What esports communities have taught Astralis about business | Ep. 33

How do you run a fast-growing and profitable esports organisation in an age of constant SoMe diversification and evolution? More precisely, what do the potentials of social-first SoMe content mean for community building among the 3,2 billion global fans of gaming and esports? Astralis, a Danish esports company best known for their Fortnite, Counterstrike, League of Legends, Rainbow Six and Fifa teams, is committed to finding the answers. But more than that, Astralis has created a successful, international business by putting those answers to use – and by forging a brand-new corporate concept in which bringing carefully tailored SoMe content to the diverse global gaming community is one of the keys to success. In this episode, you'll learn from Benjamin Boraghi, Marketing Director at Astralis, about· achieving business growth by nourishing community engagement, loyalty and adhesion· the importance of passionate followers (ecstatic as well as disappointed)· the 3 Rs: Reach, Relevance and Revenue· why growing followers is meaningless if you can’t turn them into active esports community members· social media community management as an indispensable activity for anyone running a progressive business in the entertainment-industry· different SoMe platforms and why adopting a custom approach to each one is crucial· and – last but not least – the cultural significance of gaming teams, esports tournaments and esports teams

Thanks for watching this episode of the Social Media Sucks podcast!

Episode Chapters

‍0:00 Intro

‍0:52 Introducing Benjamin Boraghi, Marketing Director at Astralis

‍2:11 What is Astralis? How does Astralis work as a business?

‍3:32 Counterstrike, League of Legends, Rainbow Six, Fortnite

‍4:40 Astralis’ fan base on social media

‍5:10 Esport KPIs: Reach, relevance and revenue

‍6:50 How to manage communities across different platforms

‍8:35 SoMe hypotheses need to be grounded in data

‍9:35 Different platforms require different strategies

‍10:40 The big social strategy take-away…

‍11:35 On Facebook versus Instagram and Twitter

‍12:15 How TikTok blew everyone’s mind

‍12:48 TikTok versus YouTube

‍13:12 Reels – and Astralis’ media-charged business model

‍15:20 On losing – and what happens then

‍17:05 Sport teams and why toxicity is part of the game

‍18:20 On leveraging different SoMe channels

‍19:25 The power of hero content

‍19:55 Clients’ requests: from always-on to bigger-impact content

‍21:40 On BeReal – and how it might be headed for BeVague and collective insanity

‍23:40 Main channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and Discord

‍26:08 KIPs, metrics – the bones of strategy

‍27:20 Turning newsletter subscribers into customers

‍27:40 Engagement – and how it’s a metric for fan commitment and loyalty

‍29:20 On esports getting recognised as a sport

‍30:00 How big esports is – and how it continues to grow

‍31:00 A sport or not – who cares?

‍32:30 Are esport and gaming skills learned or innate?

‍34:00 Other esports athletes, brands and content creators

‍35:20 Running a business in the attention economy

‍37:00 Esports mania – the really fanatic fans

‍39:00 Astralis’ future perspectives and goals on SoMe

‍40:50 Advice for other marketers (“growth is fine”)

‍42:00 Accessibility

‍43:20 Listening – to data and fans

‍47:00 VR and the Metaverse – the future of gaming?

‍48:45 Esports as a big historical turning point

‍48:54 Recap and wrap-up (tl;dr)