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- Sphinn It!
Just Saying No To Prize, Poll & "It's Coming" Submissions
Went Hot: August 24, 2007 - 12:10 pm
Posted By: dannysullivan 681 days ago
Topic Type: Discussion
Category: Sphinn Zone
20 Comments
Comments
To add a bit more, I pulled both of these today:
http://sphinn.com/story/3690
http://sphinn.com/story/3713
My main concern is that you can see how a ton of people might start saying they have contests and such with unless they are something unique don't add much. I've also had people say they were going to do something, and I'd rather just see them show what they've done. In addition, polls have the chance for abuse, as well.
My thought is to say not to submit any of these unless you think the offering is of exceptional value, because there are going to be a few cases where we would want these.
I agree, the pulled posts have no interest for me and I presume others. If it's a cool prize like winning a free ticket for SMX London, then yeah, I'm interested.
But the low rent stuff is just noise, not trying to be insulting but as marketers we all know the "prize" is an angle.
I wish I could vote and sphinn more than once.
yeah, contest bait. good call Danny, these probably just create more noise than anything. and i agree it would be much more interesting and relevant to have a case study of a successful (or not) contest bait idea here, rather than use sphinn to promote one.
Some folks seem to have been studying the marketing practices of PT Barnum.
So how about offering them the "P.T. Barnum Sucker Award"? LOL
Anyway, I'm fine with pulling this crap.
Yep, kill 'em, not really worth anybody's time.
I agree that, on most occasions, polls and contest posts are practically useless; however, I would also agree that there are some occasions when it would be acceptable.
For example: what if it is part of a marketing strategy that is going to later release results? Like Danny said, if it offers something of exceptional value.
But who is to figure out what is "exceptional" and what's not?
Yea, but exceptions need to be made for winning an iPhone... That is for sure.
I completely agree rustybrick. An iPhone would definitely be an exception to any rule.
haha yeah I need an iPhone, not selling them yet over here in the UK! Danny I would have pulled them as well and I like how you are taking the community into consideration
I'm with Lyndon, a free pass (SES etc.) and i'm sticking around. That being said, it's a lot easier to just pull it all, rather than try to filter.
i suppose at the same time, in order to allow legitimate contests (like Oilman's "Who needs a roommate" contest) there could be a section devoted to contest/giveaways. ...just keep it out of the public eye.
I am not sure that posting rules would be a "grand" idea, since there are a few contests out there which are beneficial to the community. SMX contests are definitely noteworthy.
Consider the specific criteria that would be of benefit to the community then post them as addendum to a "no-contest" rule.
Re "winning an iPhone" - wouldn't a GPhone be more to the point? :)
I don't see how you can censor these and not others, as these fall into the noisy floor just like dupes and other not-sphinn-worthy posts. Don't you have to let the audience ignore them/let them die?
Of course one way to encourage that is to create MMF (MakeMoneyFast)/Promotional Contest category(s), and insist that they get put there or be subject to "wrong category" pulling. You can exercise mod license for what exactly is an MMF post, and not be censoring.
To just pull them not only risks missing out on potentially legit free iPhone contests, but good posts like "ten validated contests to consider and ten known scams to avoid" posts that I would Sphinn given a chance.
As a new Sphinn user and less of a geek than many of the others here, I have an idea that might be useful. If the community developers could come up with a USP that conveys the true purpose and advantage of Sphinn and position it just under the Sphinn logo on the top of each page it would provide a very visible, obvious clue as to what types of submissions are desired.
Developing the ideal USP can be challenging. If the entire idea can't be conveyed that concisely, perhaps the USP could be clickable and lead to something along the same lines as but clearer than what is currently on the about us page at http://sphinn.com/about.php.
It would be great to have something that indicates what the intent of Sphinn is which I perceive to be being able to stay current on the most important cutting edge topics in the least amount of time.
Perhaps a brainstorming session to come up with the USP would be useful?
There's this, from the start of the About page:
"Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It's designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others."
True; however, it doesn't say "we prefer news that just happened" or "don't post things that experts already know" (which would be and already is problematic - not everyone knows what "everyone" is supposed to know if you get my drift.)
If users of Sphinn have a clear idea of what the community is looking for in the way of new Sphinns many will do their best to meet that standard. The text you cited says to me "post anything" and that is not the tone of the comments I read here.
Speaking from a PPC perspective, "discover" and "find" have been so overused that they're starting to make me queasy. Using any word twice in one sentence is generally best avoided unless it is as an attention grabbing device.
First line of the news submission guidelines say:
"News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
So I think that covers the range of topics well. In terms of freshness, that same page says:
"Please don't submit stories more than a few days old unless you feel they are of exceptional quality that have gone somehow unnoticed by the greater online community."
I'll grow the guidelines more (there's plenty there or linked to off that page) to help those who might mistakenly submit something that's not to compelling. But this particular class of submissions just seemed like something else to call out specifically.
>> fanto--- Re "winning an iPhone" - wouldn't a GPhone be more to the point? :)
Apple will own Google soon enough, and it will be named iGoogle. Oh wait, it is named iGoogle.