As part of Unite Europe 2016, a number of Unity's community team gave a talk on how to effectively grow a community and look after it.
Giving the talk were:
- Sara Cecilia Lempiainen, Community Manager at Unity;
- Leena Viitanen, Senior Community Manager at Unity Everyplay, and;
- Kristyna Paskova, Social Media Manager at Unity
If you build it...
First, Paskova advised that you have a plan for what kind of community you want to grow, taking into consideration what kind of people you want to involve, the goals of your company, and what kind of content you're going to post.
On the latter, she advised a "1/3 rule", where you spend a third of your time sharing community content, a third talking with the community, and a third promoting your own content within the community.
"If your marketing budget is zero, ask for help", she advised, suggesting you ask friends and family who have experience or at least the time to offer, allowing you to carry on making the game.
And in terms of analytics, it is important to actually keep an eye on your own data, and "don't listen to the experts", because social media is constantly changing, and what works one day may not the next.
Keeping in touch
Once you have a community, Viitanen advised getting a community manager with "personality" and "a tough skin" to deal with the occasional "evil messages" while still being pleasant.
She also recommending deciding early whether to stay behind a nickname and avatar or be completely open with who you are.
The latter option makes the community feel closer to you, and recognise the human element, although they did warn that "you'll still get the 'ugly bitch' comments".
It was also suggested to "make use of the big name fans", and use their fame to excite the community, but not go so far as to look like you're playing favourites and ignoring the rest of the community.