A letter of encouragement to future community leaders...
To
ensure I'm not leaving out any related roles, such as social media
strategists, e-sports managers, forum moderators, community managers,
and all the other titles involving the community, I will lump these
under a single term for the sake of this article – community relations.
Another article will be needed to better define what these other roles
are about, and how they relate to each other. Since I am a community
manager, I will of course be using my perspective for these points.
Achieving
a successful career path in community relations is as enjoyable, and
also challenging, of any game industry role one can undertake. Most of
the time it's a rewarding adventure that makes you feel like you're
truly building that dream job. Even when it gets 'interesting',
the proverbial coffee tap fed through an intravenous line is usually no
more than an arms reach away. You learn new things and meet new people
all the time, which helps in bringing fresh ideas to the table for
building community content.
Get excited, as this is just the beginning...
Do I sound excited? I am! You should be too, and here is why.
Community
teams get to interact with both the players and the developers. You are
the conduct of communication for these groups. You get the chance to
learn from the developers about upcoming content that the community
hasn't seen yet. Once the community reads all about it, they will get
excited and share it on fan sites and other portals dedicated to your
game. The developers love seeing this activity, and take notice of those
community members that produce it.
Dishing
out the good news is of course the exciting part of being a cheerleader
of sorts for the company. You will also come across many instances of
issues and concerns the community brings up that make you think
carefully about how to respond or take action. Should that dampen your
excitement at looking into this career? Not one bit... it's worth the
effort. Have a thick skin and don't take things personally. Keep that in
mind and you're already tempering half of the concerns you'll likely
come across.
While
you should get excited that community relations is a solid career
option, know that its expectatons and potential are different from QA,
Customer Support, and other related fields you may consider. It's as
important of a role as any other, but it isn't always as easy to jump in
on an entry level basis. When you do find your footing though, it will
open up a great expanse of potential for you to explore higher level
roles, such as moving on to production or senior level options.
You
may already have an idea on which school to get a degree at, which
social networks and blog tools to use to show that you can type as well
as you speak, and which company will offer the most immediate benefit
and prestige with an entry level position. I bet some of you even have
everything listed in a notebook and ready to implement or build upon as
soon as you finish reading this post.
Get excited and have those notes ready, but first and most importantly, have you considered... you?
Being a community leader is not just about other people...
What
matters more than all of the things you can write down on your resume
is who you are and how you manage yourself. Over my career, I've seen
great community managers rise and fall on the drop of a mouse click
because their expectations conflicted with the type of role they
commanded. I've also seen community managers fit with their team and
community like peanut butter and jelly because they had a great
personality, knew what to expect, and had a proactive focus on the job
at hand.
A
bit of a disclaimer is in order here before I rattle on further. I'm
not a psychologist and shouldn't be offering advice on what will work
best at home and outside industry influences to shore up one's 'self'.
I'll just plant the above thought of focusing on this important aspect.
Now we can move on to the juicy career related details I can talk about in confidence.
Don't be afraid to sparkle...
Why
can it be a challenge to get a community related career started? Partly
because we are unable to present our work as upfront as you can with
many other fields. Take artists for example. If you are a budding
artist, with a little luck it can sometimes take just that handful of
masterful concept pieces to get you in the door. This is similar to a
programmer with great code, a designer with a playable map, a writer
with readily available stories, or any other tangible asset. Displaying
amazing visuals goes a long way in the impressions department.
These
entrancing visuals also ties into the self in other roles like
community relations. Personality, intelligence, proactiveness, and all
that other good stuff is extremely important to a company hiring you.
The difference with these other roles though is that it's not as often
tied as closely to the public and a game's player base. I'm emphasizing
being a nice yet strong willed person because it really is part of your
job to be a leading face of the company in the eyes of the community.
Your
work (and success) is in working with people that won't have room to be
featured on a resume that a headhunter can easily call to learn more
about you. Regarding what to list on your resume then, don't just slap
down a bunch of references, games you've played, forums you've posted
in, and proudly proclaim that you're a community manager because you've
learned how to press the big red ban button. It's not that simple, but
it most definitely can be done. Experience takes time and will come from
a few different angles. Just keep in mind that all angles lead back to
you as a person.
Baby steps... try these three first:
There are three approaches that stand out to me as straightforward and worthwhile options, though there are many others that may work perfectly well for you:
1: Volunteer
to write for news outlets. You can also become a moderator in the
outlet's forums or chat rooms. The idea here is to get your face visible
to any game communities that you can. You have to show that you are
capable of working with other people, especially online gamer crowds.
Share and blog about content released by your favorite product/game in
these communities to add a little bit of power to your presence. Working
with other communities is a good step in eventually building your own.
2:
Start a fansite or become a gameplay streamer by starting a channel on
sites like Twitch, UStream, or YouTube. This latter possibility may be
easier to setup, and is becoming a hotbed of interest in e-sports
communities. Simply get noticed by the developers for talking about the
game. This can work out better than you might at first expect. At every
company I've worked at, we tried our best to take notice of the more
vocal community members that made an effort to build the community for
others. They get noticed, even if it takes time for them to realize it.
You can get noticed too, especially in indie game communities that are
just getting started.
3: Get to know people in the industry. Schmooze.
I attend conferences and other networking events as much as possible,
even if it's expensive to get there. Consider yourself lucky to be in a
city with events going on year-round. San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Seattle, San Diego, and Austin are the top five in the U.S. game
industry. Sometimes it's as simple as being a nice person and landing in
the right place with the right person whom happens to be looking for a
community manager.
In
this last example, have your business card ready! Ask for theirs
discreetly by presenting yours. If you are lucky enough to meet a
prominent developer, play it cool and don't present your business card
until the moment feels right. This is either after an initial
conversation has concluded when it's just you and them, or if it's part
of a group discussion you walked into. In the latter case, present a
card after someone else offers up theirs. There are almost certainly
others in the group ready to do so.
Your Swiss army knife of skills and tools...
With
all of that said, I know you still want to know what tools, resources,
and tangible abilities you need as a face to the company. Here is a
brief list of what I think is essential to know. While this list comes
from my more recent experience in the game industry. Many others
industries share similar points, should you wish to focus on an industry
closer to home.
Knowledge of and experience in using:
-
The product the community you expect to manage is using (duh!).
-
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and all those other social networks.
-
Website forum and news software from Wordpress, xenForo, Invision Power Boards, or vBulletin.
-
Basic HTML/CSS for website updates and crafting of news announcements and sending out campaigns through services like MailChimp and ConstantContact.
-
Photoshop and other basic image editing programs to add that little extra spice to a social network post you thought up that very morning.
-
Streaming and video recording software like Fraps, XSplit, Open Broadcast Software (OBS), and interacting with Twitch.TV chats.
-
Communication and organization tools, such as: Skype, Toodledo, Outlook, video software and networking apps.
-
Production tools to keep on the same page as the rest of the team, such as: Confluence Wiki, JIRA, Trello, and Basecamp.
-
Analytic tools from Google, Facebook, and services like Jive and Ninja Metrics.
-
Support tools and services, such as: Zendesk, Assistly, Alchemic Dream and Metaverse Mod Squad.
Ability to:
-
Communicate effectively! Especially online when you're interacting with the community, or amongst others at the office and during industry events.
-
Encourage others to become involved in the community... be a people person!
-
Moderate the moderators, which includes both paid and volunteer.
-
Develop regular community activities, such as contests that drive retention and growth (this may be shared with marketing if you have a larger team).
-
Take flak for when there is a problem. You are the community's outlet, so have a thick skin and pause before responding and taking a comment personally.
-
Work in tandem with the developer and community to keep everyone on the same page for community expectations. You are not only a face of the company in the eyes of the community, but one at the office as well.
-
Have just as thick of a skin when needing to lay down solid rules and guidelines that all (including your team) must abide by.
-
Say 'No' to the community in a positive way without lying or being deceitful. Also, don't let a concern by the community go without a response for too long!
Obviously there is a lot to learn about if you're just getting started. Don't expect you have to know all
of them out of the gate. Some companies won't need a particular tool or
service. Try these out first if your team doesn't have a solution at
hand. If they don't work for your situation, there are always
alternatives to consider!
If
I could turn back the clock, I wouldn't. I love being a community
manager so much, that I spent my afternoon writing this article about
it. I really hope you will stand up and help our small segment of the
industry to reach new heights. As I've said before, you will be noticed,
and needed!
Now tweet to @mathewanderson that you're working on that community portfolio :). You can also chat me up at mathewanderson.com.
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