If you didn’t see it in person, or streamed live on Sheep Island in Second Life, the SXSW Panel “Girl Video Games Teach the Facts of Successful Marketing” went well. I’d like to thank my panelists Morgan Romine, Community and Online Manager at Ubisoft and founder of the Frag Dolls; Amber Dalton, Co-Founder and Leader of the PMS Clan; and Amy Brady Co-Founder of the PMS Clan and also a Frag Doll. They’re great community marketers.

I woke up the morning of the panel with laryngitis…just my luck. So, I spent the time on the panel jotting down mental notes. To summarize the discussion, we talked about how to reach an audience with community marketing. Here’s how:
- Be authentic. In reality, these girls are excellent gamers. Many compete professionally. They’re the real deal, so they can walk the talk with their audience.
- Be passionate. They love gaming, but more importantly, they love making gaming–and high-tech–accessible to women.
- Be engaging. They’re talking all the time with their audience. They’re not afraid of them. They’re online, they’re in-game, they’re in person. One of the reasons these women are playing video games all the time is because they in fact play with their audience/customers. They’re all approachable.
- Partner with appropriate brands to create mutual benefit.
- Wow your audience. They’re great gamers and they’re real women. As Amber Dalton once wrote on a forum, “Did that grenade mess up my hair?”

I believe the podcast will be available in the future from SXSW.

Sadly, this will be my last post, as I have left GSD&M. Thank you very much for reading and especially for leaving comments. It’s been a wonderful experience online. You’ll be able to find me again on the net, soon.

From here on, you’ll be reading insight from my now former colleague Andy Hunter, Director, Communications Planning.