Mission: Improvable

Greetings Empire Avenue! Nick the Intern is back with a tip that may help you drive successful completions of your Missions.

As we know, Missions are one of the core aspects of Empire Avenue when it comes to increasing social media activity, and building your network. In my brief time with Empire Avenue I have seen my fair share of highly successful Missions that have led to great networking opportunities for the creators, and I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the things I have noticed which have led to highly successful Missions.

The first thing that anyone sees when looking at your Mission is the title. You want to make sure that your title is unique and concise, while also giving people an enticing taste of exactly what you want them to do. Scratch that. You want to show them something that THEY want to do. Try and convey the value that they will get from networking with you other than an Eaves payment. This will lead to more people checking out your Missions because they are genuinely interested.

An example of a bad Mission title is something like “5,000 Eaves for Liking our Facebook Page”. There is no enticement to the community except for the basic Eave reward, and there is not enough information or value there for Engagement seekers to give the Mission a second glance. People looking for Eaves may complete it, but people searching for true engagement will most likely move on to something more unique.

In order to reach out to those who are truly looking to engage, you need to convey the value of your Mission. A Mission title like “Network With Business Professionals on Our Facebook Page” shows the community that the value of the Mission isn’t just a one way street, and that there is a real opportunity here for them. Create opportunities for the community.

This also applies to your Mission Description, except this is the part where you can expand on your goals, and add even more value to your Mission. By properly communicating the intention behind your Mission, and explaining how there is more value for the “completionist” in attaining these goals with you on top of the Eaves reward.

For example, this is what I would consider a “not so great” Mission description:

“ *****ATTENTION ALL EAVES THIEVES IF YOU BE STEALING MY EAVES YOU WILL BE REPORTED AND PERMABLOCKED FROM ALL OF MY FUTURE MISSIONS. THIS IS A SERIOUS WARNING TO ALL OF YOU AND YOU HAD BETTER HEED IT OR YOU WILL BE REPORTED AND PERMABLOCKED AS MENTIONED ABOVE!!!!!!!!!*****

Go on my Wordpress page and just click around or something! Thanks! “

General tip, if your warning to people stealing your Eaves is longer than your Mission Description, you should rethink it. People don’t really like being considered “thieves” before they even get a chance to read your Mission, and switching on a dime from telling a community off, to then asking them for something seems counterproductive. Also, just telling people to explore your social networking pages without providing them with any reason, or in fact what you are even trying to accomplish with your social networks, is a very quick way for your Mission to be mentally pushed aside, and lumped in with other vague Missions.

I suggest taking an approach like this:

“Hello my fellow Eavers!

Do you like baking? My name is Nick Cratchett and I have been baking for 25 years! I feel as though I have learned a lot with my time in the kitchen, and I’d like to take this opportunity to share what I have learned with you!

Every Wednesday I post a new recipe on my Wordpress blog  and I would love to connect with you, and share my love of baking. This week I am trying something new and exciting, an online bake sale! Anybody visiting my website can pick from my selected recipes (not all of them unfortunately, mailing a cake is difficult) and for the low price of 10 dollars I will bake, and send them to you!

Here is where YOU come in. I am hoping to get a little more exposure for my sale, and if you tweet out a link to my sale page, not only will you be helping my bake sale, and gaining Eaves, but I will cut my price of 10 dollars down to 5 for any Eaver who completes my Mission. Thank you for your continued support, and remember to encourage that sweet tooth! ”

Now I bet you wish this Mission was real don’t you? Not only was he clear with his goals and intentions, but he worked to add value to the Mission beyond the standard Eave reward. he informed people of his website, and it’s purpose, so anybody with similar interests is   
bound to connect. He even put in the extra effort to add an additional tangible benefit on top of the traditional Eave reward, while this isn’t necessary, it is good way to make your Mission stand out from the crowd.

One thing that I have heard tell of is people who have had many successful Missions in the past, but are finding it hard to keep that momentum. One way to keep the momentum going is to avoid “Mission Repetition”. People on Empire Avenue may be good for completing a “retweet this tweet for 5,000 eaves” a few times, but eventually I feel that they will be looking for more out of their Empire Avenue experience. Try and keep your Missions varied, and if you are just focused on one particular type of social network activity (i.e retweets) then try and explain your intentions behind why you want this tweet seen so badly instead of just asking for it.

Missions are a tool, and like any tool wielding it can prove to be difficult, but I feel that by trying to stand out from the crowd, clearly communicating your goals, and avoiding “Mission Repetition”  you can turn your Missions from being a quick grab for Eaves, into true engagement and networking opportunities.