recruitment ideas

[joshie]

hey guys,

lately i have noticed the numbers starting to drop a little bit, and with the retirement of Griffo, i can now see the alarm bells. i think we need to come up with some ideas to bring players into the competition! we need some incentives to play, probably a new structure set up in regards to management with refereeing etc and get more teams in.

i have a few ideas, my main one being possibly finding and using other sports related fan fictions sites from across the world and bring some players into the competition. there are ways to bring this game back to what it once was and i have every faith we can do it!

what do you guys think and ideas?

i do realize i have not been playing long, and i am fairly new, but i want a lengthy career in this competiton, not just three to five more years. in it for the long haul

 

[Willow]

Joshie, the best way to get F7s recruits is to advertise the F7s.

Would you like to be part of a team that do a fortnightly round review on LU's main news page?

Great to see that you want to be in for the long haul. :thumn

 

[Rexxy]

Joshie that is a great idea. Just do it. Imagine if there was a cash prize.

One idea I stole from madunit is to tweet individual stories. Being a techno-nuff I was going to ask dragon punk to show me how. But it would mean sending links to stories thru existing footy channels

 

[Spanner in the works]

I agree with Willow. We need to advertise. I've been caught up at work lately so I haven't been able to sit down and right an article for ages. And losing just one player makes things hard for the rest of the side. Which is a shame.

Not sure that advertising on the main news page is the way to go though? I would think that a lot of people go straight to the forums rather than looking at the main page? I know I type the forum address in not the main site address. What about getting the admins and/or mods to do a mass PM to forum members asking if they would like to join every month or so? I'm sure we would get some bored uni students...

In the meantime, I'd change the structure of the F7's, so as to limit the damage that reduced numbers causes. I would go:
Use the smallest team number as the number of articles that is accepted. For example, if one of the better supported sides posts 5 articles, and a smaller side posts 3 articles, then only mark the first three articles from the large side. At least that way the games are competitive and even.

Allow the now spare articles to be posted in the next round. In this way, it guarantees at least one or two articles from one side in the next round, plus it might save someone having to come up with an entirely new article each week. The spare articles haven't been marked, so I'm hoping it doesn't become such a chore (not that it is in the traditional sense of the word) to come up with an article each week.

Possibly reduce the word limit. I know it is the maximum number of words allowed and people can post a 50 word article if they like, but I think that we almost follow the leader here. You see someone write a 750 word article, and you almost have to do the same sort of thing to be on an even keel. Maybe it's just me. I think it can be quite hard coming up with an article of that size each week, and the less people we have the harder it gets. I wouldn't mind seeing it reduced to 500 words. Or even less. At least until more people join.

 

[Rexxy]

What about a recruitment banner or emrec on lu home page. When there are no paid ads to run?

 

[Willow]

What about a recruitment banner or emrec on lu home page. When there are no paid ads to run?

We can make space in the sidebar. So obvious it makes me wonder why we hadn't done it before.

Perhaps Timmah could do us nice 160x60...?

 

[Willow]

I would think that a lot of people go straight to the forums rather than looking at the main page?

It varies but I've seen it at 60/40. We shouldn't be ignoring that potential 40% landing.

Don't agree with reducing the team numbers, it would discourage recruitment and imo is a negative approach. Don't agree with reducing word limit, it used to be 500 words in 2002/03 and there was a mass call for it to be increased. As it turned out, most people couldn't have a sneeze in less than 750 words. lol. The fact that so many articles are at the limit is testament to this.

But by all means, keep the ideas flowing.

I think we simply go on the front foot and get the word out there. But of course it needs a combined effort, one person can't do it. We need several committed people to use whatever resources are out there.

Are there F7s Facebook and Twitter sites?

 

[Rexxy]

We can make space in the sidebar. So obvious it makes me wonder why we hadn't it before

Well you know me, I'm an ideas sort of guy. Someone should follow me arpund with a sharp pencil.

 

[Willow]

Well you know me, I'm an ideas sort of guy. Someone should follow me arpund with a sharp pencil.

From in front or behind?

More ideas... keep them coming. This thread was started by a newcomer to the F7s. No excuses from other senior players.

 

[Rexxy]

Just to write down witty things I say .

What about an end if season summary emailed to all users.

 

[Willow]

Just to write down witty things I say .

On the back of a beer coaster?

What about an end if season summary emailed to all users.

I think Spanner touched on this with a suggestion of a mass PM - don't know if that's possible but an email-out is possible. Either way, it's another good idea.

 

[madunit]

Given the big following the LU twitter account has, would it be possible to have a few F7's articles links tweeted through that account?

Maybe the best scoring articles from each team? Tweet them on the slower news days for the site (Wednesdays/Thursdays might be best)

I put all my articles in a blog, mainly because some of my family and friends wanted to read them (buggered if I know why) and some of them aren't really tech-savvy, so I decided to dump them all in the one spot.

if someone knows if it's possible to place ads on my blog thingy, I'd be more than happy to chuck links/banners/ads etc to LU F7's on there.

Agree with Willow though, Reducing word count is not a solution. The problem isn't article length, the problem is player numbers for some teams.

 

[madunit]

slightly off topic, but I think the LU links to facebook and twitter should be clear and permanently visible on the home page ;-)

 

[Rexxy]

Madunit... can you pls provide a tutorial on how to tweet a story, particularly the bit where you generate the tiny url...

Joshie that is a great idea. Just do it. Imagine if there was a cash prize.

One idea I stole from madunit is to tweet individual stories. Being a techno-nuff I was going to ask dragon punk to show me how. But it would mean sending links to stories thru existing footy channels

 

[madunit]

well its quite simple with my blog thingy.

After publishing the article, I click on the little Twitter icon, it opens up Twitter with the link in it already shortened and I can add a bit of text to it from there.

There are websites which shorten URL's for use on twitter too.

This site is best - https://bitly.com/

Copy your link into the box, click on Shorten, and then copy the new shortened link into twitter.

 

[joshie]

hey guys, i have compiled a list of Rugby League-related sites for us to attack! as a lesser known player, i thought i would leave it to someone of authority such as Jesbass, Madunit, willow or someone of that sort to post a letter requesting new players!

sites
http://www.totalrl.com/forums/
http://www.thebaistand.com/
http://www.vodafonewarriorsfanforum.co.nz/
http://forums.rlfans.com/
http://forums.rleague.com/posts/index.php?


there are a few international sites in there, but if this could spread across Australia, NZ, UK and USA, well then we could actually have a good international comp too!

 

[joshie]

was thinking and with a host of our players who are absolute legends of the game retiring, we could set up a recruitment group made up of these players. you guys could kind of act as mentors if you have the time and show them what it is about, it would also help you guys stay in the game. a large chunk of the playing group is retiring, especially the Panthers, and moving on will be tough. this is just an idea, but what do you guys think?

 

[Jesbass]

I like your thinking, joshie - it just depends on who of our retiring legends is willing to fill such a role.

 

[madunit]

btw - I managed to figure out the linkage things on my blog. I now have a permanent link on the top right side of my blog with a link to LU.

Recruiting is a tough job, god knows we are all trying to get more people to the game. I can only suggest there be some sort of incentive (other than writing articles) for people.

I know and understand that its not an easy thing to do, as it requires money to get prizes, and LU doesn't charge money anywhere, and the cash it gets probably doesn't even come close to covering the cost of the site, but in all honesty and seriousness, thats the only real way I can think of getting people to join up to F7's

 

[Jesbass]

btw - I managed to figure out the linkage things on my blog. I now have a permanent link on the top right side of my blog with a link to LU.

Recruiting is a tough job, god knows we are all trying to get more people to the game. I can only suggest there be some sort of incentive (other than writing articles) for people.

I know and understand that its not an easy thing to do, as it requires money to get prizes, and LU doesn't charge money anywhere, and the cash it gets probably doesn't even come close to covering the cost of the site, but in all honesty and seriousness, thats the only real way I can think of getting people to join up to F7's

Dinner for 2 with madunit?