[GUIDE] How to promote CSGO Zombie Escape servers

[pedrotski]

Zombie Escape is by far our favorite game mode when it comes to CSGO, but without new players, its going to be very hard to maintain the player base we currently have. The last thing I want to see is the ZE game mode die or people only have one refugee server option.

The more players we have in general, the more beneficial it will be to ALL Zombie Escape servers. 

This isn't something just server owners can do, this is something anyone in the community can (and should) do if you love the game mode)

Here are 2 easy methods you can use to promote the ZE game mode to a new audience and retain those players. 

Youtube

One of the easiest ways to attract new players to Zombie Escape is to post videos on YouTube. But one of the most common ways people are using to get views it to use a title that is the map name. While this is great to attract the 10 people who are going to search for the map itself, its no good at bringing in an outside audience to ZE. 

What you should be doing instead is to capture people who are looking for the niche of the map. 

Let's take a Minecraft map for example. 

Instead of using a title like this "CSGO Zombie Escape - ze_minecraft_universe_v1_5", You should try and flip it to be more focused on the Minecraft audience. 

Here are some examples

• Minecraft Zombies in Counter Strike Global Offensive!
• How To Survive Minecraft Zombies In CSGO!
• Minecraft Zombies In CSGO?!
• SURVIVING ZOMBIES IN MINECRAFT *CSGO STYLE*
• I Tried Playing The Minecraft Zombie Mod In CSGO... This Happened

This kind of method can be applied to almost any map. Alien vs Predator, Unreal Tournament, Squid Game (might have missed the boat for this one) and speaking of boats, Titanic.

Heck, you can even promote rhythm games on laser/ball stages!

You can then use a free tool such as vidIQ to ensure you're going to get the most visibility out of your videos. Think of it as a check list that you must have for every video. This will help you make sure you have the minimum amount of tags etc you need to start ranking your videos in YouTube search. 

Another handy thing vidIQ does is you can see the popular tags of top videos. 

Finally you need some form of Call to action. Someone who is really good at doing this is Welyn. At the end of each video he says "I'm live streaming on twitch right now some come join". You need to be doing some form of this in your videos. 

It's also worth while putting in the contact details, website etc of the server you're playing on in the description. Make sure these are easy (clickable links) and are up to date. 

Short Form Video (Youtube Shorts, Tiktok, Facebook)

The current KING of engagement right now is short form videos. It also happens to be the easiest type of videos that you can make to farm views. 

You can make shorts out of your existing YouTube videos and simply edit them into a shorter version. 

The problem here is people have a really short attention span so you need to hook them. 

Let me explain

When you go to watch a movie these days, you don't normally sit through a bunch of boring stuff before the action starts, they will hook you with some action right at the start. Think of the Matrix opening scene

This gets you pumped for the entire movie. 

The same principle is applied to short form content. But instead of 2 hours to work with, you have 60 seconds. 

What this means is you need to "hook" the viewer and get their attention asap. 

The formula you should use goes like this. 

• Hook
• Sub Hook/Context
• Call to action

The hook is what we described at the start. The most interesting part of the video. 

Next we have Sub Hook/Content. This is other interesting parts of your video and events leading up to your main hook

Finally we have a call to action. A call to action is something you want the viewer to do. The best thing for this is to get them into your Discord or website to come and join you in game.  I described this above with Welyn as an example. 

People will only do what you tell them to do. You can't expect them to act alone. 

As short form is more organic and less SEO/Clickbait focused, you really just need to make the videos as fun as possible so people watch the entire thing. 

Do You Need Help?

I get that it can be overwhelming so if you're looking to improve your content, want some pointers, or have questions about anything I have spoken about here, then let me know in this thread.

Again, I don't care what server you're from and who you create content for, rising tides raise all ships. 

Post your videos/channels below and I'll give you some tips and areas where to improve.