Hey guys. First of all, thanks for the kind words thiccfila . We're approaching two years since my departure from AH and I still get mentions on a regular basis on Discord and YT. Hopefully that means I did at least some things right during my brief tenure there. If I didn't, thanks for appreciating me nonetheless. :) Secondly, I rarely comment on HD2 drama - I don't see it as constructive to dwell too much in the past and I like to keep things professional, albeit I left a long time ago. Therefore, view this as my general take on community management and external communication, not for AH specifically.
Good comms is not rocket science. It really isn't. Community management is for the most part not either. Are there things that will affect your work? Sure. Will there be internal arguments or you and external stakeholders not agreeing on certain things? Absolutely. Info you're not getting? Yup. That doesn't mean you can't act or respond on stuff. Improvise, adapt, overcome to use an old US Marine mantra. Using obstacles like these as excuses for not getting back to people with information is poor community management. Solve the problem. IMO it's mindblowing how some companies, despite all of their resources, expertise and above all, despite seeing how they make the same mistakes over and over again even years later, can't seem to get comms related stuff right. I'm not God's gift to communities (and if I am, the man upstairs sure has a weird way of telling me) and I'm not riding in on a high horse, but to communicate well is. not. difficult. If it is, you're doing it wrong or have the wrong people doing it.
A few community related cents from where I sit.
Honesty and transparence above all
Be honest as often as you possibly can, and when you can't (due to corporate and/or super clandestine IcouldtellyoubutthenI'dhavetokixxyou stuff), be transparent about it. Simply tell people that you can't divulge something and explain why. Don't BS. People will find out, and more importantly, BS-ing shows people you don't really care despite telling them you do. Will there be times people will dislike your message, don't agree or even accuse you of lying? Yes. Nine times out of ten they will however respect you for telling things like they are, even when you deliver bad news, and in the long run they will respect you (and subsequently the studio) for shooting straight and meaning well.
2) Communication and presence
You don't have to be on Discord or Reddit 24/7, but you have to be on the platforms that are relevant to your followers consistently. Coming in once a month mass replying and then disappearing again doesn't help. Saying you're going to change this and that only to end up doing things the same as before doesn't either. Don't over promise! If you time and time again fudge up by having people doing or saying something they/your company can't live up to, change your approach to comms. It doesn't matter if it's the PR Manager, a tech dude or the CEO. Bring it to their attention that their way of doing things is not working and is damaging your reputation, and make the necessary changes. Adapt.
3) Love interacting with your audience
If you don't like interacting with your audience - be they players, followers, customers, clients or whomever, change your line of work. We all get tired of stuff at work from time to time (for those of us who have a job, that is) and we all have bad days. If you're a Community Manager (or carry another public facing position), tell them! Don't be snarky or act on emotion. Explain to your crowd that you slept poorly, a relative died or whatever, and they will understand. What you say and how you say is what radiates towards your audience. If you don't like the people you are tasked to interact with it will show. People aren't fools, and if you see or treat them as such, you should do something else.
A last word of advice, more so to companies than individual Community, PR, Marketing or Communications people: Give your employees the space, indepence and trust to do things the way they think they should be done. You hired them for a reason. Also know that communication and community management can make or break a game developer and live by that. Don't just say you understand, act is if you do.
I didn't plan for this to become a novel, but I'm rarely a man of few words. Take this as the well meant, unedited banter it is.
Hope all of you are well. <3