Are freebies hurting SL content creators?

I HATE posting Xstreet ads...it's incredibly time consuming. But it looks like it's the most effective tool right now. It's a numbers game....you have to just keep increasing the numbers.

On some items I made the Slurl drop them right in front of the product...not at an entrance point. Watching the map...I see them drop there....no other ads have that drop off point....so it's clear where they came from. I've left the roof off the store, so I can see specific room settings on the map.

If they click and buy immediately...there's no question as to how effective that ad was. If they wander around the store and purchase some more items....that ad was pretty darn effective....and the majority of the ones I have up are free.....considering they come to the store to purchase.

When you say "Ads" do you mean having a product set for sale and tagging a feature to it.....or do you mean using the Classified forums.......or do you mean Banner advertisments?

Just the basic product listing. No extras. To me, it's more of an ad, than an actual product for sale....since they come to the store to purchase most of the time.

What is the number one item in this list:

http://trendwatching.com/briefing/

Like it or not it is a standard marketing technique. There is no way for the new superior talent to be seen in the corrupt search system so hunts will remain a part of the Second Life marketing toolset.

Things are going to change up shortly with the new search filtering so we will have to wait and see. It is becoming quite clear that Linden Lab is going to "GOM" shopping to a degree and this will impact some people.

The bottom line is simple. People will pay for your products if they feel compelled to. Gifts will not influence that psychology to a large degree.

xstreet lol. Pay a bunch of people to buy your polished brownish green nuggets and it will rise to the top because "it is the best nuggets out there".

Want 5 star ratings on xstreet? There is a kiosk system that pays for it.

Eventually people will learn XStreet is a totally corrupt operation and will stop basing decisions on what it appears the flock is doing.

.....and yet more articles speaking out against "Freebies". This topic seems to be gathering momentum with each passing month

http://www.metaversallyspeaking.com/articles/musings/second-life/entitlement

Some of which I have been saying for over a year now regarding the "Freebie culture mentality"

When asked to explain that, the relevant part of your reply was...

So the different "type" of person that you are now targetting is the "most frequent shopper" type. The first quote sounded awfully good but the explanation of it was a big let-down. Basically, you're saying that you have stopped much of the freebie giving, and now only give the free items to those who actually shop with you. Is that right? It's not exactly "targeting an entirely different market", is it? It's simply stopping giving freebies to those who don't spend with you and making no change to those who do spend with you. All that "targeting those who would rarely have time to hunt for freebies" and "[targeting] those who couldn't care less about freebies" and "[targeting] those that want unusual items, different from the pack" was just meadering wishfulness.

That was just an example of the fact that I will continue to give out gifts.

There will be many other targets....many other methods to try. I've given a ton of info on the basics. I gave a ton of info on the tests I ran. I took some time to write it out and share it. Take it or leave it.

I believe in sharing concepts and ideas....I no longer believe in laying every single detail out, because of my last experience here, with that. The last time I participated here in a "workshop" type ongoing discussion....where everything was laid out on the table....my ideas were continually poo-poo'd, which is fine....I'll use them myself.....but it was to the extent of people being a tad hostile.....and to the point that it was no longer a productive exchange of ideas....so I thought why bother.

Yes....my imagination meanders, quite vividly....and can't wait to apply that to marketing here. Haven't even started. So much more to try.

i think the best method for getting and keeping customers is to realize that everyone wants to feel special. if i can accomplish that in some way with a new customer or with an existing one, they will be a repeat customer. the basic channels for marketing in sl are limited but the ways you use them are limitless.

the unknown for me is using xlstreet. i certainly have had not used it to the full extent with the items i have there and and i think since this is now linked to sl more directly, the ways to use this are yet to be determined. i visit it daily to check out what folks are doing and ive used some of their methods with varying degrees of success.

all in all...i think the sl economy is strong and really the only thing that truly kicks it in the butt is when transactions are not working. that will make my sales plummet more than any other single factor and that unfortunately is out of my control.

I use XSSL a lot, almost everything I have is on there (except sometimes things that are in multiple colors, I will stick the fatpack on XSSL with a note that individual colors are available in world).

I know. That was the problem in the thread you referred to. Your vivid imagination made claims that simply weren't true. I suspect there's a little of it going on with the "targeting different types of people" and describing them, stuff in this thread.

I probably should turn this into a poll, but since it's still on topic of this thread, am asking here first:

How many of you belong to [Extremely Large Freebie Group]? (Not sure if I'm allowed to name it.)

I joined as a designer during the "Advice on Sales" thread and used it 6 months or so ago to announce 1L or 5L items (I never put out pure freebies). Sure enough, people flocked in and picked up the advertised item; a few purchased another item, but I don't think many if any of the freebie group have been repeat visitors. I have not used that group since Christmas, instead advertising something new in one of the Home Con or Cheep Peeps Groups.

I turned off the large freebie group's notices so my mail isn't flooded with that, but when I'm online the group IM is constantly chattering with "Where can I find a free this?" etc., etc., etc. It's personally driving me nuts.

The *only* thing that has kept me from dropping that group is *if* in the future I *might* have a 5L special, there are like 3,000 people in that group. But should I keep a group whose spam annoys the heck out of me for a "maybe?"

So, how many of you merchants/designers belong to that group; do you find it productive; or does it really not have any bearing on your sales one way or the other?

I simply shared some thoughts, Phil.

Have a Nice Day.

I belong to several groups, i assume you mean Fab free since they have a lot of chatter.

Overall i find i do get sales from there when i offer up a freebie to the group. I think many of those people tend to use that group as a way to shop. Ie they pick up a freebie and explore rather than joining a group of the store and coming when there are new items released. I do find repeat customers from the group but it happens when i offer up an item. That is enough for me to keep doing it.

Overall I find that i do better if my stuff is blogged by one of the main freebie blogs. So i tend to try to get any free items blogged.

Overall though I say as far as free items go i find hutns give me the biggest exposure and sales. I tend to be picky with what hunts i participate in though

I'm guessing you mean either FabFree or Free Style. I was in both for a while and monitored the websites, but the notices got overwhelming so I dropped them both. I still sometimes take a look at the websites, but not so much anymore.

And this point has been made time and time again, but the truth is that it misses quite a few fallacies:

Firstly, "entitlement" on SL isn't particularly driven by freebies. It's driven by SL's role as a voluntary entertainment product. Most consumers are driven to the idea virtual worlds will be a coordinated experience and will be trying to sell themselves to them, but SL doesn't do this in the fashion they expect, and many are surprised when they complain and get reactions along the lines of "Well, perhaps SL isn't for you, then."

The thing is, we don't want to eliminate this sense of entitlement because it is the same sense that drives people to create things on SL. If you eliminated it entirely, then why would anyone try to build a mansion or a club or an RP? They're not entitled to.

Thanks E and LittleMe. Yes, I was referring to FabFree and the group chatter is extremely annoying to me.

I don't like spammy groups in general and they get dropped quickly from my group list. I was hanging on to FabFree on the off chance I might want to offer a dollarbie in the future and not sure of the process of dropping the group, then reapplying as a designer.

the other option is IMing renee the current owner (or at least the manager rightnow) and asking if there is any chance ofhaving a role created which does not allowyou to access chat.

this would block you from ever recieving chat but still aow you to send notices

worthasking atleast

I am a member of FabFree and the chatter is rather annoying. If I went to every store advertised by this group I would not get anything done. I hang on just by chance there is a store that really interested me. Happened to be one yesterday that was having a hunt. While hunting, I stumbled upon a wonderful outfit that I purchased.

Unfortunately you can't assign chat powers by role.

Ummm yeah ya can

under chat

join group chat

if it is unticked ya dont get the chat

That's new to me! When did they do that?

a few updates ago

also blocks the ability for anyone who has thatunticked to start chat session and spam

That's interesting, E. But as you said, is an option that would need to be set by the group owner, yes?

Will have to look at groups I own to see where that can be done. Also, does it matter if I'm using an older viewer?

Being a customer and not a creator, I can say as a customer I love getting something free here and there from a place I shop at, it shows I am appreciated as a customer, and I will keep going back to purchase there, I would also tell friends about the store as well..

There is also nothing wrong with people who create objects and provide them for free or very low price to those that maybe don't have a way to make or buy Lindens, I played Sims for years, and lots of people spend time and effort creating things for other players to enjoy at no cost, their reward was seeing people download and use their creations, I am sure there are many who come on to SL, do this as just something to relax, and are also very good at creating content, but they just don't wish to set up a store or make money be it game or rl for their efforts, they do it because they just like to create, and want others to enjoy their creations, there is nothing wrong with that, if someone wants to create just for the sake of being artistic and sharing it with the world for free, they should be applauded for it.

I am sure a great many who give away freebies at their stores and through groups do it because they want to show their loyal customers appreciation for shopping with them, and that in turns creates good will to their customers, which in turn gives them good word of mouth for new customers..