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May 31, 2012

Empire Avenue – Improving Social Media Outreach Efforts

Struggling to find ways to do a better job engaging your company’s customers on Facebook and Twitter? Empire Avenue may have an answer. Part simulation game, part personal branding tool, Empire Avenue is an application that measures the “value” of its users based on their level of engagement on popular social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

The differences between Empire Avenue and most other social networking analytics tools are apparent right off the bat. Instead of choosing a username, Empire Avenue prompts you to select a ticker (stock symbol) and an index (professional field). Connect Empire Avenue to all the social networks you currently use, and then start researching other users on the site. Each user is given a certain number of eaves (virtual currency), which they can use to invest in people whose social media stocks are set to rise. You can increase your own worth or value on Empire Avenue by increasing your level of participation on social networking sites and blogs, so the more you write and post online the higher your value on Empire Avenue will be. Your investing acumen and online skills can also help you earn special badges, which can be posted on your social networking pages as a way to entice other investors to buy shares of your stock.

Users can sit back and watch their stock prices fluctuate over time, but the real point to Empire Avenue is to give people valuable feedback about how they can take advantage of the social networking accounts and connections they already have. By using Empire Avenue on a regular basis and watching what other users are doing to improve their stock prices, almost anyone can become a pro at networking and brand building online.

Practical Uses:

  • Compete against your friends to see who has the most social networking prowess
  • Learn how you can increase your followers on Twitter
  • Watch how big brands engage with customers on Facebook
  • Improve your status across social networking sites

Insider Tips:

  • Users can link their Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and LinkedIn accounts
  • Bloggers can add RSS feeds to their Empire Avenue profiles
  • People can earn eaves by unlocking achievements, selling shares, or using their earnings and dividends
  • Empire Avenue lets people set share price alerts for any user

What we liked:

  • Empire Avenue can quickly turn into an addictive game
  • Everyone is given a certain number of eaves to play with at the beginning of the game
  • People can use Empire Avenue to learn more about how to effectively network online
  • Empire Avenue offers a number of “Missions” that users can go on to increase their follower counts on Twitter and Facebook

What we didn’t like:

  • Empire Avenue is a complicated game, and it can be difficult for novices to know where to begin

Alternatives:

  • None

Company Info:

  • Launched: July 2010
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Edmonton, Canada
  • Founded by: Duleepa Wijayawardhana, Michael Mannion, and Niall Brown
  • Web site: http://empireavenue.com

Costs:

  • Free

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