facebook. This allows us to target more paying users.

For our readers who don’t know Adotomi, who are you?
Adotomi has been serving the gaming industry since 2007. During this period we have leveraged our unique market position to develop gaming specific services, allowing us to execute powerful marketing strategies for our clients.

IronFlyer has just been released. What about the current climate makes a tool like this so important?
As the gaming space matures, our clients are constantly looking for smarter ways to find the right players for their games. There is a wealth of demographic information that exists across Facebook. We understand that the ability to uncover, aggregate and target user demographics is of paramount importance for our clients.

For game developers looking to move into the Facebook space, what areas and kinds of gaming experience on the social network does Adotomi see as those with the most potential for success, or those that are the most overcrowded?
Probably two of the most important factors in the success of a Facebook game involve the uniqueness of the game type and having an acute community focus. Niche games that have a well built model for community support, stimulation and engagement of the user base enjoy a lot of success in the current Facebook environment.

What challenges currently face the ever-expanding Facebook games market?
In order to create a much more user centric environment within Facebook, they have quite rightly reduced a lot of the viral channels that used to exist within the platform for game developers.

Things such as automatic posts on walls are no longer possible. It used to be that for each user you brought to your game, you could expect at least another ten or 12 players to join virally. This no longer happens. The big challenge for game developers is how to compensate for this lack of virality in their marketing plan through paid media channels and still generate positive return on investment.

I understand IronFlyer is algorithmically based. How does that approach benefit the tool’s users?
Our algorithm allows us to bring really targeted players to our client’s games. Through this targeting linked with our realtime bidding algorithm, we are able to bring the best players to games.

What other services does Adotomi offer?
Adotomi is a full service agency for the gaming industry. We provide our clients with managed media solutions, third-party affiliate management for recruiting new players, a full PR service for new title launches across all formats and creative and design services. We are a very practical agency focusing on getting games the proper exposure to the gaming market.