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Comm promotion partnerships? Would you do it?
Saturday, October 24th, 2009 09:50 amI mentioned in the comments that LJ had been working on promotions that were related to existing comms, as opposed to sponsored comms. Specifically: "We picked 15 communities that are passionate fans of games and played advertising that allowed members in the communities to discuss and share game information. Every community has unique brand-related content with questions and contests around the game and giveaway prizes."
Unlike the Xbox promotion, this wasn't announced in the news, but on the comms themselves, and the rules were announced in the comm Lj_contests. It was also promoted on the homepage and promoted through "search results targeted to people who follow gaming communities." This is also sort of interesting because it had to be done with the aid of the people who maintain the communities involved. I wonder if they get anything out of it. Well, these promotions seem to be run via Electronic Arts (and also involving the ad department of Six Apart), so if you have a comm that has something to do with one of their properties, perhaps you'll receive a call.
This seems to be a much smarter way of doing things than making the banner green a la the Xbox promotion (although that also involves a partnership with a longstanding comm. It seems like a much better idea to partner with an existing comm than to make up a new one, because then you have to advertise it), because it seems truly targeted towards those who would appreciate such a contest (Sims fans and video game fans), rather than the general LJ audience, the majority of whom wouldn't have much interest.
If I owned a comm like this, I'm not sure whether I would participate or not. I think it would depend on the degree of transparency, and whether the comm members could potentially gain anything. On the other hand, if the company or whatever gave a free graphics or had a contest, I'm sure I would post about it (if it was relevant to the comm; I'm also guessing that I couldn't unilaterally apply to participate in some promotion, that I would also need LJ's approval). I kind of doubt in this situation that the comm maintainers received anything, so as long as they didn't do so secretly, I don't think there's really an ethical problem w/ it.
Unlike the Xbox promotion, this wasn't announced in the news, but on the comms themselves, and the rules were announced in the comm Lj_contests. It was also promoted on the homepage and promoted through "search results targeted to people who follow gaming communities." This is also sort of interesting because it had to be done with the aid of the people who maintain the communities involved. I wonder if they get anything out of it. Well, these promotions seem to be run via Electronic Arts (and also involving the ad department of Six Apart), so if you have a comm that has something to do with one of their properties, perhaps you'll receive a call.
This seems to be a much smarter way of doing things than making the banner green a la the Xbox promotion (although that also involves a partnership with a longstanding comm. It seems like a much better idea to partner with an existing comm than to make up a new one, because then you have to advertise it), because it seems truly targeted towards those who would appreciate such a contest (Sims fans and video game fans), rather than the general LJ audience, the majority of whom wouldn't have much interest.
If I owned a comm like this, I'm not sure whether I would participate or not. I think it would depend on the degree of transparency, and whether the comm members could potentially gain anything. On the other hand, if the company or whatever gave a free graphics or had a contest, I'm sure I would post about it (if it was relevant to the comm; I'm also guessing that I couldn't unilaterally apply to participate in some promotion, that I would also need LJ's approval). I kind of doubt in this situation that the comm maintainers received anything, so as long as they didn't do so secretly, I don't think there's really an ethical problem w/ it.
