Last week, I wrote about Empire Avenue, the "social media exchange" that enables players to buy and sell virtual shares in another person or business or brand. With an expanding user base, the game helps players monitor their social influence and garner business-related connections that may lift sales and boost their bottom line.
This week I chatted with representatives from two of the largest conglomerates on the real New York Stock Exchange about their participation in Empire Avenue. That’s right. Both Ford Motor Co. and AT&T established themselves on the site two months ago. While they’re new to the game, check out their stats:
- Ford (FORD) started trading at 25.35 eaves -- Empire Avenue's fake currency -- on its first day and ended the day at 45.61e. Today it trades at 102.77e.
- AT&T (ATT) started at 10.00e and ended its first day of trading at 37.76e. Today, it's trading at 108.70e.
The representatives at Ford and AT&T say their companies spend less than an hour a day managing their Empire Avenue accounts. Ford's account is managed by Scott Monty, the company's global digital and multimedia communications manager. AT&T's account is managed by Christopher Baccus, the executive director of digital and social media.
Since both of these fledgling Empire Avenue companies experienced fast success on the platform, I asked them to offer some dos and don’ts for other business leaders who may be considering using Empire Avenue as well. Here are a few of their suggestions:
Don’t ‘game’ the system: “Acquiring investors and followers just so you can increase your brand’s share price isn’t a sustainable practice,” says Monty. He suggests that more seasoned Empire Avenue players can sniff out inauthentic behavior quickly. They also aren’t shy about pointing it out.
Do respond in-kind: Baccus recommends that if someone purchases shares of your business or brand, give them a “shout out” and consider buying their shares. “Authentic reciprocity is a big part of Empire Avenue,” he says. Baccus also recommends responding in-kind to those who mention your brand on the site. “Follow up with everyone who engages with your page.”
Don’t forget to reward: Think about giving something of tangible value to players who take the time to invest in and evangelize your brand. Aside from purchasing their shares, Ford's Monty recommends those with a brick and mortar or ecommerce operation should consider offering a discount code or coupon as a beneficial way of saying thanks. Monty also suggests profiling or featuring one investor each week by means of a "Shareholder Mail" message. This rewards a person for their exemplary support by encouraging other players to invest in that person.
Do join communities: That’s why they’re called “communities.” AT&T’s Baccus says he responded to a player’s post about his company’s service, which drew a stunned response from the poster when he realized a company as large at AT&T replied to his query. This quickly established AT&T as a bona fide and trusted member of the community.
Don’t opt out -- register your brand: As an aside, Randy Gage, author of Why You're Dumb, Sick & Broke...And How to Get Smart, Healthy & Rich!, says that even if you have no intention of ever putting your business or brand on Empire Avenue, you should still go to the site and secure your business or brand ticker before someone else does. Better safe than left out of the game, he says.
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Comments:
Thanks for this post. I promoted it at http://www.facebook.com/empireavenue.tips
Thanks for this post, I promoted it at http://www.facebook.com/empireavenue.tips
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I just joined a week ago and I'm still trying to figure out what the objective is (raise your share price? increase number of investors? invest wisely in others? accumulate wealth? use the site to connect with others?). I've just treated it very casually and it's fun for now. But my value has increased over the past 7 days so it's easy to view it positively. If MY value (yes, me as a person who is bought & sold) starts plummeting, I'm sure I'll feel differently!
Hi Mikal, Thank you so much for coming up with this post. It is always such a pleasure to receive a handful of advice from the experts. The kind of success these two companies have achieved over this period is marvellous. Great piece of advice from both! Thanks for sharing. Riya Sam Training for Entrepreneurs.com
Christopher - The fact that you are actively engaging with commenters like myself, buying stock in others on Empire Avenue, and working towards bringing your numbers back up says a lot about you and your brand. Personally, I am a big ATT fan. All of our family iPhones are on ATT as well as the full U-verse 450 package, and home/office lines. We are very happy customers for 5+ years now. The big area you could improve is your Empire Avenue current dividend yield rate (0.61% at the time of this writing), into something over 1% so that investors will want to hold on long term instead of speculating on the big name that ATT brings to the table. Based on your most recent activity I can tell that you are already working on that. There are many many investors that Max Out in stocks that pay high divs, and this would cement you as a long term play, along with the big name that all new players will want to invest in. Plus, coming up with some creative marketing campaigns through shareholder emails would be nice (contests, giveaways, something of value to shareholders, etc). The bottom line is that you are doing great for how big the brand is and based on your activity, over the course of the week I am going to Max out my investment in ATT on Empire Avenue :)Keep up the great work!
I agree with Chris Record comment on BMW - I sold mine yesterday. I like the idea from Scott Monty o rewarding with coupon code, etc.
Good Read! Nice to see how Empire Avenue is gaining more traction; especially with Big Brands seeing the value behind it... Brands (big or small, personal as well) are making great connections with the EA platform, and I believe it's just the very beginning for such! Best Wishes to all & happy *huge* dividends (or should I say connections)! Respectfully, Robert ~~> http://e-av.me/ROWIRO
Appreciate the comment Chris. I agree we "could do better" and are learning every day on the site. Thanks for the feedback.
Thank you Mikal for the conversation and for including AT&T in your Dos and Don'ts. Empire Avenue is a new community for us and we are still actively learning from others' examples as well, including some great engagement by Ford and from community members like those who left comments below as well as Adriel Hampton, Robert Scoble, and Chris Pirillo. There are quite a few areas where brands can offer special content to their "shareholders" and it will be interesting to see how the EA site owners evolve the community over time. We are finding a vibrant community on EA that brings something different from the more known social sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. EA isn't a replacement for any; instead, it's an extension of the total social media contribution a brand or person makes. Respectfully, Christopher Baccus AT&T (e)ATT
Nice article Mikal and impressed that you had managed to chat to the big guns! Have followed Monty's social presence for some time and like the fact he controls Ford's EA account and Baccus makes some great points with the 'respond in-kind', something I try to put into practice. I've really enjoyed the EA platform and have found the communities to be friendly and helpful, where I have found most use. It has helped me track the social activity of my peers, whilst also track my own performance (usually going down at weekends!) but I am less worried about my share price now than I am about contributing to the communities I am part of. Off to get me some shares in you Mikal! Take care, (e)THEDAVECABLE
This article rocks! I think it's important to engage and interact with your audience when you have a social presence on a network. Ford and ATT have done pretty good with that (could do better) but http://www.empireavenue.com/BMW is an example of doing it wrong. They came and made a huge splash on Empire Avenue and grew tremendously, but didn't engage with the network, didn't connect all their social profiles, and ultimately a sell off has begun yesterday and continuing through today. I think this could continue for a while. I look forward to hearing more articles about Empire Avenue here at Entrepreneur.com! - (e)CHRISRECORD
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Great to see the big companies recognizing the value of EA to engage, monitor your brand and create new followers. -RG