As I have previously noted, I am taking a liking to Empire Avenue! This social media stock market of sorts seems to do a solid job of looking at your network value/worth and making it into a game that is enjoyable for many to engage in. Basically, for those who are not yet signed up for the site, you or your organization sign up, connect all of your social media profiles (and RSS feeds), and then buy/sell virtual shares of other people and brands. As you buy more shares, their stock price tends to increase; along the way, you get dividends for the shares you own in a particular stock. Lastly, in addition to having a stock price, Empire Avenue also scores your various engagement and worth on each of the networks you have connected, giving you more information about how well you are on a particular social media network! But, why should you join this site? I mean – most people are more familiar with Klout and use that more to figure out their “online influence.” Well, here are six quick reasons to consider Empire Avenue in your social media strategy.
- Connect More Profiles: Generally speaking (although Klout is now playing catchup), Empire Avenue allows you or your brand/organization to connect more networks to your profile; in essence, this provides a more-thorough and better overall understanding of your network power / influence.
- Individual Network Scores: With Empire Avenue, I get a network score for each profile that I connect, allowing me to see when I dip in engagement on one network, etc. Personally, I have found these network scores to help me understand where I spend the bulk of my time using social media and where I could potentially improve! With each network comes new “virtual advisors” that you can get for a minimal amount of Eaves (Empire Avenue’s virtual currency)! If nothing else, I’d connect my profiles just to get analytical feedback and data!
- RSS Feed Connection: I can connect my RSS feeds, and it counts towards my score… the more in-depth blogs I post, the better my score becomes! Basically, the RSS/Blog feeds are right there on my profile, so my prospective shareholders can endorse them. If they find the urge to invest in me and go so far as to endorse my blogs/RSS feeds, there is a chance they might take a liking to the feed and subscribe. Hence, you can potentially gain more readers this way! Lastly, the platform tells me how many overall blog posts I have added over the course of the past week. This helps me stay on my toes and to write more frequently/regularly!
- Choice of Index/Topics: Have you ever checked your Klout dashboard only to find that it thinks that you are influential about a topic that you have nothing to do with or that you find extremely odd? Well, you are not alone. At the present time and according to Klout, I am apparently influential about medical, but I do not understand why that is. I blog and tweet (and post on Facebook) about fitness, working out, bodybuilding, and supplements, but not really anything about the general topics of medicine or medical; concurrently, fitness, bodybuilding, and supplements are not even topics that Klout finds me influential about. Wow! That is a bit odd! Well, that is not the case with Empire Avenue. First, you get to select which stock index you wish to be listed under. Do you want to be listed under Social Networking? How about leadership? Yoga? Well, with Empire Avenue, you have a good number of options, so you can pick a category/index that best fits your personality or your brand’s industry! Secondly, you are able to list my interests by keywords! Then, I can click on any of the keywords to see others who also listed the same keyword, and that information can be broken down by geographic location and by those people or brands I have recommended, bought shares in, etc.! When you view your interests in the newer cloud view, the keywords most used appear larger!
- Zero Daily Endorsement Limitations: On Klout, I am limited to 5 +k’s per 24 hours, but that is not the case on Empire Avenue; instead, I can buy a few shares of somebody and then a few more of somebody else… I could buy shares in 10 people today if I really wanted to; in many ways, this is a means of me endorsing that person or brand (as either being a good stock to have or more)! I then have the option to share that stock purchase (endorsement) on Facebook or Twitter. In another way, I can endorse the RSS feeds of a particular person or brand. I believe that this can help garner a better stock price similarly to how +k gives Klout points!
- Communities: On Klout, I can build a list of sorts, but there is little else I can currently do using this tool. So, when I want to engage and interact, I always have to move over to Twitter or Facebook. But, that is not the case with Empire Avenue; Empire Avenue has communities of all kinds that you can join (based on city, based on subject-matter, etc.); in fact, you can create private ones too. Overall, Empire Avenue is just more social and interactive (you are able to put as much time and effort into it as you want)!
Of course, the battle between these similar services (Klout vs Empire Avenue) is far from over. In the end, I am confident that this [features] battle between the two will certainly help all of us and our brands! When there is true competition, things are normally pretty good! So, I think you should sign into Klout and then sign up for Empire Avenue. Make sure you let me know what you think about the two, especially your thoughts about Empire Avenue!
