“Don’t compete with your community for fandom” ft Community Manager Chandler Wood

<p>Today's guest is Chandler Wood, currently working with Skilltree Marketing. Chandler started his community management career truly in the deep end. He left games journalism, where he'd spent about a decade, to join Avalanche Software in his hometown of Salt Lake City working on Hogwarts Legacy. He only left the role years later when love took him to New York.</p><p></p><p>We chat about Chandler's "oil in the engine" philosophy of community management — being the translator and connective tissue between brand, product, and audience rather than a mascot or figurehead. He shares what it meant to be a community manager for the studio as much as for the players, how he helped Hogwarts Legacy build its own fandom identity distinct from the wider Wizarding World audience.</p><p></p><p>Chandler also gets into the power of listening, making broadcast content feel one-to-one, and his best advice for first-time community managers.</p><p></p><p>Games mentioned in this episode:</p><p>- Hogwarts Legacy: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/990080/Hogwarts_Legacy/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/990080/Hogwarts_Legacy/</a></p><p>- Expedition 33: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903340/Clair_Obscur_Expedition_33/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903340/Clair_Obscur_Expedition_33/</a></p><p>- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2909400/FINAL_FANTASY_VII_REBIRTH/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/2909400/FINAL_FANTASY_VII_REBIRTH/</a></p><p></p><p>Find Chandler on:</p><p>- LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandler-wood/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandler-wood/</a></p><p>- Website: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.chandler-wood.com/" target="_blank">https://www.chandler-wood.com/</a></p><p></p><p>The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise.</p><p></p><p>Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/" target="_blank">https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/</a></p><p></p>