10 most engaged esports organisations of 2021 — Twitter
There’s a 10 million difference in engagement between LOUD and everyone else.
This is even considering Twitter is the secondary social media platform in Brazil, and especially so for organisations who are born out of mobile-first esports titles.
Despite this, the consistency of engagement in LOUD’s audience remains even for the PC titles they’ve entered, especially their League of Legends franchise.
Given that they can still rely on a fair mix of esports stars and content creators, their rise to the top is simply remarkable.
FaZe Clan now unarguably represents mainstream media consumption for the English-speaking teenage demographic.
With just pure numbers and figures, it looks like they’re plateauing in terms of growth. But they’re competing against plucky upcomers and newbies, whilst they’re already shooting 30 points every game in the NBA.
Their level of brand reach in North America is unmatched and it’s still clear to see in 2021.
G2 tweets a lot. About so many esports.
To a consistently growing audience. In a totally unwavering tone of voice.
Europe has a notoriously hard demographic to crack monetarily. I worked for half a decade at G2’s fiercest European rival: tackling a region with 44 countries, 24 languages, no resemblance of a homogenous culture and no consistent usage of social media.
But here they are, engaging more than anyone but two teams who have huge homogenised countries, and providing more brand value across more esports titles than anyone in Europe.
Sentinels’ year cannot really be duly recognised. They came from nowhere to now being the industry leader in social media tone and content. They are a case study for the ages.
Sentinels’ comms are pure, concise, story-driven and it reflects so perfectly in their VALORANT team’s fast growth. In retrospect, their players were primed for total stardom. But only a new, youthful marketing department could create the punchy yet elegant digital output they managed.
If focused on esports for its competition, they are the ultimate inspiration. Frankly, if focused on human-centred narratives, they are an inspiration.
Contrary to most of Brazil, Twitter is the primary focus of FURIA’s communications.
Because of this, they actually paved the way for an entire country’s esports tone of voice.
When I was competing for my former company to be the most talked about team, FURIA were the ones I saw leading Brazil into a new age and style on Twitter.
The text-only, emotion-led Twitter experience — whether during a matchday or in being part of a cultural zeitgeist — is just so fun, so engaging and so FURIA.
Much like FURIA, paiN are a Twitter-focused Brazilian organisation in a full field of mobile app-first comms.
Their Instagram especially is still the envy of any western organisation, but Twitter is where they stand up against their younger countrymen.
They are the old guard, founded in Dota and grown in League of Legends, of the fastest-growing (and perhaps biggest) esports country in the world. They’re still standing.
What more can be said about Kcorp’s Twitter game?
Amongst them stand organisations with international teams across multiple esports and millions of dollars in backing. Yet here is Kcorp, a League of Legends team in the French regional league.
Here they are engaging more followers per tweet than any other organisation has ever done. Galvinising a nation into rejecting the attempts to grab all of Europe by the big guns of G2, Fnatic, Vitality et al. Showing the entire western world that your brand doesn’t have to speak English to have the loudest audience.
Their success, both in the regional leagues and on Twitter, will likely spawn years of similar influencer-led esports organisations trying to make their non-English speaking country a global sensation.
You could argue that 100 Thieves have the most valuable Twitter page of any esports organisation. I think that argument would be correct.
They foresaw a wide demographic willing to consume esports, content and its business with an elevated tone. They managed to combine the goal of having an elite, hype aesthetic with a community-welcoming tone.
Their social media has little fluff. The engagement they gain is pure and all for what they produce. They manage to scale for long-term survival ostensibly better than any other brand.
They didn’t become back-to-back-to-back winners at The International. In fact, they were better represented throughout the majority of the year by teams in esports titles not named Dota 2.
They are a perfect reflection on how a team who dedicated to one title can blossom into a world leader across an entire industry.
With Sentinels and Kcorp above them, they might do best by seeing OG as an example to follow in growth outside of their primary game.
They had a moment there when signing Daequan and Hamlinz that captured the entire gaming world. They created a singular moment that eclipsed the significance of major sporting events, at least on a digital scale.
But, although they could be seen as a smaller scaled version of FaZe Clan, they have found a way to dedicate themselves to a demographic who were verging on mainstream whilst keeping clear remnants of the community-first comms model esports should pride itself over.
