It's totally free
Esportian Talks
Meet college esports professionals and get news from esportian
Marketing and social media
ERIC AABERG
Social Media Strategist - Riot Games
Early Interest & Collegiate Esports Journey
1. Can you share how you first got into esports and what led you to pursue it at the collegiate level?
I began my journey in games marketing during high school, managing social media for large Minecraft servers with communities over 500k.
In 2018, I joined UT Dallas, where I became deeply involved in their newly launched esports program, working directly under Greg Adler.
As Student Director, I hired and led over 25 staff and developed the Community Gaming Programs, including the Content Creator Program, Events, Broadcasting/Production, Social Media, and UT Dallas Minecraft.
During my tenure, our program achieved significant successes, including the University’s first-ever National Championship in Smash Bros Ultimate.
My collegiate experience opened doors to roles at Evil Geniuses, Envy (Optic Gaming), and Complexity, where I further honed my skills in social media and marketing.
2. What were some of the key moments or experiences during your time in collegiate esports that helped shape your career?
Being a manager for the esports program at UT Dallas helped me in many ways. It further developed my people skills, and allowed me to setup organizational structure to make processes easier for all of us. In addition, it grew my social media, marketing, and content skills to better reaching larger audiences.
Core Memory: Winning Nationals at 3am in Boston with the Smash Bros Team was definitely a realization that we were making history. It showed me the true emotions of our players, coaches, and university leadership that further pushed us to keep that competitive success for the years to come.
At Optic Gaming, the success of hitting over 800k views organically on the first TikTok I posted on the account (was a back-thought at the time) just simply showcasing our gaming office with a trending sound → this experience led to me focusing on tackling the TikTok channel, developing reactive strategy, and recognizing my skills in short-form video content creation.
Complexity hired me originally as a TikTok Specialist solely from my stats and achievements at Optic. Later I worked hard to be promoted to Social Media Lead, where I was able to craft a compelling narrative for our organization, and, craft my favorite campaign: TimTheTatman’s Tailgate that took over the Dallas Cowboys District.
Another fav memory: Seeing a billboard in Dallas that our university put up advertising our ranking as “#1 Esports Program in Texas (Best Colleges).”
Achievement: I was recognized by the American Marketing Association for my leadership and marketing efforts for UT Dallas Esports by being named their 2024 Marketer of the Year in Dallas, Texas.
1. Can you share how you first got into esports and what led you to pursue it at the collegiate level?
I began my journey in games marketing during high school, managing social media for large Minecraft servers with communities over 500k.
In 2018, I joined UT Dallas, where I became deeply involved in their newly launched esports program, working directly under Greg Adler.
As Student Director, I hired and led over 25 staff and developed the Community Gaming Programs, including the Content Creator Program, Events, Broadcasting/Production, Social Media, and UT Dallas Minecraft.
During my tenure, our program achieved significant successes, including the University’s first-ever National Championship in Smash Bros Ultimate.
My collegiate experience opened doors to roles at Evil Geniuses, Envy (Optic Gaming), and Complexity, where I further honed my skills in social media and marketing.
2. What were some of the key moments or experiences during your time in collegiate esports that helped shape your career?
Being a manager for the esports program at UT Dallas helped me in many ways. It further developed my people skills, and allowed me to setup organizational structure to make processes easier for all of us. In addition, it grew my social media, marketing, and content skills to better reaching larger audiences.
Core Memory: Winning Nationals at 3am in Boston with the Smash Bros Team was definitely a realization that we were making history. It showed me the true emotions of our players, coaches, and university leadership that further pushed us to keep that competitive success for the years to come.
At Optic Gaming, the success of hitting over 800k views organically on the first TikTok I posted on the account (was a back-thought at the time) just simply showcasing our gaming office with a trending sound → this experience led to me focusing on tackling the TikTok channel, developing reactive strategy, and recognizing my skills in short-form video content creation.
Complexity hired me originally as a TikTok Specialist solely from my stats and achievements at Optic. Later I worked hard to be promoted to Social Media Lead, where I was able to craft a compelling narrative for our organization, and, craft my favorite campaign: TimTheTatman’s Tailgate that took over the Dallas Cowboys District.
Another fav memory: Seeing a billboard in Dallas that our university put up advertising our ranking as “#1 Esports Program in Texas (Best Colleges).”
Achievement: I was recognized by the American Marketing Association for my leadership and marketing efforts for UT Dallas Esports by being named their 2024 Marketer of the Year in Dallas, Texas.
Eric as The Marketer of the Year
Transition from Student to Industry Professional
3. How did your background in social media and collegiate esports prepare you for your role at Riot Games?
My background consists of a variety of different organizations: UT Dallas Esports, Evil Geniuses, Optic Gaming, Discord (Campus Brand Ambassador), Complexity, Dallas Cowboys, and even a bit of agency work the past year leading up to Riot.
From growing different audiences, I’ve been able to further develop my social media skills and tactics that I utilize when redeveloping content strategy, or crafting a strategy from scratch. For Riot, my role is looking at the bigger picture for the VCT Americas NA social media accounts, where I’ll be able to implement some new ways that we cover the esports matches, content outside just gamedays, further highlight our players/teams, and connect more with our fanbase.
4. What advice would you give to current students looking to transition from collegiate esports into professional roles in the gaming industry?
Start utilizing your title as a “student” to your advantage. Industry professionals are typically open to talk/interview with college students, even over a simple virtual coffee chat. My advice? Leverage LinkedIn and Twitter, where you can find a lot of professionals in the career discipline that you want to work in. Following industry professionals too can help you see what some of these individuals do day-to-day.
In terms of applying and crafting your resume, see if there’s anyway you can further grow your program and be able to share that on your resume. One of my favorite achievements was investing a lot of time in the TikTok for UT Dallas Esports, which led to us going viral for a few videos and being ranked the #1 most engaged collegiate program in the US on social media.
3. How did your background in social media and collegiate esports prepare you for your role at Riot Games?
My background consists of a variety of different organizations: UT Dallas Esports, Evil Geniuses, Optic Gaming, Discord (Campus Brand Ambassador), Complexity, Dallas Cowboys, and even a bit of agency work the past year leading up to Riot.
From growing different audiences, I’ve been able to further develop my social media skills and tactics that I utilize when redeveloping content strategy, or crafting a strategy from scratch. For Riot, my role is looking at the bigger picture for the VCT Americas NA social media accounts, where I’ll be able to implement some new ways that we cover the esports matches, content outside just gamedays, further highlight our players/teams, and connect more with our fanbase.
4. What advice would you give to current students looking to transition from collegiate esports into professional roles in the gaming industry?
Start utilizing your title as a “student” to your advantage. Industry professionals are typically open to talk/interview with college students, even over a simple virtual coffee chat. My advice? Leverage LinkedIn and Twitter, where you can find a lot of professionals in the career discipline that you want to work in. Following industry professionals too can help you see what some of these individuals do day-to-day.
In terms of applying and crafting your resume, see if there’s anyway you can further grow your program and be able to share that on your resume. One of my favorite achievements was investing a lot of time in the TikTok for UT Dallas Esports, which led to us going viral for a few videos and being ranked the #1 most engaged collegiate program in the US on social media.
Social Media & Branding
5. You’ve worked in social media before joining Riot Games. How important is personal branding in esports, and how did you build yours?
Personal branding is more important than ever. We’re entering an era where a resume sometimes isn’t enough, especially in the social media industry. Having a portfolio, active LinkedIn profile filled with posts sharing your favorite projects or campaigns, a personal blog you manage for sharing your insights, a TikTok you’ve helped grow as a social media manager (or as yourself) - all of these help provide insight to a hiring manager on HOW you think, and real life examples of how you can grow a brand. Of course, while it’s not required, a personal brand can definitely help set you stand out. In addition, building a network/community is super important regardless of your field of study.
I built my personal brand in different verticals: For esports, I actively maintain my Twitter and LinkedIn where I share some insights of campaigns that I’ve been able to work on for esports brands/teams (Ie. Sharing the 6 month social media campaign I worked on for the inaugural TimTheTatman Tailgate, or highlighting my funny moments as a mascot), on TikTok I actively create content that showcases my experience as a mascot, where I’ve been able to build an online community behind my niche, and in my pastime I create content that’s comedic and funny (typically targeted for college students), where I’ve been able to land paid sponsorships creating content with 7-Eleven, Bose, and more.
6. Can you talk about any specific strategies or campaigns you worked on that significantly impacted your career trajectory?
Specifically at Complexity, we highly leveraged TikTok and short-form video to better connect our brand to a broader gaming audience. We utilized trends that emerged on the platform and our in-house staff/creators to put our face in front of people that have never heard of us before. This strategy made us appear very relatable (which is important for any brand) and allowed us to grow our audience 250,000+ on the platform in under 8 months.
In addition at Complexity, I spearheaded the initiative to bring to life TimTheTatman’s mascot. Finding a vendor and somehow convincing C-Suite to signoff on a $14,000 mascot suit (I know, crazy right?), we were able to bring “Kevin The Penguin” to life for the inaugural tailgate event. While some stakeholders were skeptical of the mascot investment, a post of the mascot and Ninja holding event merchandise generated over $64,000 in merchandise sales on Twitter (of course, with amplification of Ninja, Tim, and other creators). Needless to say, mascots are a great way (and a personal favorite of mine, being a former NFL Mascot and College Mascot), to market your brand to fans.
The Riot Games Opportunity
7. What excited you most about the opportunity to work on VALORANT Esports at Riot Games?
I’m a huge fan of VALORANT and the VCT (VALORANT Champions Tour). Esports has been an industry I’ve now worked in for over 6 years, starting in collegiate, working for pro teams, and now at the game publisher side; I’m so pumped to be on such a talented team and to get to work on the league side of things. It gives me a new opportunity to apply some of the tactics I’ve learned over the years with a super talented team, and a new perspective of competitive gaming.
8. Were there any challenges or surprises during the hiring process that you think are valuable lessons for others aspiring to similar roles?
Actually no! My hiring process was super smooth and fun!
5. You’ve worked in social media before joining Riot Games. How important is personal branding in esports, and how did you build yours?
Personal branding is more important than ever. We’re entering an era where a resume sometimes isn’t enough, especially in the social media industry. Having a portfolio, active LinkedIn profile filled with posts sharing your favorite projects or campaigns, a personal blog you manage for sharing your insights, a TikTok you’ve helped grow as a social media manager (or as yourself) - all of these help provide insight to a hiring manager on HOW you think, and real life examples of how you can grow a brand. Of course, while it’s not required, a personal brand can definitely help set you stand out. In addition, building a network/community is super important regardless of your field of study.
I built my personal brand in different verticals: For esports, I actively maintain my Twitter and LinkedIn where I share some insights of campaigns that I’ve been able to work on for esports brands/teams (Ie. Sharing the 6 month social media campaign I worked on for the inaugural TimTheTatman Tailgate, or highlighting my funny moments as a mascot), on TikTok I actively create content that showcases my experience as a mascot, where I’ve been able to build an online community behind my niche, and in my pastime I create content that’s comedic and funny (typically targeted for college students), where I’ve been able to land paid sponsorships creating content with 7-Eleven, Bose, and more.
6. Can you talk about any specific strategies or campaigns you worked on that significantly impacted your career trajectory?
Specifically at Complexity, we highly leveraged TikTok and short-form video to better connect our brand to a broader gaming audience. We utilized trends that emerged on the platform and our in-house staff/creators to put our face in front of people that have never heard of us before. This strategy made us appear very relatable (which is important for any brand) and allowed us to grow our audience 250,000+ on the platform in under 8 months.
In addition at Complexity, I spearheaded the initiative to bring to life TimTheTatman’s mascot. Finding a vendor and somehow convincing C-Suite to signoff on a $14,000 mascot suit (I know, crazy right?), we were able to bring “Kevin The Penguin” to life for the inaugural tailgate event. While some stakeholders were skeptical of the mascot investment, a post of the mascot and Ninja holding event merchandise generated over $64,000 in merchandise sales on Twitter (of course, with amplification of Ninja, Tim, and other creators). Needless to say, mascots are a great way (and a personal favorite of mine, being a former NFL Mascot and College Mascot), to market your brand to fans.
The Riot Games Opportunity
7. What excited you most about the opportunity to work on VALORANT Esports at Riot Games?
I’m a huge fan of VALORANT and the VCT (VALORANT Champions Tour). Esports has been an industry I’ve now worked in for over 6 years, starting in collegiate, working for pro teams, and now at the game publisher side; I’m so pumped to be on such a talented team and to get to work on the league side of things. It gives me a new opportunity to apply some of the tactics I’ve learned over the years with a super talented team, and a new perspective of competitive gaming.
8. Were there any challenges or surprises during the hiring process that you think are valuable lessons for others aspiring to similar roles?
Actually no! My hiring process was super smooth and fun!
Eric's website with some kewy metrics
Vision & Future Goals
9. What are your main goals as you step into your new role? Are there any particular projects or initiatives within VALORANT Esports you’re passionate about?
As I’ve just started, I’ll just say I’m excited to give a hand at integrating more of my previous short-form / social strategies for the VCT NA. My goal stepping into this new role is all about seeing room for growth in our social media content, and crafting new ways we can better serve our player community.
10. Looking ahead, where do you see your career evolving in the next 5 to 10 years within the esports industry?
That’s a great question! I definitely want to see myself still in gaming. Gaming was been a huge part of my childhood and life, and I’d love to stay here to work on all things building online communities surrounded by a thing we all have in common.
Advice & Reflection
11. What advice would you give to students balancing their studies with a growing interest in esports?
Don’t be afraid to apply yourself and to take risks. Some of the most innovative brands take risks all the time, and it’s a great opportunity to learn. Get out of your comfort zone, make new friends in the industry, and be involved/active on your campus. If you’re looking to get a head start of your career while you’re still in school, see if there’s departments that you can help grow their social media presence, host events, or in the specific career you’re looking to break through in. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask questions and try new things!
Also at the same time, don’t invest 100% of your time into gaming/esports. It’s important to have a balance of time for your studies, outdoor activities, and grinding those comp games.
12. Looking back at your journey, is there anything you wish you knew or did differently as a student pursuing a career in esports?
While this may come to a surprise, I’ve had a lot of imposter syndrome and self-doubting when it comes to my work. I’m highly passionate about what I get the opportunity to work on, and sometimes I’ve been the biggest person holding myself back. The best practice I’ve been able to overcome this I’ve been reading more books on self development, confidence, and psychology. These books help me learn more, by learning more about myself.
9. What are your main goals as you step into your new role? Are there any particular projects or initiatives within VALORANT Esports you’re passionate about?
As I’ve just started, I’ll just say I’m excited to give a hand at integrating more of my previous short-form / social strategies for the VCT NA. My goal stepping into this new role is all about seeing room for growth in our social media content, and crafting new ways we can better serve our player community.
10. Looking ahead, where do you see your career evolving in the next 5 to 10 years within the esports industry?
That’s a great question! I definitely want to see myself still in gaming. Gaming was been a huge part of my childhood and life, and I’d love to stay here to work on all things building online communities surrounded by a thing we all have in common.
Advice & Reflection
11. What advice would you give to students balancing their studies with a growing interest in esports?
Don’t be afraid to apply yourself and to take risks. Some of the most innovative brands take risks all the time, and it’s a great opportunity to learn. Get out of your comfort zone, make new friends in the industry, and be involved/active on your campus. If you’re looking to get a head start of your career while you’re still in school, see if there’s departments that you can help grow their social media presence, host events, or in the specific career you’re looking to break through in. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask questions and try new things!
Also at the same time, don’t invest 100% of your time into gaming/esports. It’s important to have a balance of time for your studies, outdoor activities, and grinding those comp games.
12. Looking back at your journey, is there anything you wish you knew or did differently as a student pursuing a career in esports?
While this may come to a surprise, I’ve had a lot of imposter syndrome and self-doubting when it comes to my work. I’m highly passionate about what I get the opportunity to work on, and sometimes I’ve been the biggest person holding myself back. The best practice I’ve been able to overcome this I’ve been reading more books on self development, confidence, and psychology. These books help me learn more, by learning more about myself.
Subscribe to our blog