Carlota Pico recently got the chance to speak with David Robson, global community and influencer manager at Deep Silver, a UK-based video game publisher. Their conversation covers everything you need to know about entering the influencer marketing space, with fascinating insights into the gaming industry as well. David shares his thoughts on some common questions: how much should you pay influencers, who should have creative control over influencer campaigns, and what exactly is Twitch?

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and read our recap below.

Key takeaways

  • Product knowledge and passion are especially important in the gaming and influencer marketing industries. In both areas, trends are incredibly fast-paced and audiences are savvy—they know if you’re not up to date on the latest developments.
  • The amount of money an influencer earns depends on various factors: their following, their engagement rate, what channels they’re on, what kind of content you want them to create, etc. Influencer marketing may seem expensive at first, but there are hidden benefits that you wouldn’t receive with traditional media or even social media.
  • It’s vital to give influencers as much creative control as possible, because they know their audience better than anyone else. Give them a broad framework to work within and let them create content that they know will resonate with their viewers. 
  • Measuring success in influencer marketing varies depending on the objective of each campaign. Macro-influencers are used to drive brand or product awareness, so you can look at the number of views. Micro-influencers have a stronger connection to their audience, so KPIs might include clicks or sales conversions. 
  • In recent years, influencers have lost a bit of authenticity as companies with big marketing budgets have flooded social media. During COVID-19, authenticity regained massive importance, which has had a positive impact on influencer marketing overall.

Rapid-fire recs

An influencer or role model who inspires you?

My inspiration has to be Caspar Lee. He’s one of the biggest creators in the UK who has now transitioned to a business-led lifestyle. His company, Influencer, offers an incredibly useful solution for connecting with micro-influencers. He’s become a friend of mine, and I love hearing his perspective on everything in the influencer space.

A valuable resource, event or group?

There’s a Facebook group for community managers in the gaming industry where everyone shares ideas and contacts, gives advice and helps people find work. This is a particularly good resource if you work in gaming.

Your favorite app at the moment?

This is probably old news to many people, but I love Splice. It’s a video editing app that allows you to do really advanced editing on your phone. If you’re looking to edit videos on the fly, it’s one of the most powerful mobile apps available.


Connect with David and Carlota on LinkedIn.

You can also connect with David on Twitter: @OhHeyDAVEY


For more insights into community management, check out:

Business-to-human marketing – Erika Bianco, international marketing and comms manager

“Our community managers are our eyes and ears in each market.”

Engineer success online – Annie Ross, global marketing & comms manager at Penspen

To see the full transcript, click on page number 2 below.