Winning Empire Avenue

Introduction - Winning Empire Avenue

On January 12, 2012 I made a commitment to amp up our Social Media footprint.

I decided to embark on a new journey which required learning about winning Empire Avenue (EA or EAV) strategies.

Over the past eight months I have focused on winning Empire Avenue strategies on a very consistent and daily basis.

Primary Principles Of Expand, Engage and Evaluate

Empire Avenue has many supporters as well as detractors.  Although Empire Avenue started life on the Web officially as a social media stock market game it was eventually re-branded as “social media rocket fuel” approximately 6 months ago.

The Social Media game platform offers many advantages built around their primary principles of Expand, Engage and Evaluate.

Winning Empire Avenue With Three Primary Tenants

Ideally the three primary tenants of Empire Avenue work in the following manner:

#1 - Expand - Winning Empire Avenue

Expand in this social media audience by utilizing virtual Empire Avenue Currency known as eaves to connect with others in the Empire Avenue Universe.

Ideally you expand your social media connections by buying stock in other Empire Avenue investors as well as performing their missions to help them with various social media goals such as re-tweeting or a range of tasks.

In return for doing missions, eaves are awarded, allowing investors to buy even more stock.  Missions provide winning Empire Avenue opportunities.

Other ways of expanding involving offering your own missions to Empire Avenue members as well as connecting with as many people as possible through EAV shout outs.  Also it's important to connect via all the key social media channels. 

#2 - Engage - Winning Empire Avenue

Engage the Empire Avenue community with content on your social media networks.  These would include, but not be limited to such channels as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Flickr, UTube as well as a dizzying array of blogging platforms.  This might include the popular Pinterest, Quora, Diigo and Tumblr, to name a few.

As an Empire Avenue member you can utilize the platform to build stronger audiences across multiple networks, through daily content creation and EAV engagement.  You can also access all of the Empire Avenue Communities to make new connections.

Engagement also involves attracting new investors in your stock who may also be interested in joining your various social media networks.  Attracting new investors is part of the key Empire Avenue actions which directly drives share price and adds value.

#3 - Evaluate - Winning Empire Avenue

Evaluate your Empire Avenue progress in building stronger social media connections through the Network Score portal which displays your ongoing activities in acquiring new shareholders, making new connections, building a social media portfolio value and share price growth or decline.

If you go into Empire Avenue with the specific goal to strengthen your social media channels, the Evaluate page provides you with ongoing historical performance data.

Getting Started - Winning Empire Avenue

Although HairBoutique.com has been engaged in many social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Posterous, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora) from the very beginning of the introduction of the channels, Empire Avenue seemed overwhelming.

After encouragement from the fabulous Jason Ramsey, CEO of WigSuperStore.com, I decided to take the plunge and instantly discovered the famous Empire Avenue steep learning curve.

Thrown into a quagmire or foreign social media activity, I stumbled through the first few weeks in a daze.  During that time I took lots of winning Empire Avenue notes.  I also received amazing help from many Empire Avenue investors.

Listed below is a summary of my Winning Empire Avenue notes:

1.  Have a clear understanding before joining Empire Avenue of your ultimate goals. 

Are you joining for the social media advantages of Expanding and Engaging your connections or are you only interesting in playing the game?  While Empire Avenue clearly can help strengthen your pre-existing social media channels, some people only participate for the well-known game aspects of the channel.

2. Have all your social media ducks lined up in a row.

Whether you're joining Empire Avenue to make lots of new social media connections, strengthen existing channels or move into new ones, establish a social media presence before you join.

You'll start your Empire Avenue Avenue journey stronger with pre-existing social media connections than without them.

3.  Study the Empire Avenue newbie Blogs

When newbies join Empire Avenue they become like fresh meat at the market.  Several Empire Avenue power players rank every new member by a checklist of variables to determine if they are potentially a good investment.

Two of my favorite new player blogs are written by EAV power players Paul Steinbrueck and Gerrit Bes who are both excellent at making predictions and newbie buy recommendations.

Paul Steinbrueck

Paul Steinbrueck aka (e)PDSTEIN) has a daily blog - New Empire Avenue Users - where he evaluates brand new sign ups according to his own set of variables which include:

* ROI > 1.0 (ROI is dividend per share divided by stock price)

* Dividend of at least 0.20e/share

* The player has bought shares in other stocks

* The player has connected at least 1 social network to EAv

Paul is always on the EAV Leaderboards and devotes a lot of time on The Avenue helping newbies as well as giving back to the community.

Gerrit Bes

The charming Gerrit Bes (e)promote4you has the Eav Daily Tips blog which provides very helpful information on Empire Avenue newbies.  Gerrit does all of his own recommendations based upon his own experience and activity on Empire Avenue.  His picks are not an automatic process and they offer great insights.  

While there are many others who put out recommendations for newbies, I have personally found the best information from Paul and Gerrit even though ironically HairBoutique.com didn't make either of their lists during our new sign-up days.

Although making Paul or Gerrit's lists are great for attracting lots of new investors, it's not an EAV death sentence if you don't.  HairBoutique.com's opening eave share price was 30 and eight months later it's holding strong close to 235.  While I would love to achieve a higher share price in the future, I'm ecstatic about all the amazing shareholders I've met on EAV.

Before officially signing up you might like to check out the blogs by Paul and Gerrit to get an idea of what will help you get a included in their newbie recommendations.  As an investor who wants to buy the most promising newbies it's wise to subscribe to both lists.

I would also suggest that you have a unique avatar ready to attach to your profile and be ready to actively engage with other players who will immediately start buying you. Some investors shy away from buying new players without their own branded avatar.

4.  Immediately get eaves

Newbies on Empire Avenue usually enter with with very Empire Avenue money (eaves) to spend.  You can get eaves quickly by the following methods:

1.  Buy eaves from Empire Avenue via Paypal.

2.  Do Missions to get eaves.

There are many pros and cons to buying eaves from Empire Avenue which is another blog for another day.

Missions are the best way to get instant eaves to start your buying back process as investors buy your shares.  Missions can be found via the Mission Tab at the top of your Empire Avenue page.

Winning Empire Avenue by doing Missions

Missions are available in three categories including Doable, Portfolio and Global.  Start with the Doable missions.  Not all missions are available to everyone so be sure to read the requirements before you press the Click Here To Complete Mission button at the bottom of each mission.

Note:  It is extremely important not to agree to do a mission unless you are going to completely finish it.  A good way to win a very bad reputation on Empire Avenue is to be tagged as a Mission Cheater.  These are people who push the mission buttons, take the eaves but do follow up on the required tasks.

Many Mission Cheaters become blocked by other players who find cheating a heinous offense.  This is another important key in winning Empire Avenue strategy.

5.  Be religious about buying back, saying thank you & posting shout-outs

Part of the biggest danger Empire Avenue newbies face is becoming victim to the Pump & Dump.  This means as a newbies stock skyrockets, other investors jump on-board for the ride to the top of stock price increase.  Empire Avenue newbies have a seven (7) day limit on the number of shares which can be purchased in their stocks.  This limit is removed after the first week.

If Empire Avenue newbies have a hot stock which increases dramatically in the first week but they don't buyback shares in their investors, leave a thank you message or an Empire Avenue shout out, the minute their stock price begins to fall, old time investors start to dump the stock.  This can trigger a free fall as other investors who helped pump up the price jump off and dump it.

One way to prevent a major Pump & Dump cycle is to buy back every investor who buys your stock.  While it might be impossible to buy back 200 shares in every new investor due to limited eaves, buy back at least 1 share.  Be sure to thank them for their investment and promise to buy more shares as soon as possible.

As you do buy back, be sure to leave a shout out thank them for their investment and letting them know you have every intention of buying back when you can.  This is key in winning Empire Avenue strategy.

6.  Engage, engage, engage

Empire Avenue is chock full of social media power players.  Many have been part of the channel since the very beginning and have stellar social media scores and skills.  For every investor who stops by to buy your stock, check out their channels.

Follow them on Twitter, send them a Facebook friend request of stop by and Like their page.  Leave them messages on LinkedIn or whatever channel they excel at.  This will go a long way towards making great new social media connections.

7.  Join Empire Avenue groups

If you check out the Empire Avenue Leaderboards to see the leading power users, you will often find that they are associated with one or more Empire Avenue related groups.  Often they will display their group membership on their Empire Avenue page with a series of hashtags (#) or brackets {}.

The Empire Avenue leaders understand that the best way to Expand, Engage and successfully play the social media game is to align yourself with like-minded people.

Each Empire Avenue group has a different scope or focus, but many are designed around the concept of winning empire avenue tactics and tips.

8.  Stay focused

When anyone first joins Empire Avenue it can be a daunting experience because the channel moves very fast.  Investors are constantly buying and selling stocks, building their portfolios, connecting with others via missions or social media platforms.

Try not to become overwhelmed.  Lots of the Empire Avenue leaders and power players are only to happy to help newcomers.  If you need help just ask.

9.  Use EAV tools

One great way to develop a great investment strategy is to sign up for one of the Empire Avenue tools which are available to help make dailey buys and sells.   I currently use four key investment tools and they are all very helpful for a variety of reasons.

Two of my favorite tools are (e)BEN's (e)DRDAVD (empireave.net) and (e)DRDAVD's InsideEAV.  Both have no charge versions.

Empireave.net's paid version offers many advantages and it's very reasonably priced on a monthly basis.  To utilize Inside EAV you must own shares in (e)DRDAVD (Dennis Alexis Valin Dittrich).

There are other tools available, but my personal preference are for Ben's and Dennis'.  I have had great success utilizing both on a daily basis.

Summary - Winning Empire Avenue

Before joining Empire Avenue be sure to do your homework, be clear about your ultimate objectives, stay focused and try not to become overwhelmed.

Empire Avenue offers a variety of methods to help new users including a Blog and EAV TV.  Winning Empire Avenue tools can help you strengthen and broaden your social media channels.