In esports social media hasn’t been a high priority over the years, and it is time that changes. Speaking of league of legends teams that means yes they joined twitter and Facebook. They would post announcements about their teams or call to action to visit their webpage to drive traffic. Player pictures or YouTube hype video’s are popular and common example of tweets. Media in these forms are interacted with at decent numbers. Growth on these sites either came by playing real well or just being there long enough some teams have done a better job than others.

Included Optic as they are really powerful on twitter and these 3 joined before league of legends got huge

SK Gaming Joined twitter in January 2009 and currently have 89.1k followers with 10.4k tweets.

Fnatic joined twitter in February 2009 and currently have 480k followers with 25.1k tweets 5762

Optic Gaming Joined twitter August 2009 and currently have 1.18 million followers with 17.7k tweets

These 3 organizations joined twitter around the same time and have very different number of followers. Social media isn’t something you have just to have. The value in social media is real and the doors are open to succeed. A smaller org could have a bigger fan-base than a larger org because of a successful social marketing team.

A strong fan-base means more merchandise sales, more money from sponsors, and a stronger Infrastructure for the team to succeed. These numbers are used when organizations negotiate for deals.

Gary Vaynerchuk a co-founder of Vaynermedia a social media and strategy company of many fortune 500 company’s is always stressing the importance of Snapchat. He said “I don’t want to be on tv i want to be on Snapchat” in the same video he tells Brandon Marshall “More people will watch you on Snapchat than watch you on Fu***** inside NFL its just bigger than you think man” “you know why SnapChat is great it doesn’t have to be perfect it just has to be real”

Language warning Link to the video where i got the quotes DON’T BE MY FRIEND AND NOT BE GOOD AT SOCIAL | DailyVee 009 YouTube

credit to Gary Vaynerchuk for quotes

This platform is great for esports because the community already feels close to the players it is a marketing tool that is neglected by most teams. Demographics say age range is 13-25 yr olds ,and 77% of college students use it sounds like its perfect for the scene. The platform is used by people of all ages and all sorts of brands. Doing it right on snapchat can bring huge value for your brand.

Facebook and twitter are no longer the only social media in town. Esports have been in a box and its time to use tools and think outside the box.

Instagram has been used by some and once again some better than others

CLG 14.4k followers 75 posts

TSM 87.3k followers 47 posts

FNC 197k followers 558 posts

Origen 36.9k followers 32 posts

Did you even know these teams had an Instagram? Cross promoting platforms is very valuable.

Periscope is a video platform that your twitter followers can easily tune into. I asked ShortyAward nominated periscoper of the year Brain Fanzo

How could periscope help an esport team connect to their fans?

@Jetslove81 #ThinkLikeAFan – Share unique insights and behind the scenes engagement that gives them access they can’t get elsewhere

Fans being engaged by the organization will feel a new bond to the brand. A connection that they never received in esports and something that traditional sports can’t bring. Imagine a locker room inside look behind the scenes in an unscripted environment unlike anything we seen on YouTube.

Various other platforms could’ve been mentioned and some of them bring value also. I hope this spur some creativity and call to action from the people in charge of the social media side of the organizations in esports. 

With the Venture capitalists investing into the scene the hopes of social media finally being done right would be great for the scene. Organizations seem to bank heavy on fans just following them on twitter for their social marketing. The time is now to stop talking about wanting nonendemic sponsors and doing things that force them to notice. Doing things differently, creatively, and prolificate growth.

Credit to Brian Fanzo for the quote

You can find me over at twitter Jeremy wolfe Ne0Jets @jetslove81

Also thanks for reading feel free to check out my other articles on the site.