Help expanding LJ
Title
Help expanding LJ
Short, concise description of the idea
LJ Celebrity Sponsorships
Full description of the idea
Greetings. I am a long time Live Journal user and I have always felt that this site
offered unique properties that were not present in other sites, mainly that it encouraged literacy and offered networking properties without being obnoxious. It has always bothered me to see sites like Facebook and Myspace commanding media and social attention when they are clearly inferior products.
To that end, I have a suggestion for expanding Live Journal. One thing that Youtube and Myspace have always capitalized on is their "Celebrities" people who are only famous within the confines of the site, but still manage to generate a great deal of attention. Why not refine this accidental success method with Live Journal and sharpen it up a bit to have some of your more extravagant or noticeable users working to direct attention to the site?
I'm not talking revenue sharing either. I would have to assume that you have an advertising budget, why not use that budget to basically get some prominent, media friendly users to basically be sponsored? You'd pay them a certain amount, get them in public events, and they'd attract attention to your site, blog interesting or insightful things and generate more users by making LJ cool and accessible?
Think about it in the terms of how traditional companies sponsor Nascar drivers and sports icons, except you'd be sponsoring writers who had enough real world style to attract a new audience, would go to concerts, public events and raise peoples awareness of your site.
If that yutz Tila Tequila can attract attention to Myspace why couldn't LJ refine those methods and get some quality users to do the same (but better) for your site?
Trust me, I do know what I'm talking about. I have a decent background in being an icon of sorts for my own obscure causes, and having a face behind a group telling people to give it a go does make a difference.
One advantage that you do have over these other sites is that you haven't worn out your welcome. A lot of people know your name, but you're not like Myspace, a once cool site that is now a synonym for "Old news". You've got a base of users, you're robust and you're still in an area of the limelight where you can profit from it without looking like a website like Myspace who is desperately retooling in an attempt to avoid sinking. Instead, you'll like the best kept secret who is just now emerging into public view. You just need some good hands to help you achieve that goal.
An ordered list of benefits
- Seeing stylish, articulate "Celebrity" users will encourage people into a more competitive stance, encouraging them to post more. A competitive culture isn't always a bad thing if it encourages activity and quality.
Increased traffic from lurkers - Celebrity users would encourage outside users to check the site regularly for updates from these users. Making a deal with your sponsored users to update 3 times a week with content of interest would guarantee other users would log in and check for the updates they knew were coming.
Celebrity users could attract attention to other users and communities on the site with their endorsements (mentioning another user or community of interest in their posts to attract attention to them)
Relatively low cost - advertising is expensive, paying people a little money to indulge in their own ego is usually fairly cost effective!
You haven't tried it yet - If there is one thing I've learned, it is that if your efforts have not yielded good results, reverse course and do the exact opposite. If your current tactics yield failure, the opposite of your current tactics OFTEN yield success, no matter how arbitrary to common sense it may seem. Try something new and see if it works. Insanity is the act of repeating the same actions and expecting different results.
- It will still cost SOME money, so you'd have to commit to investing in your own future.
I am personally TOO handsome, articulate and witty to be considered for one of your LJ Celebrities, as I would no doubt attract TOO much interest and subsequently crash all your servers. So yeah, figured I'd mention that before you even asked me.