Hi, I'm Victoria! Join my Community Dev Newsletter for insight into games marketing, social, and community management. Get actionable tips, a skill testing question, and a roundup of resources straight to your inbox every month.
Setting marketing expectations on a team ✨ Community Dev Newsletter #39
Published 17 days ago • 7 min read
Community Dev Newsletter
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
I'm trying to enjoy my summer season and am in the middle of a move, so next newsletter for August will be shorter as I "reconnect with nature", "touch grass", and allegedly get my moving box situation under control.
My life is literally just this right now. Source: Unpacking.
This month's newsletter dives into:
Teehee my book
Advice for community leads who are joining a team that has never worked with marketing before
22 community/marketing related resources and job posts
Mastering Community Management
Well. This newsletter will have a little self promo section, please forgive me. (If you're a new subscriber sorry it isn't usually like this. You just joined at a very good/bad time.)
After 2 long years my book Mastering Community Management: Chaos, Compassion, and Connections in Games is coming out. And you can secure your copy now!
I'm sure this is the kind of marketing image my editor was talking about.
There are a lot of resources out there, so where do you even start when it comes to your community management journey? I wanted this book to be a core resource to help new folks figure out the work and help professionals fine tune their craft.
Here's just some of what you can expect:
Pre-launch to post-launch guide – strategies for each stage of development!
Review activities in key sections to help readers reflect and actively engage with the material. (Very similar to what we do here regularly in the newsletters but in ✨book format✨).
Case studies, step-by-step infrastructure, and background theory.
Fun fact: I originally wanted the cover to use an eggplant emoji because it'd be funny, but sadly it didn't look great as a flat icon next to the others.
NO PRESSURE TO BUY IT. I don't control the price and it's way more expensive that I want it to be sorrrryyy... But if my newsletter, articles, talks, or stupid posts online have ever helped you, I'd appreciate any support! You can:
Buy a copy to use as kindling for a fire while you're lost in the wilderness
I'm very nervous about it, and I really REALLY really hope it's helpful to people!
Community Activity 📝
Every month we do a skill testing exercise together, but this month it's a little different!! Have an activity idea or want to ask a question?Submit one anonymously.
The question:
Taking a break for summer in my part of the world! ☀ Send me your favorite meme!
Feel free to email me back with your answer - I always respond. Mine will be in the next newsletter!
Last week's question:
What advice would you give a community lead who is joining an indie team that has never had a marketing team before? (i.e., you are the only person doing the marketing work, and there was no designated person before you were brought on.)
One of the most important things to do on a team that has never worked with a marketing/community professional before is to set expectations. You typically get some idea of this during the interview phase, but it’s good to go deeper later once you're actually on the team. Knowing their goals and assumptions will help you communicate in a way that’s helpful to them and focus on the highest priority items.
How setting your boundaries can feel sometimes lol
Once you clarify that, I'd then recommend figuring out their pain points, wants, and priorities for their community! To do this, you want to ask (interrogate) the team. This information should help you get started on figuring out the best course of action for your strategy.
Here are some examples for the kinds of questions I use (no need to use all of them!):
Team Discovery Goal
Uncover the challenges facing the studio, why they wanted to hire a community manager, and the people who work in the studio. This should include any key stakeholders and decision makers within the team.
Tip: Ask open-ended questions, be curious, go deep. Don’t be afraid to ask something that might seem obvious! They might not have answers to all these questions, or be willing to dive into it, but any morsel of information helps.
Sample questions:
What are your long term plans for the game? For the studio?
How do you feel about the community so far? What do you think they want/need
What are you hoping for within the first 6 months? The first year?
What’s stressing you out the most about the community? Why?
Who has the ultimate decision making power in [x] situation?
What do you value in communication? How do you like reports/findings presented?
Are there any examples of studios with community management strategies you admire? What tones of voice do you dislike?
How committed is the team to involving community within development, if at all?
Resource Gathering Goal
Uncover what documentation and assets are already available to you. Understand the most efficient way to get the content and information you need.
Tip: Take notes and reorganize things you find in a way that makes sense for you.
Sample questions:
What documentation do you have about the game? Can I see the design doc?
Where can I find key art and press kit information, and is there an asset repository where I can easily grab standalone, transparent game art/sprites?
What brand colours, spellings, or themes should I know about?
Where can I find information about upcoming/planned features?
If I need assets, who do I contact and how much lead time do they want? How much time can the team work on my requests?
Who has the most information about [game topic]?
Game Clarification Goal
Ensure you understand the studio’s future and game’s development plan. While we do want to hype the game up, we also want to make sure what we’re saying is realistic. Also ensuring that the team is comfortable about the way you talk about the game. Don’t forget to play the game yourself, so you know what you’re getting into!
Tip: If the developers are unable to answer your questions for this, answer them yourself and give your answers to the developers. That way they can disagree with you or correct you. People are sometimes better at saying what it is not versus what it is.
Sample questions:
What words would you use to describe the game? What are bad words to use to describe the game? (E.g. I wouldn’t use the word “difficult” to describe Among Us, but I would use the word “simple”.)
Who are your competitors? What differentiates you from them?
What game features are you most excited about? What do you think the community is excited about, if it’s different?
What is the overall community sentiment on the game? Favorite thing? Least favorite? Most confusing thing?
Are there any spoilers for the game and if so, what should I not be sharing?
What are the brand colours? Who/what are the main characters and imagery?
Are there any big marketing beats already planned and coming up that I should know of?
Community Insight Goal
Understand what the community is like at the time of you joining. If it’s a more established community, then what stories do they have? What groups have formed? What are the norms?
Tip: Get to know the moderators of your community (Reddit, Discord, any others). They probably know way more about the everyday community than the developers do heheheh.
Sample questions:
Do you like your community? How do you feel about them?
What are the mods like, if you have any? What is their relationship with the studio?
Is there anything you’d like to achieve with the community, but are unsure on how to make it happen or if it’s even possible?
What are the quirks of the community? Do they have any inside jokes? Is there any community lore I need to know about?
What’s the player relationship with the dev team? What’s the tone like when you all talk to each other?
Are there any problem members I need to be aware of?
Where is your biggest challenge with the community?
What does success look like to you, for the community and playerbase?
It may seem like a lot, but it's worth it! Make sure you're targeting all the key departments and stakeholders on the team. Everyone will have different priorities, and you should be considering their needs.
Community Chatter 💬
Here are the interesting and helpful things I've seen this past month.
General News
YouTube updated their analytics feature including custom reports and easier data viewing
Game News
Steam has updated their store page asset management - "better localization support, alt text for accessibility, and an updated workflow for asset overrides"
Community & Marketing Game Jobs These are not endorsements.
Success through shenanigans with community management.
Hi, I'm Victoria! Join my Community Dev Newsletter for insight into games marketing, social, and community management. Get actionable tips, a skill testing question, and a roundup of resources straight to your inbox every month.
