| Week 1 | T&L Activities:A1 Social media websitesDevelopments in social media affect the way in which esports organisations promote products and services:Social media websites are constantly evolving and new features are introduced regularly in August 2022 facebook introduced a feature that allowed integration of cross platform posting between itself and Instagram. Things like adding stickers on reels grabbed the attention of others on the other platforms. Facebook added insights to "Reels" that enabled its users to better understand how well-posted content was performing. The continual development of features in social media is driven very much by the user's and audience's desires. Platforms will always want to keep their uniqueness however they always have a close eye on their competitors for features that extended their functionality The developments of social media platforms further enable the Esports sector to utilise these exciting features and functions to present, promote and discuss updates to games, game and merchandise that is available to its audiences in a fast and impactful way.
What are the features, structure and target audience of different social media websites, e.g. Facebook®, Twitter®, Instagram®, Reddit®, YouTube®?
Twitter:
How esports organisations can use social media websites to support their business aims and needs
Features of social media websites tailored to organisational needs, including:Advertising Social media websites offer a variety of features that can be tailored to meet the needs of organisations. One such feature is advertising, which can be a powerful tool for reaching new customers and promoting products and services. Here are some examples of social media advertising features, along with sources where you can learn more:
Sources:
These sources provide more information on social media advertising and the specific features available on each platform. By leveraging these features, organizations can create targeted and effective advertising campaigns on social media.
Website and mobile device integration Social media websites can be a valuable tool for organizations to connect with their audience and promote their brand. When it comes to esports, there are several features of social media websites that can be particularly useful for organizations in this industry. Here are some examples:
Examples of esports organisations that utilise these social media features include:
Relationship with search engine optimisation (SEO)
Social media websites can have a significant impact on an organization's search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Here are some features of social media websites that can be tailored to organizational needs to improve their SEO efforts in the esports industry:
Examples of esports organisations that utilise these social media features for SEO purposes include:
Profile on the sites, describing the esports organisation to visitors Social media profiles are an important part of any esports organization's marketing strategy. They allow organisations to connect with fans, promote their teams and players, and generate excitement for upcoming events. A well-crafted social media profile should include the following elements:
Esports organisations can use social media profiles to connect with fans, promote their teams and players, and generate excitement for upcoming events. Some additional options for possible inclusion within social media profiles could be the use of:
By following these tips, you can use social media profiles to effectively market your esports organization.
Usage data indicating the profile of followers and effectiveness of posts, e.g. Facebook® Insights, Twitter® Analytics and Google AnalyticsTM Social media usage data is a valuable tool for understanding a company's or organisation's followers and the effectiveness of their posts. By tracking metrics like reach, engagement, and demographics, companies or organisations can get a better sense of what content resonates with their audience and what they can do to improve their reach. Here are a few examples of how you can use social media usage data:
By tracking these metrics, companies or organisations can get a better sense of followers and the effectiveness of their posts. This information can help them improve their social media strategy and reach more people. Companies or organisations are able to then extend their use of social media by using the below based on the information and data that they gather from above:
Audience profiles (age, gender, income) of social media websites.
A2 Organisational use of social media for esports purposes
• Posting different content formats, e.g. text, images, video, links, polls, quizzes.The use of different posting content in social media is very important to the overall success of a channel. Providing a variety of different types of content on a social media platform can engage different users of different ages and genders and backgrounds. The content formats that are available to social media platforms are things such as text, Images, Videos, Links, Polls, and quizzes. When used correctly these types of content can provide opportunities to capture new members from those in your target audiences that were not already subscribed or part of your following
• Content focus and meaning, e.g. information, promotion, humour, special offers and customer service.
• Developing an audience and encouraging people to follow or ‘like’ the esports organisation through the creation and use of engaging content.
• Keywords and their use in posted content.
Image taken from: https://blog.kissmetrics.com Further Information can be found using the following link https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-keyword-research-ht What do Google use? Try and find the least amount of results based on search criteria. What were the most searched for thing on the internet this year (Please keep it clean) Developing contacts by following and linking to relevant esports organisations and individuals, and sharing content posted by others.Creating links through social media is a powerful thing. Organisations are able to open potential opportunities for competitions, collaborations and shared communities in driving up their fan bases in a specific genre or format. An example is Team Liquid a global esports organisation that has teams competing in a variety of games, including League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. They have developed strong relationships with other esports organisations, such as Fnatic and G2 Esports. These relationships have allowed them to collaborate on events and tournaments, as well as to share resources and expertise Direct and indirect advertising.
Links to commercial information, e.g. esports organisation’s website, e-commerce websites.Organisations can also make their social media platform point towards their own websites which may provide further opportunities to direct and drive up sales in things like merchandise, or to promote sponsor content. It must be pointed out that a large number of teams and organisations are supported by large corporate entities that invest significant amounts of investment to teams, this will always come with a responsibility to promote and display their logos and potentially merchandise to those that follow. A great example is Corsair's recent announcement on LinkedIn of a deal with Alpine as shown below.
Relationship between the social media website and the esports organisation’s website, e.g. using:o social media buttons on the esports organisation’s website o esports organisation’s website links within social media posts o social media news feeds on the esports organisation’s website.
A3 Risks and issuesNegative comments on social media sites and damage to reputation.From time to time companies may find that they gain negative comments about their services and or products. This is all part of a business, however, this is a good thing!, Why? well think about when you made a purchase last online, did you look at the reviews? would you make a purchase from a company that has a number of negative reviews? would you purchase from a company that has all positive? On average most people will go with sites that have some negative and mostly positive, the key is to how the company responded to the negative. In life we know that accidents happen, losses in the post, damaged in transit, incorrect sizes to that what was expected. All of these can happen and upset customers enough for them to make a comment on companies social media, the key here, is how you can respond. Customers and potential customers will look to how a company responds to these. So a comment back to the customer via the social media platform, in response to the complaint demonstrates a company that will listen and acts. The response to negative comments can actually lead to a company gaining a good reputation. Further information on how to deal with Social Media and Upset customers http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/10-ways-to-deal-with-upset-customers-using-social-media/
It is worth considering also your own personal reputation on comments made by you or about you, these can lead to your reputation and potential standing being used against you as an employee.
In groups of no larger than 3, discuss the ways in which the previous link suggests how to deal with upset customers and compare these against each other and review which ones you think are better than others. Time constraints on social media interaction, return on time investment.The use of Social Media as a business presence is not achieved quickly and will take time for the network to spread over the web, usually, most companies will have a social media champion or role that requires a member of staff to update and keep accurate the social media channels. In some companies, these have even been opened up to work experience people. A recent example (June 2017) a student took over the control of Southern Trains Twitter Channel, and it went Viral that he was looking after it, and the questions came pouring in.
To see the questions that came up use the following link EDDIE TWITTER This use of free labour can be useful to small and medium organisations as they may not be able to have any positive improvement on sales, therefore it could cost the company more than their investment. Return on investment is a consideration that all companies small to large will consider on any project or venture, this is where the company will review the returns/ money coming in against the expenditure/ money going out to ascertain whether the investment in the project of venture is profitable or not and whether to cancel it or continue, companies will check this over a period of 6 to 12 months to get sufficient data. Unforeseen consequences of posted content.There may be times when companies post comments on their social media platforms that can be intended to have humorous or witty meanings behind them, however, the written word can be taken in different ways and could have the potential to provoke and upset those that read it. The potential for inappropriate posts to happen is easy and can be very damaging to a company's reputation and or image. Because of the nature of social media being a large-scale network, this negativity can be spread very quickly and become viral within minutes. The article is taken from https://www.entrepreneur.com
Increased vulnerability to cyber criminals.
Assignment Support
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim A: Explore the impact of social media on the ways in which esports organisations promote their products and service |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
A.P1 Explain the different ways in which an esports organisation can use social media to promote products or services to a target audience. A.P2 Explain the audience profiles of different social media websites. A.M1 Assess the different ways in which an esports organisation can use social media to promote products or services to a target audience. A.D1 Evaluate the use of an esports organisation’s use of social media to interact with customers and promote products or services to a target audience. |
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| Week 2 | T&L Activities:B1 Social media planning processesProcesses to consider when planning the potential use of social media in an esports organisation, including:The specific requirements of the esports organisation When looking at the use of social media within a business setting it is vital to understand the organisation that your are working with, or for. Each organisation will have their own specific requirements and the outcomes from these may be recorded in many different ways. For example, a company may want to elevate their membership/follower/subscriber counts, therefore the social media platforms and campaigns may need specific activities to happen.
Content planning and publishing The planning of content towards an esports organisation is vital to any success that is sought after, things like, content planning involves some discussion around determining the types of content that will be shared on social media, as well as the frequency and timing of those posts. A strategy used by most organisations is to use a "content calendar" that outlines all of the content that will be shared in advance so that there is no scrambling to find something to post at the last minute. Once the content has been created, it is time to publish it on the chosen social media platform. This involves scheduling posts in advance, as well as responding to comments and questions from followers. It is important to be consistent with social media publishing so that followers know when to expect new content.
Developing online communities When using any social platform for business purposes, consideration must be applied to the communities that are either being targeted or created. Companies will want to create a following of people that feel part of a community of like-minded people that have the same, if not similar interests. This will need to be done by using some planning strategies to establish these communities, through the use of things like,
Enforcing social media policies. Social media policies are important for esports organisations because they help to protect the organisation, its players, and its fans. By having a clear and concise social media policy, organisations can ensure that their players and fans are aware of what is expected of them when using social media. Here are some examples of social media policies that are commonly used in esports:
Research different esports organizations and their social media policies. Compare and contrast the different policies. Create a simple poster on the importance of social media policies in esports.
B2 Organisational requirementsWorking with a client to set requirements for the use of social media and the potential benefits for the esports organisation when compared with traditional promotional methods.When working with a client to set requirements for the use of social media, it is important to understand their goals and objectives. What do they hope to achieve with their social media presence? Do they want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or build a community of fans? Once you know what they want to achieve, you can start to develop a plan to reach their goals. This is a point where some comparisons with traditional marketing may strengthen the argument to use social media over other options. In most places costs can be a factor in what an organisation can/will do for marketing, however, the relatively low costs of using social media may entice them to the option. It is also important to consider the target audience. Who are they trying to reach with their social media content? Once you know who their target audience is, you can tailor your content to appeal to them, some audiences may use traditional leaflets over a digital option. Finally, it is important to consider the competition. What are other esports organisations doing with their social media? What are they doing well, and what could they be doing better? By understanding the competition, you can develop a social media strategy that will help you stand out from the crowd.
Establishing timescales and responsibilities for the use of social media within an esports organisation.Establishing timescales and responsibilities for the use of social media within an esports organisation is essential for ensuring that the organisation's social media presence is managed effectively. By setting clear expectations and guidelines, organisations can help to ensure that their social media accounts are used in a way that is consistent with their values and goals. Timescales It is important to set clear timescales for the use of social media. This will help to ensure that posts are made on a regular basis and that there is no overlap in content. For example, an organisation might decide to post on social media at least once a day, Monday to Friday. This would give the organisation's social media team enough time to create and schedule posts, as well as to respond to comments and questions. Whereas others may find that they are not creating sufficient content to be able to do this so may need to post on a weekly basis instead. Responsibilities It is also important to assign clear responsibilities for the use of social media within an organisation. This will help to ensure that everyone knows what they are responsible for and that there is no confusion. For example, the organisation's social media team might be responsible for creating and scheduling posts, while the team's manager might be responsible for approving posts before they are published. However, in most esports organisations, there are limited personnel meaning that others may play multiple roles in the organisation such as, the team captain being the social media designated person and the vice-captain as the content creator.#
Identifying criteria for measuring the success of social media within an esports organisation.Companies should look at using a wide range of criteria to measure the success of their social media campaigns. Criteria such as follower growth, engagement, impression and reach, conversion rates, and brand awareness are all very key factors for any company when looking at the overall success of their social media campaigns. So what are these factors?
An example of how these metrics might be applied to measure the success of a single esports team's social media: Team: Cloud9
Selection of social media websites by matching site profiles to requirements, in terms of an esports organisation’s business use of social media.
Identifying targets for the use of social media e.g. number of followers, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’.Organiations will identify targets that they would like to achieve when using social media, these could include;
Building a following on social media: Esports organizations aim to build a strong following on social media to increase brand awareness and reach new fans. For example, the esports organization Team Vitality, based in France, has over 1.5 million followers on Twitter. Here's an example of a recent tweet they posted to engage with their followers: https://twitter.com/TeamVitality/status/1388324723658172416
Likes and shares: Esports organizations use social media to create engaging content that fans will like and share. For example, the esports organization G2 Esports, based in Germany, has over 1.5 million followers on Twitter and often posts humorous content that fans enjoy sharing. Here's an example of a recent tweet that received over 23,000 likes and 5,000 retweets: https://twitter.com/G2esports/status/1389316700504910849
Promoting events: Esports organizations use social media to promote upcoming events and tournaments to their fans. For example, the esports organization Cloud9, based in the United States, has over 1 million followers on Twitter and often posts updates about their events. Here's an example of a recent tweet promoting their Valorant team's participation in a tournament: https://twitter.com/Cloud9/status/1389944736308182023
Generating revenue: Esports organizations use social media to generate revenue through sponsorships, partnerships, and merchandise sales. For example, the esports organization FaZe Clan, based in the United States, has over 6 million followers on Twitter and often promotes their merchandise through social media. Here's an example of a recent tweet promoting their apparel line: https://twitter.com/FaZeClan/status/1388315738364281862 Files that support this week | English:
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim B: Develop a plan to use social media in an esports organisation to meet its business requirements |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
B.P3 Produce a plan to use social media in an esports organisation to meet its business requirements. B.P4 Review the plan with others in order to identify and inform improvements. B.M2 Justify planning decisions made, showing how the plan will fulfil its purpose and the esports organisation’s business requirements BC.D2 Evaluate the plan and use of social media in an esports organisation against its business requirements. BC.D3 Evaluate the extent to which the optimised content, format and features has improved search engine rankings, using an effective and detailed review of data. |
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| Week 3 | T&L Activities:B3 Content planning, publishing and review
Planning posts and other content to be published on social media websites, including:o identifying a target audience, e.g. age, gender, interest, income o linking the type of content to the target audience to ensure it is engaging
Researching keywords (such as Google Adwords) and creating keyword strategies to help users identify content The words and sentences that are used by an organisation when creating content for their social media need to be very considered for a number of reasons, these being Clarity - The message that is being attempted to be given to followers in their communities Spelling - The eyes of the world may be looking at and reading this content and if spelt incorrectly a different message may be presented. Searchable - This is possibly the most important of the three points covered. The use of "Key words" can determine where a post or content appears in search engines and in the newsfeeds of social media platforms themselves. This is such a key area that web applications and software are available to support organisations to find the correct words, terms and sentences to push their content higher in search areas. This is also often referred to as SEO or Search Engine Optimisation. Google provide a tool called "Google Adwords" that shows a user the competition of a word and if they wanted to use another program called "Google Adsense" to pay for their content to be shown in the sponsored area of search engine results at the top.
o researching the best time to publish content and creating a publishing schedule (type of content, frequency, day and time).
The use of a posting schedule is vital to the overall success of any social media campaign. Manyy posting schedules will provide guidance to those members of staff that are interacting with the social media platforms, such as when and where they should be posting content to their users and followers. Some posting schedules follow an agenda element, such as identifying the times and days as a list. Others display this as a tabular version so that people can easily and quickly see when and where they're supposed to be posting. An example schedule could run like so; Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Legal and ethical considerations of social media content.Social media content can be a powerful tool for esports organisations and individuals to connect with fans, promote their teams and events, and generate revenue. However, there are also a number of legal and ethical considerations that need to be taken into account when creating and sharing social media content. Some of the key legal and ethical considerations include:
There are a number of examples of esports organisations and individuals who have not followed these legal and ethical considerations. For example, in 2019, the Overwatch League fined the Shanghai Dragons $40,000 (US) for using copyrighted music in their promotional videos. In 2020, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis was fined $10,000 (US) for using a logo that was too similar to the logo of another team. And in 2021, the League of Legends player Tyler1 was banned from Twitch for streaming himself using racial slurs. Working with a client and other relevant stakeholders to improve the quality, effectiveness and appropriateness of the plans, e.g. gathering feedback from a client and potential users, communicating with a client, refining ideas and solutions.
Files that support this week | English:
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim B: Develop a plan to use social media in an esports organisation to meet its business requirements |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
B.P3 Produce a plan to use social media in an esports organisation to meet its business requirements. B.P4 Review the plan with others in order to identify and inform improvements. B.M2 Justify planning decisions made, showing how the plan will fulfil its purpose and the esports organisation’s business requirements BC.D2 Evaluate the plan and use of social media in an esports organisation against its business requirements. BC.D3 Evaluate the extent to which the optimised content, format and features has improved search engine rankings, using an effective and detailed review of data. |
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| Week 4 | T&L Activities:B4 Developing an online community
Working with a client to develop a strategy to encourage online community building, including:There are a number of reasons why it is important to work with a client to develop a strategy to encourage online community building. Areas that should be discussed with the client include, Gather an understanding of the client's needs and goals. Before you can develop any successful strategy, you need to understand what the client's needs and goals are. What is it that they are hoping to achieve by building a community? The creation a sense of belonging. People are more likely to engage in a community if they feel like they belong, this could involve personalisation within the content that is used or welcomes to a platform. When people feel like they are part of a community, they are more likely to stay engaged and contribute to the community. Providing a platform for sharing ideas and experiences. A community can be a great platform for people to share their ideas and experiences. This can be a valuable way for people to learn from each other and grow as individuals. Generating potential leads or sales. A strong community can be a great way to generate leads and sales. When people are engaged in a community, they are more likely to be interested in the merchandise (merch) products or services that the community is centered around. In the UK, there are a number of esports organisations that have successfully built strong online communities. For example, Fnatic is a UK-based esports organisation that has over 10 million fans on social media. Fnatic's community is built around a shared passion for esports, and the organisation uses its community to engage with fans, promote its brand, and generate revenue.
So how can this be done? using promotional techniques, e.g. requesting feedback, surveys, special offers or initiatives, creating links between social media websites and the esports organisation’s website The monitoring of social media website streams and responding to queries, requests, and complaints is key to any potential success of the development of any community.
Your discussions with any client should be recorded in a way that both you and your client can refer back to if there was clarification required around the discussions. Using a documents like "Meeting Minuets" will provide access to this information to anyone that needs it and also to those that possibly may not have been able to attend. below is an example of a possible structure that could be used. Meeting Minutes Meeting Name: Esports Community Building Strategy Meeting Date: 2023-06-01 Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Location: Zoom Attendees:
Agenda:
Notes:
Action Items:
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held on 2023-06-15 to discuss the progress that has been made on the plan. Notes:
Files that support this week | English:
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim B: Develop a plan to use social media in an esports organisation to meet its business requirements |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
B.P3 Produce a plan to use social media in an esports organisation to meet its business requirements. B.P4 Review the plan with others in order to identify and inform improvements. B.M2 Justify planning decisions made, showing how the plan will fulfil its purpose and the esports organisation’s business requirements BC.D2 Evaluate the plan and use of social media in an esports organisation against its business requirements. BC.D3 Evaluate the extent to which the optimised content, format and features has improved search engine rankings, using an effective and detailed review of data. |
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| Week 5 | T&L Activities:C1 Creating accounts and profiles
Sign-up, creation and administration of esports organisational accounts on social media website.How to set up a Twitter Business account
How to Create a Facebook Business Account How to create an Instagram Business Account
Creation and set-up of a profile for the esports organisation.
Customisation and configuration of the esports organisation’s profile, including privacy settings, colour schemes, images, text and other assets that follow branding guidelinesOnce a social presence has been created by an organisation it is essential to give it the look, feel and theme of the organisation that it is representing, as this is now an extension of the organisation's platform for marketing. Organisations should carefully select how the profile looks, this is so that users don't feel like they have stumbled on to another organisation's site or area. Hootsuite have provided a top ten list of things that organisations should do to customise their platform Ways to improve your social media profiles Files that support this week | English:
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim C: Implement the use of social media in an esports organisation |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
C.P5 Produce business-related content for an esports organisation, using appropriate features of social media that meet the requirements of the plan. C.P6 Review data obtained on social media usage, interaction and search engine rankings. C.M3 Optimise the content, format and features of social media that meet the requirements of the plan. BC.D2 Evaluate the plan and use of social media in an esports organisation against its business requirements. BC.D3 Evaluate the extent to which the optimised content, format and features has improved search engine rankings, using an effective and detailed review of data. |
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| Week 6 | T&L Activities:C2 Content creation and publicationCarry out research in order to produce engaging content for the intended target audience.The use of any form of research can be crucial to the creation of engaging and captivating content for use on a social platform. Being able to target directly the audience of interest could be key to the success of any campaign. So any opportunity to gather the thoughts of this group should be taken as soon as possible. Asking questions, and discussing previously created content that had been produced by others could enable future content to be better suited for the targeted audiences.
Produce, publish and manage content.Using the selected platforms of choice the publication of content should follow the plan, or posting schedule that has been agreed with the organisation. Content can be created in advance of the time that it is due to appear on socials. It is important to check and verify that the created content is correct and that there are no spelling or image issues prior to posting.
To assist in the creation of content to go in to your assessments you may find a number of sites online that can generate "simulated" posts that will allow you to show how your posts might appear. Some fantastic sites that will support this generation are;
Improving the visibility of published content.There are a number of things organisations can do to improve the visibility of their posted content such as Selection of right keywords - When creating content, consideration around the correct keywords that people are likely to use when they are searching for information on content linked to the organisation's posts. Organisations should attempt to include these keywords in their title, meta description, and throughout their content. Promotion of content on social media. - Sharing content on social media and encouraging their followers to share it as well. Organisations can also use social media to run contests and giveaways to promote their content. Blogging on other websites. Guest blogging is a great way to get any organisation's content in front of a new audience. When guest blogging, organisations should make sure to include a link back to their website in their bio. Paid advertising campaigns. Some organisations may, if they have the budget, run paid advertising campaigns to promote thier content. This can be a great way to reach a large number of people quickly. Optimisation of content for search engines. There are a number of things organisations could do to optimize their content for search engines. This includes using the right keywords, writing clear and concise titles, and creating informative and engaging content. Again this links back to the careful selection of keywords.
Methods to encourage audience interaction, e.g. use of images, the phrasing of text content, and timing of posts to coincide with times when followers are online.The content that is included in posts can have a huge impact on the success or failure of the post or campaign. The use of stimulating images, videos and the colour and positioning of text on posts can catch users' eyes when on notification boards within social media platforms, so it is very important to consider the images, videos and music used in the post this could be used in a suggestive way to "hook" an audience into a thread of posts over a period of time, for example, the use of "head over to our Twitter channel to see whos performing on the main stage at an event" on an Instagram account, or, coupon image and a link to a website. The time that these posts appear is also vital to how many users interact with the content. When are your audiences more likely to look at their socials 9:00 am 3:00 pm, and 11:00 pm? having the content scheduled to land at the time your audiences are online is a great option if you were unable to post it at that time manually.
Integration of information across the esports organisation’s website and social media websites.
Adapting and testing content on different devices/platforms, e.g. mobile phones, tablets and notebooks.The generation of content and the platforms that it will appear on requires some caution to be applied before making it live. Some platforms may require content to appear using specific dimensions and "Safe Areas" which basically means that the content within set zones will be viewable and visible to those that are likely to interact with the content. However, if the content falls/spills over these areas the message of the content may be lost as some words/images may be cut out. Additionally, this content may not appear in the same size on a device as it was in the graphics or video editor. This could have a significant impact if key details like address, phone numbers, web links and cost were affected by the size difference. C3 Implementation of online community buildingImplementation of an online community-building strategy, including:When building or even contributing to an online community within social media organisations may use strategies to put their content in the browsers and apps of those that might want to see this type of content. Organisations are able to use the # or "hashtag" symbol to use as a keyword or identifier of the link to a specific discussion, topic or event. The use of these tags can be very powerful in putting content in the right places. As you can see from the image below, posts on the LinkedIn platform use hashtags to build a following around teams and also events.
The ability to contribute content within groups on social media can provide organisations weight in their presence, opinions and possibly direction. This is often referred to as "influence". Finally following people and other esports organisations or businesses can be beneficial to an organisation's status within the sector, whilst the other may be competition to what an organisation is doing, the acknowledgement of each other is important.
Monitoring and responding to comments, the importance of prompt responses.The creation of a community requires continual discussion and interaction with the audiences and followers. Organisations should not just simply post and forget, followers and community will quickly remove themselves from your socials or not engage with any future content. The image of the tweet below demonstrates the discussion between G2 Esports and their fans but also provides a little mystery to future events.
Using tools and techniques to automate content postingThere are a number of tools available to organisations to allow them to monitor and automate their social media presences under a single web applications. Some of the most popular are; SproutSocial Hootsuite
Files that support this week | English:
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim C: Implement the use of social media in an esports organisation |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
C.P5 Produce business-related content for an esports organisation, using appropriate features of social media that meet the requirements of the plan. C.P6 Review data obtained on social media usage, interaction and search engine rankings. C.M3 Optimise the content, format and features of social media that meet the requirements of the plan. BC.D2 Evaluate the plan and use of social media in an esports organisation against its business requirements. BC.D3 Evaluate the extent to which the optimised content, format and features has improved search engine rankings, using an effective and detailed review of data. |
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| Week 7 | T&L Activities:C4 Data gathering and search engine optimisationThe gathering and capture of data from the interactions of posts and social media content is vital to enable any company to judge any success from the content or campanges that they have been running. In most social media platforms today there are sections within them to allow the owners to review and analyse significant amounts of data that include; Number of interactions - This is where visitor have actively looked at, or interacted with content that has been posted.
Numbers of Likes - The number of people that enjoyed/liked the content that has been posted. In the case of Youtube, this statistic and feature is reviewed in collaboration with others by their "algorithm" that then helps Youtube to rank content and display it higher up in the listings of searches, and on suggested feeds. Age - This provides a breakdown of the age groups that engaged with posted content Gender - This analytic is useful to companies to ensure that any content posted is not un-intentionally biased towards any gender groups
Reposts - When used correctly the data from reposts can detail topics and content that a community might feel is important that others in their networks should be aware of. Engagement - Understanding of the drop off of interest in any post can be vital to companies. How long users are engaged with content will support the creators of the content to understand if there are any areas that users are looking for within your content, for example, this could be a video that has lots of great general content within it but at a specific point in the video users, either loose interest or there is a surge in those that start the video at that point. Platforms - This is useful to companies as they are able to understand what type of devices the community are using to look at their content, such as mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop and even smart devices (TVs, Fridges e.t.c).
Gathering and interpreting data on social media websites using dedicated tools, for example, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Google AnalyticsTM and TweetReachTM.
Identifying interaction relating to individual posts.
Identifying audience profiles, e.g. age, location.When looking into audience profiles we can gather data about the location of our visitors. This data may be of use when looking at things such as sales. If a social media platform or website is gaining lots of hits and engagement from users in specific global locations where products and services that are not being made available (within esports this could be "Merch" the organisation could be losing potential revenue opportunities in these locations. The Google Analytics program displays this information very clearly using a map and table of information.
Monitoring the number of interactions e.g. ‘reposts’, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’.
Comparison of intended target audience versus actual audience.
Identification of posts and types of content that create the highest levels of interaction.The use of analytical programs and features within social media platforms provides fantastic detail and insight to companies and organisations as to what works and what didn't. As is demonstrated in the image below, posting or different types of content, and at different times can have a different outcome in relation to reach and engagement.
Principles of search engine optimisation, including:o keyword research and strategy o website URL and content o significance of regular updates o importance of inbound links and ways of developing them o timescales for achieving change in search engine rankings.
Monitoring website interaction.The gathering of data from websites can be done using the Google Analytics program. This application will allow users to add some additional tracking HTML code to their website pages. This additional code will provide the owners with data such as
Acquisition - Where did the user come from to get to your site? Was this through search engines or directly by typing in a web address?
Engagement on the website - A very useful set of data for any company as this will show the user's flow around the site. Data showing how long users spent on pages and if they came directly to that page or through others. This is particularly useful as it may highlight to companies that users are going straight to the product pages and not to the home page where new adverts and new about the site are being posted.
Social media links to search engine optimisation, including:o social media profiles o use of keywords in content o use of social media to encourage visitors to the company website o importance of search engine rankings linked to a social media service.
Files that support this week | English:
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Assessment:
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria. |
Learning Outcomes:
Learning aim C: Implement the use of social media in an esports organisation |
Awarding Organisation Criteria:
C.P5 Produce business-related content for an esports organisation, using appropriate features of social media that meet the requirements of the plan. C.P6 Review data obtained on social media usage, interaction and search engine rankings. C.M3 Optimise the content, format and features of social media that meet the requirements of the plan. BC.D2 Evaluate the plan and use of social media in an esports organisation against its business requirements. BC.D3 Evaluate the extent to which the optimised content, format and features has improved search engine rankings, using an effective and detailed review of data. |
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Hashtags: Hashtags are a powerful tool for organizing and categorizing content on social media platforms. By including relevant hashtags in their posts, esports organizations can increase their visibility and improve their SEO efforts. For example, a team may use hashtags like #esports, #gaming, or #videogames to make it easier for users to find their content.
