EPTSomeone said I should write an Introduction
Small clans and Teams have pushed their way up on the food chain since the beginning of Starcraft II. I just recently joined a small clan and I am helping with the public relations of that clan/gaming organization that is trying to get their names out there. I always loved managing guilds in World of Warcraft, I always loved managing teams in Call of Duty, setting up websites, promoting, etc. But I am noticing that this is a totally different atmosphere. Establishing a team with results, getting a website made, etc. is definitely a hard thing to accomplish.
So after that shitty introduction
Lets get down to Business.
So I think we can all agree, small clans and teams are on the rise, you see a lot of successful ones coming out at MLG and a lot you can find on Z33K battling it up on the weekend. But really what makes a successful clan? A successful team? Its like a sandwich, om-nom-nom, you just add some good player lettuce, and some cool GFX mustard, and you get some sick sponsor turkey, and you win... I wish it were that easy.
Building a team is a hard thing to do. I have been advising this clan leader about forming the proper team, etc. Strict practices, make sure everything is getting done during practice, getting rid of players if they are causing drama within the team, the usual.
Team Leaders, I believe are important, they help with the unity of the clan. I can sure as hell can't see an EG without iNcontroL being the Team Leader. A motivational and optimistic person as Team Leader is a great thing, even if he/she is not the best on the team. I think people still see in terms as, he/she is the best, he/she should be team leader.
Do you need good GFX to make it big? No, you need results of course. But do Graphics help? Does streaming help? Does a website help? Yes. The bigger and more professional your team/clan looks, the better. And me going into streaming leads me into the next section...
Advertising? they must be Mad Men!
I am an daily twitter user, facebook user, and basically I am your huge cyber-social butterfly. I used to set up team twitters etc, set up websites, etc. But now that I have the possibility of being the PR of this gaming organization that plans to get a lot bigger than a clan or team in Call of Duty.
What is the best way to do this? If you are the PR of a small clan, I recommend going to http://www.tweetdeck.com/ for a program called Tweetdeck, it allows you to manage your facebook, twitter, etc. (You can manage multiple twitters, facebooks, etc.) This can be a fun job, but pretty stressful with updates etc. This free-program is great and I recommend this to anyone who is trying to get a product or team or what-ever-the-hell-else you want out there.
But how do you advertise? Advertising doesn't mean spamming chats in Starcraft, or spamming other peoples stream chats. I believe everyone who is on the team, NEEDS to have a twitter. They just need to announce they are streaming or playing in a playhem/clanwar/etc., but socializing is a good way to get followers too. Streaming is a great way to get fans, you get your stream on TL, and you will get viewers. Even better, if you have players that commentate on the streams. The more fans the better. The more coverage the better. If Quantic starts posting Facebook statuses about your streams, that would be a good thing.
Getting clan wars with known teams is a good thing most of the time. Not to mention, winning smaller tournaments like Playhem or every other z33k tournament is great. If you are on the main streams of tournaments and you beat a big pro with eight thousand people watching, expect some attention.
So now I ask you reader, what is your experience with teams and clans. What would you like to add about advertising and management? Please comment and leave anything you think that I left out that could be helpful and/or important.
Thank you for reading a pretty bad written blog, imo. Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you can provide some advice and feedback
