For Our ODU Esports campaign, we first provided a collateral review before working on a social media strategy. For both of these initiatives we provided feedback based on what was missing or could be improved, as well as strategies to implement and ideas on how to make things better.

The Collateral Review

In our collateral review, we looked at the program’s webpage, social media pages, and promotional material, assessing each and providing feedback. While effective in displaying when the Esports center was open to the public, the webpage needed to include more features. The website lacked hyperlinks to any social media platforms aside from Twitch. It should have displayed information about upcoming events, primarily to inform where the club is and how to join. The Twitter feed of the Esports account was found to be highly effective in promoting the club’s events; a simple change, such as integrating the Twitter feed into the webpage, could considerably boost engagement and streamline access to information otherwise not listed. Our review found the Instagram page in good condition, with one suggestion to update the bio to clarify ODU Esports. Finding any promotional material for the ODU Esports program and area at the Webb Center yielded poor results, and putting up some posters around the gaming area could help solve this problem.

The Social Media Strategy

For the second half of the project, we looked at how to maximize the potential of ODU Esports’ social media reach. We found where most social media engagement occurred before developing ideas for specific content and laying ground rules for what to upload and who to market to. We decided that by making the accounts more personable and giving them a personality, ODU Esports can help appeal to a younger demographic and increase its reach and following. As a group, we decided using hashtags better and perhaps doing small giveaways would benefit the ODU Esports program in further developing a social media presence.

Conclusions

From this project, I learned plenty of things about Esports. I did not know that ODU had an Esports team and that the university had spent so much giving talented gamers an arena with the latest technology. This experience has taught me that Esports is not as big of a spectator sport as many had expected it to become by this point in time, as most of the ODU Esports social pages had very small followings. Most campus students may stay at ODU without knowing the Esports program exists due to its hidden location.

Some takeaway from strategic communication I took from this assignment is that clients want more than just feedback; clients wish for suggestions and specific recommendations to improve their product. The more constructive the feedback one provides, the better the client receives the information. Our classes’ impact on the ODU Esports program will be an immeasurable success when our feedback and ideas are evaluated and those desired implemented. With such a large body of students providing countless opinions and recommendations for the ODU Esports program, it is hard to imagine our work not helping them grow in ways they otherwise would not have. This project greatly benefited us and the organization, and I look forward to seeing how we allow it to grow in the future.