Empire Avenue is good for business

Empire Avenue is a game, but it is also so much more than a game. It is a social media stock market where the best brands build dividends by engaging with their social media audience. By creating a game out of your social media efforts and rewarding you with stock value increases you can see the effectiveness of your social media and get an idea of the value. There are other measuring methods used for understanding influence and reach, but this particular method is measured in a similar way to publicly traded company stocks, the market determines your value by investing in your social media efforts.

Determine Social Media Strengths

As you can see from the profile view below there are some simple ways to see just how well you are doing in each of your connected networks. You also can manage your portfolio, see your shareholders, create lists of engaged people, see the achievements you’ve earned, and manage your missions (more on that later). Basically you receive a score for each network and it is based on your engagement, audience size, and activity. As you can see I have room for improvement in all of my networks. The one that needs work and has the most impact on my business is YouTube. If I were to grow that network with more useful videos and engage with other content on YouTube my impact on other levels would improve as well. Using this

simple data helps you determine which networks you need to grow the most. Keep in mind that one of the measured metrics is audience, so if your audience doesn’t use a particular network then don’t worry too much about the score for that network.

The Big Boys are doing it…maybe you should too

Some of the biggest names in business are on Empire Avenue. There are dozens of reasons to be participating but the fact that your social value is being monitored by investors and the capital raised on your social engagement is "worth" something is perhaps one of the biggest reasons to get involved in Empire Avenue. You’ll see names like AT&T, X BOX, Audi, Ford, and more. These accounts may not have a ton of activity but they demonstrate good engagement and investments in this virtual social stock market.

Managing posts on Facebook and Twitter

Empire Avenue added some really cool features for sharing content on your Facebook profile and Twitter feeds. Using their "Shout Out" feature you can cross post from Empire Avenue to Twitter and Facebook. I anticipate that eventually it will allow posts to LinkedIn, Google+, and other networks with a public API. This feature allows you to manage your posting from one center without duplicating the effort by going to those other networks. Additionally it allows you to engage with those people who are in your Empire Avenue network directly. If you do it right this means that you’ll be engaging with your audience as well.

Missions will drive traffic

One of the ways that you spend your social capital is through missions. Empire Avenue missions are opportunities to give your shareholders, or the public at large a chance to do something for you in order for you to share some of your capital. Offering excess capital in the form of a reward for engaging with your content is a way to grow page views, likes, +1’s and more. By rewarding people to engage with your content you are also rewarded with improved metrics for the game as well as improved search engine results from the social cues that are collected through the mission. If done well and frequently enough you can have Empire Avenue as one of your top referring sites in Google Analytics.

It’s a game…and it’s fun

The reasons stated above are really good business related reasons to join Empire Avenue. One of the biggest reasons that I can think of for joining, however, is that it make social media into a game. By doing things that will benefit your business you can be rewarded in a game and use the rewards in that game to improve your score even more. If you think you’ve got the hang of social media for your business and you are creating really great content already then I encourage you to help yourself add a little fun to your efforts, join Empire Avenue. Buy a couple shares in cnctNow while you’re at it.

If you’re already on Empire Avenue, what other benefits can you see in using this great game as a tool for business? Leave your comments in the section below.