The Loot Chest That Launched a Career in Community Management
If you work in games, social media, or community management, then you know that running any communications or programming around conventions like E3 and PAX requires intense planning and coordination. Fresh off of his first on the ground activation at E3,\xa0Joe King, social media manager for\xa0GameStop, shares the ups and downs of working conventions and of working in games community management. He also shares his strategy for engaging with games communities whether he is walking the convention floor for the first time or covering the event on social media from a remote location.
Joe\u2019s career path into community management started with his love of games and quickly accelerated when he got creative with his resume. His advice for those looking to get into community management or any other field stands out: Start small, with tangible projects that can level up your skills.\xa0
Joe and Patrick discuss:
- What Joe did to make his resume standout when he was applying for a community position at Gearbox Software
- Why numbers don\u2019t matter when you\u2019re starting out as a streamer
- How landing a \u201cdream job\u201d can feel simultaneously exciting and paralyzing
Authentic content is a must for any community:\xa0\u201cI really love [working with] influencers, because the really smart ones know that you shouldn\u2019t get caught up in your numbers for a while. Start your channel and then just start making things. Start streaming. \u2026 Then eventually, as your content gets better and better and more people see it, they\u2019re going to realize that it\u2019s authentic, and there\u2019s value in it. It\u2019s going to naturally grow [and] your audience is going to naturally grow.\u201d \u2013@jauxking
About Joe KingBattling imposter syndrome when starting a new career path:\xa0\u201cWhen I left [my first job in gaming], I realized that the amount of fear and anxiety that I was living with every day was crippling. \u2026 Then I left, and I realized that it was never about the job in terms of what I was doing, it was about the job in terms of what I had. I was so scared to lose it that I didn\u2019t have the confidence that I used to have. \u2026 It took leaving to get where I am now.\u201d \u2013@jauxking
Joe King\xa0runs social media initiatives for\xa0GameStop. He is the former community manager for Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing, and has worked on such games as Borderlands, Battleborn, We Happy Few, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, and many more.
He recently launched\xa0Just Press Start, a podcast in which he chats with friends in the gaming industry and adjacent disciplines about what they do, how they got started, and what advice they can offer others (including him!) on how they can best achieve their personal or professional goals, rooted in gaming or not!
Related Links- Joe King on\xa0Twitter\xa0and\xa0Instagram
- Just Press Start\xa0\u2013\u2013 Joe\u2019s podcast
- Gamestop, where Joe works in social media management
- The tweet\xa0that Patrick posted when he first launched Community Signal
- E3,\xa0PAX, and\xa0Gamescom
- Joe also worked at\xa0Gearbox Software\xa0and\xa0Gearbox Publishing, and has worked on such games as\xa0Borderlands,\xa0Battleborn,\xa0We Happy Few, and\xa0Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
- Brad Williams, CEO and co-founder of\xa0WebDevStudios.com, former guest on Community Signal
- Courtney Caldwell, senior community manager at GameStop
- Major Nelson Radio
- More than 1,500 people have lost their jobs in the games industry in three months
If you have any thoughts on this episode that you\u2019d like to share, please leave me a comment,\xa0send me an email\xa0or a\xa0tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported\xa0Community Signal on Patreon.