A lot of the time, social media and community management are an afterthought in the game development process. In this quick talk, I want to briefly highlight the main reasons why you should bring on a community manager as soon as possible and not leave it until it's too late. The right person will have an overview of the whole development process, communicate regularly with the rest of the team, engage the right communities and ultimately create a space where players can get super excited about the game. It's marketing, player support and influencer management. It's tough but absolutely necessary.