gamedev

“Just put it on Steam!” is Not a Strategy

Okay, to be fair, it is a strategy. It’s just a terrible one.

Let me back up for a moment…

The reason for this post is simple: I’ve seen too many talks and articles stating that the path to success in game development is to ‘make a great game’. While there is some truth in that, I think it’s harmful to tell students and prospective devs that if they just make a great game, everything will work out in the end. It devalues the time and effort needed to launch a successful title, and downplays the amount of investment companies need to make in planning, building, and supporting their marketing, community, and social strategies.

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facebook, quick tip

Quick Tip: Using FB.com

So you’ve got a great new Facebook fan page and you’d like to share it with the world on your website, promotional materials, business cards, and more.

Something like, say:

http://www.facebook.com/boopsocial 

That URL is little long to fit onto a business card easily, right? Particularly if you’re like me and a little obsessed with making sure the text length feels ‘balanced’ in relation to everything else on the card.

There’s a super easy solution, and one that’s easily overlooked if you’ve never seen it. Simply use the shortened fb.com url.

ex. fb.com/boopsocial 

Facebook automatically redirects the fb.com shortened URL. As long as you’re using the correct string after the / (in this case ‘boopsocial’), the link should redirect to the full Facebook.com without issue.

businesscards

Using the fb.com URL

 

BONUS: You can also use fb.me if you’re really strapped for characters!

ex. fb.me/boopsocial

best practice, community

Supporting Your Community Manager

I was recently asked for advice on what a company could do to make the lives of their Community Managers better. While I absolutely cannot claim to speak for everyone, I’ve put together a quick list of the top 5 considerations I think would provide significant value when thinking about and supporting your community team.

#1: Company Values

Have a strong, public list of company values, and reinforce those through public actions. I always appreciated a previous company that I worked for that made it very clear that they participate in pride parade, and that anyone who enjoyed their games was welcome. Making that public, making it clear that this was a company that supported diversity and wasn’t okay with bullying, etc was HUGE.

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video

Social Streaming Video: Updates!

Note: This piece was originally written for Wipster.io


In July I wrote about the exciting new entrants into the world of streaming video: Meerkat & Periscope. At the time, they’d been on the market for less than 6 months, and were already having a big impact in the livestreaming social video market. Since then, each app has gone through a series of updates, bringing with them a surge of great new features. This month we’re revisiting Meerkat & Periscope to bring you the latest updates and look at ways you can use them in your social strategy.

Bonus: I’ll also be taking a quick look at Blab.im, the quickly growing powerhouse for live streaming video conversation!

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gamedev, public speaking

Game Developers of Wellington Talk

Game Developers of Wellington

Earlier this month I was invited to speak at the Game Developers of Wellington on the topic of using Social Media to Network & Promote Yourself.  You can now catch (most of) the talk online! I managed to out-talk the memory stick, so apologies for the abrupt cut off near the end.

Interested in hearing me speak about something specific in a future talk or livestream? Drop me a line in the comments below, or via Twitter @boopsocial!