How to Promote UWO

Do you know YOU can help promote UWO to new players TODAY?

Even if you don't have an audience (followers)?

Even if you don't know how (or don't want) to create content? 

But first let's answer the WHY.

Why Promote UWO?

I'm sure most people will think...

• It's Papaya's job to promote.
• UWO does not need more players.
• I have already promoted UWO to my friends.

Let's break them down.

It's Papaya's job to promote

That's true. 

But is Papaya promoting it? No.

Will Papaya promote it? Likely not.

Let's face it... Papaya looks happy to live on its small but loyal player base.

So it's up to us (Players) to make a difference and make it a better.

UWO does not need more players

This game is currently only a fraction of what it can be.

Let's be honest, global doesn't even have a 2nd server. With the exception of Seville, London and its surroundings, seas are usually empty.

We may have lots of alts but the player base is small, very small. And this affects the gameplay for most people, especially for maritimers.

Do you like Franban day? Imagine it every day in Calicut, Ambon, Sakai...

I have already promoted UWO to my friends

How many friends / connections  / followers do you have? What are the odds that one of them is a fan of age of sail / discovery or a fan of video games?

Let's say you tell 10 friends about the game and the odds of them being pirate games fan being 10%:

10 (friends) * 10% equals 1 friend. 

1 friend that's great! But the truth is...

... the odds are slim to none. Age of discovery is very nichie unlike FPS, DOTA and battle royale games. So you likely did not bring anyone aboard the ship.

The Answer

So the answer to the WHY question is really up to you: Make it better? Prevent it from dying? Because I want to. You name it...

But let's be clear: It's not your fault, job or obligation to help the community in any way. However, if you are interested in helping, this is how you do it.

In this tutorial I'll explain how you can harness the power of social media to get your message to thousands of people very cheaply. Thus getting the message to people who are potentially interested in playing the game but don't know about it yet.

I'll start with facebook because they have a very powerful artificial intelligence (knowledge of users).

How to Create a Facebook Page

First of all you need a personal facebook account. So create one first (if you don't have it yet).

Second to that, facebook changes its user interface all the time. So it is pointless to give the exact print screens as it will age pretty quickly. With that being said the undelying concepts does not change.

So please watch this video to understand how to create a facebook page (It's different than a facebook personal account):

Note: Choose "Community or public figure" as broad category if given the option. It shouldn't be asking it anymore.

Milestone 1: Page Name / Username

Choose something to stand out like "Let's Play UWO?" in your country's language. 

Note: The username doesn't accept special characters.

Milestone 2: Category

As for the category type in "Video Game" or equivalent in your language. 

Milestone 3: Upload a profile Picture

I used a simple pixabay's royalty free image:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13DmA5kBih53L-UpaDAzeqvm_hIcAs0OU/view?usp=sharing

Milestone 4: Upload a Page Cover

You may browse UWO's official facebook page and use one of them as your cover. You will have to resize it to 820 x 312 pixels.

Or just use the same one. I used this one:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hmaTe0I1eT6rG1aiaENo8hAPsvgDOrfz/view?usp=sharing

Milestone 5: First Post

Just put a link to Steam or papaya's website with a description like: 

Uncharted Waters Online is a game set in the age of discovery. Choose from six nationalities and chart your own destiny as either a merchant, adventurer, pirate or Bounty Hunter!

Remember to pin your first post so people who go to your page's bio see it first.

Milestone 6: Add button

Choose "Play game" and insert the link to UWO's steam Page or Papaya play.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/890400/Uncharted_Waters_Online/

https://uwo.papayaplay.com/uwo.do

I prefer to link to steam for a few reasons. 

1. The overall web page is well crafted and relevant for someone who is looking for a new game to play.
2. Most players know steam whereas the same can't be said about Papaya Play.

How to create a Facebook ad (Step by step guide)

Like I said, the facebook's UI change all the time but it is pretty easy when you get the big picture.

In a nutshell this is how you do it:

Define your goal > Set a budget ad > Specify your audience > Upload your Ad / Media.

In facebook language:

Create a campaign > create ad set > Create an ad.

Easy right? This is the point most people miss. Then they get overwhelmed by unnecessary minor details.

Anyway, please read this general guide to understand these basic concepts.

Alright now I'll give you more specific directions.

Step 1: Create a campaign and budget

What you should choose:

Ad objective: Engagement

I know most marketers recommend conversion (aka game downloads) but we can't choose this option because we have no access to papaya's or steam's website.

Boosting your engagement will also allow you to gain followers and improve your organic reach later (If you want).

Budget: It's up to you. In the examples I give below I used a US$ 1 / day budget.

Step 2: Create an ad set

This is where you specify your audience. Examples you can copy:

Audience example 1

Audience example 2

Remember to choose your country to make it cheaper and more relevant.

Step 3: Create the ad

You need a content to promote. You can use one of mine or edit it to suit your needs (country, language etc...):

Download it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OOy7P-_qfxN6IM80TQIyCx7uDu2rH3C0/view?usp=sharing

Source video (Editable):

• Video Source
• Subtitles

The program I use to edit video is Kdenlive (Free / opensource). You can learn the basics to use it in a 10 minute youtube video.

The good thing about facebook is that you do not need to "think" about ads. You can create as many ads as you like and facebook will test them in your audience. By testing I mean facebook will automatically optimize it to get more results (Ad objective).

Facebook ad: Example & Results

Example 1 (Used UWO's edited opening movie)

Amount spent: R$ 17.18 (US$3.19)

Reach: 28838 (Unique people who received the ad)

Engagement: 9263 (People who actually engaged with the ad and not scrolled down)

Cost per engagement: R$ 0.002 (US$ 0.00037)

Example 2 (Used Captain Dan's Broadside music)

Amount spent: R$ 16.12 (US$ 2.99)

Reach: 8387 (Unique people who received the ad)

Engagement: 2782 (People who actually engaged with the ad and not scrolled down)

Cost per engagement: R$ 0.01 (US$ 0.0019)

Source / editable: Download here. Posted video:

Example 3 (Play Button Promotion)

Amount spent: R$ 19.89 (US$ 3.69)

Reach: 9980 (Unique people who received the ad)

Link clicks: 72 (People who actually clicked to go to Steam's UWO page)

Cost per click: R$ 0.28 (US$ 0.052)

How many new players?

This one is harder to know as papaya does not make their player base number public. But we can guess from Steam's open numbers:

Data from feb 1st 2021

Two numbers tell us the big picture: Avg Players and Peak Players. 

If you go to UWO Steam's charts you will see that we have the best peak player number since the pandemic's peak (had 80 peak players in April 2020) and the best player count since the early months of the steam's launch (Excluding the pandemic period between March - May 2020).

Of course I can't claim all of the result is due to these ads. On the other hand, if you compare this december / january's gain with the ones from previous years you will see a big improvement.

But the one fact is, the more people see your ad the more people will play this game. And you don't need an audience or content to start.

If you need help please use the comments below, I'll be glad to help whenever I can!

Others Ways to Help

Positive reviews on steam are very valuable these days. Why don't you write one on steam or other MMORPG review sites?

Papaya has recently made a trailer. Why not share it on your social medias?