I'm in marketing in RL, so it seems appropriate I think of marketing my own animals. For those of you who prefer to just to breed and exchange within your breedable family group what I'm going to say is all rot to you. And that's okay. I mean no disrespect to anyone who hates bots, we're all entitled to our own opinion and it's good to be different. I love being with my own family group, but also feel the need to use a bot to help influence new members to come in.
Around me, some Biobreeds family expressed their "hatred" towards bots. I beg to say they're wrong...they don't hate bots. They hate the bots who are neglected and abuse the group charters, the ones who are set up with no respect whatsoever for the group subscribers.
Bots are used to send out an ad on a repeated basis throughout the day to the groups you designate. You can do this via notices or as a chat posting.
Bots, unfortunately, are necessary in some ways. New people come in all the time. They sign up for these ad groups. And they may not know much about the breedable you're advertising them.
Now, first I'll say...In My Opinion, sending a notice out in any group should be limited to once every 24 hours, 12 hours at the most. These are stored in the group profile and easy to find for anyone who wishes to check these out. No need to repeat these 20times a day. Nothing more frustrating than having to wade through multiple notices you already read to find the newest ones.
As for ads in group chat...most groups ask that you limit it to one per hour. I agree with this for two key reasons, due to the fact that the chat comes and goes according to the performance of SL, and from the logging in and out action of the group members.
First reason is that repetition is necessary. It's a known marketing fact that a person must see your ad X number of times before they act upon it. Partly because people are busy and most won't actually read the details, but skim it. It takes more for the information to actually register.
Second reason is that everyone works and plays on different schedules. And the ad maker also has his or her schedule to work around. A person cannot come in and send an ad every hour all the time manually. I've been known to do that when I'm working on a project that allows me such timed interruptions. But the majority of people do not have that luxury. Plus, one must sleep sometime. The responsible management of a bot makes up for this.
Now for results...I've tracked traffic results from my own efforts.
To be honest, running a classified does more than spamming groups. BUT this is subjective. I've found that I still have to compliment the classified with bot spamming. Because not all viewers are showing all classifieds. I've tested this with my own and with other's ads. Guessing it has something to do with individual 3rd party viewers' abilities to properly utilize SL's search feature.
It's important to list your land in search too. This is the spot you click for getting your land into search for a $30L a week fee, via the About Land menu, under Options tab. It's worth it.
The other key to marketing success is getting your presence out there to other breeders within the breedable community. Your repeat customers will be other breeders who need stock to supplement their own lines or replace ones they've let go. Work on your breeding methods, develop your strong lines, support your fellow breeders in encouragement and by buying when you're able to. They'll get to know you and learn about your breeding methods and develop trust in you that will make them think of you first when they have a need you can fill. Use integrity in your breeding...always work to breed up, not down.
Now...back to bots. Responsible use of bots is necessary. We need to let new people know of our breedables, and there's many stuck in a rude breedable community atmosphere afraid to step out of it. We need to let them know we're here, we're happy, and we're friendly and helpful.
Yes, you can do this manually...but realistically, you won't have the time to sit there and send them out throughout the whole day. And you need the repetition to get through the muck of numerous ads...to get yours seen and noticed, and remembered by those who see it in passing while they're dealing with their busy lives.
You don't have to use bots, of course. This post is for the use of bots, but it's not for saying you have to use them.
But we do have to encourage those who use bots to use them RESPONSIBLY.
It is why I man my own instead of using a service. Not against it, but just not sure of the degree of control with them by the seller. (I do hear there are good services though...this is not to discourage people from those. If you want to use one, please take the time to talk to others and get recommendations.)
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