Creating a good online presence: what is the best approach?

Introduction

As with every job in the world, one must also stand out within the Games Industry. It's nearly impossible for someone to be noticed if they choose to share nothing publicly. In my experience, I find that there is not any point working on something if you don't choose to share it with at least someone. Pretty much anything we decide to work on, we do eventually have to share with someone in the long run. Sharing stuff much more publicly makes far more sense than hiding it away, if seen by the correct person, it could even lead to far more employment oppurtunities.

The Basics

So since creating an online presence is important as I have discussed, how does one go about creating one. Many companies offer services and subscriptions which they hype up as being "necessary" and "important". For the lay user, these can be difficult and confusing to understand. To be simple and straight to the point, the first step is choosing the correct place to promote yourself. One of the best resources for someone trying to promote themselves would be the professional social media known as LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a fantastic website that allows you to connect with industry professionals in the games industry and all types of work places in general. It functions much like Facebook except instead of posting what funny memes you found or what you had for lunch, you post things related to what you're working on.

For someone who makes games, you can post what it is you're currently working on, how something is looking or anything you want about your work. However, be sure to keep this in the realm of appropriate content, many employers don't want to see you posting unnecessary gore or memes from your games.

Connecting to people is much like befriending them on Facebook, keeps them up-to-date with the things you post. The more you post, the more likely you are to be noticed and have your worked shared. Being noticed by the right people is the best way to get your name out there in the industry.

Sign Up To LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/

Be sure to also check out this video on how to set up your own LinkedIn, I've been highly recommended it by a friend of mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG4NF-2tt4c

Promotion

Creating a LinkedIn isn't the end of this though, it's just step one. I'd highly recommend for anyone serious about entering the games industry to have somewhere to store examples of your work. You have many options for this, especially with how many social medias there are now. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, they all allow for you to share the stuff you create. Create one, it's your choice which, they all can work as promotion for you and whatever you create.

Now for the difficult part, deciding what you post. I'd highly recommend you post that which you're most proud of. No point on wasting your posts on irrelevent features or minor tweaks. Post whatever you take the most pride in, the sort of work a game director or producer will say "Wow, I want them to work for me. They clearly put their all into this". For example, I'm highly proud of my 3D work I did in Maya for a horror themed bunker. The dingy lights and eerie atmosphere is an example of something I can say, I put my all into.

Conclusion

What I want you to take away from this is that getting your voice out there and creating an online presence, it really is very simple. Even the basics is far better than sitting around and not promoting yourself. A LinkedIn to connect and share your stuff in a professional setting will do wonders for helping you connect with others in the industry. A seperate social media dedicated to storing the best bits of your work for people to view will also be a great place for people who may be interested in you, to view your work and see if you are the right person for them. I hope you can agree now, the simplest approach to creating an online presence is definitely the best approach.