
How a Community and Social Media Management Role Could Launch Your Career in the Video Games Industry
Keywords Studios inspires new talent to explore opportunities in community and social media management, pushing the boundaries of their potential in the video games industry.
What is Community and Social Media Management?
Community and social media managers in the video games industry connect players with game developers. They handle player interactions, create engaging content, manage social media, and provide essential feedback. They are the link between the community and the game creators, helping to build a strong and engaged player base, as well as working with the marketing team on community-focused outreach.
Building Skills and Experience
Key Skills:
- Communication: You need to communicate clearly, write well, and handle tough situations with understanding.
- Social Media: Knowing how to utilise different social media platforms to engage with the community is essential. A successful social media strategy can generally be broken down into your approach to both creative and copywriting. Creative centres around the ideation of concepts for posts as well as any associated content creation and briefing. While a dedicated approach to copywriting is important to capture attention and engage with your community. Both require a deep understanding of current industry trends.
- Analytics: Understanding data from community interactions helps improve the game by providing useful insights to the development team. Analysing social media stats is also important, as this information can help inform strategic decisions and allow you to adjust your social media plan accordingly.
Important Personality Traits:
- Empathy: Understand and relate to players' experiences.
- Patience: Deal calmly with passionate and sometimes frustrated players.
- Organisation: Manage multiple tasks and priorities.
Gaining Experience
Keywords Studios offers many roles in community and social media management that help you develop your skills and grow professionally. You can view our community management openings here.
Networking and Building Your Brand
A strong online presence is key. Connect with industry professionals on LinkedIn, attend game conventions, and join online discussions. Personal branding is a nice extra that will make you stand out among your peers - show your expertise through a blog or social media to demonstrate your knowledge and passion for community and social media management in video games.
Additional Skills
- Stakeholder Management: Experience working with external clients and in cross-departmental teams is crucial for community and social media management professionals. The ability to collaborate effectively is highly valued in community-facing roles.
- Product Knowledge: It's essential that you develop a deep understanding of the game and its fanbase that you will oversee as a Community and Social Media Manager. Immerse yourself in the game and explore game-related conversations on platforms like Reddit and Discord.
- Strategic Thinking: The ability to use performance data to develop and execute strategies and plans that align with brand/game goals, and aim to grow the community and social media platforms.
Final Thoughts
Starting a career in community and social media management in the video games industry requires relevant skills, practical experience, and a strong passion for games. By participating in games communities, sharpening your skills, and building a network of like-minded people, you can take advantage of every opportunity to achieve your goals.
At Keywords Studios, we believe in the power of technology and community. Embracing our ethos of "Imagine More" helps us inspire our partners and talent to reach their full potential and aim higher than ever thought possible.