Interview With A Specialist Who Runs The Social Media Accounts Of Top Valorant And Fortnite Players

Nowadays, social media is becoming one of the most important things to create a community for esports players. To make it perfect, some of the professional players are collaborating with social media specialists, and Nate Schanker is one of them. We made an interview with him to talk about esports and what he is exactly doing for his clients.

Gaimer: 

“Hi. I want to start our interview by getting to know you. Could you introduce yourself and tell us exactly what you are doing in the esports sector?”

Nate Schanker:

“Hello! I appreciate you guys having me on Gaimer! My name is Nate Schanker and I’m a social media manager for the top esports professionals in Valorant and Fortnite. My clients include C9 TenZ, TSM Khanada, Ghost Blakeps, Gen.G Player 1, Faze Babybay, and Sofa.

I specialize in Instagram management because I have been in the industry for 5+ years now with many accounts that have reached upwards of 4 million followers. I got introduced to the esports scene by my next-door neighbor and former professional Fortnite player Sofa, who played for T1 in the past. He connected me with his professional players/friends and I met my clients from there.”

Gaimer:

“Social media management for esports players and teams is perhaps one of the main areas that stay in the background of this business. So what are the difficulties and favorite aspects of this job?”

Nate Schanker:

“The biggest difficulties are finding the best times to post, business inquiries received on Instagram, and finding the right clips to post. My favorite part of my job is by far becoming much more than business partners but friends with these players. Every player I work with is super friendly and truly wants to learn more about me, which is awesome.”

Gaimer:

“How does the management process proceed when managing a player or team’s social media accounts? We also know that there are players who enjoy directly managing their own accounts, how do you collaborate with them?”

Nate Schanker:

“The managing process includes me running their full Instagram account by posting, engaging with fans, and growing their followers by using the Instagram explore page algorithm.

I have talked to many professional players that enjoy running their own accounts which is completely fine, but I look for players that do not have much time for it.”

Gaimer: 

“Keeping the actors mentally healthy is one of the most important key points of this sector, and it is possible to be exposed to this kind of negative pollution on social media, so how do you purify the players from this kind of negativity after the lost matches?”

Nate Schanker:

“This is something my clients deal with here and there. I do everything I can to delete all the hateful comments before my client checks his Instagram.”

Gaimer: 

“Is your work intensity increasing during the tournaments?  With the coronavirus, all of the tournaments were moved online, did this make any difference in your business?”

Nate Schanker:

“My work intensity increases a ton during tournaments because I spend much more time trying to get them exposure when there is tons of hype on a given tournament day. With the coronavirus, my business did not change much, fortunately.”

We will release the rest of the interview in further days.