Photo contests.......

Photocontests!!! one of the biggest marketing tools by any content creator, get people to buy something of yours, and create a buzz about your product, more people using/wearing your stuff and the possibility of a prize - what could go wrong?

There are many photo contests going on every week in SecondLife, and they come under 2 main categories, voted for and judged. Each has their plusses and minusses for the contestant. A vote contest typically involves payment, and is a money making scheme by the contest owner - people pay to enter, and then people pay to vote, and as with all voting photography contests, its a case of who has the most contacts. Although this type of contest is bad regarding the quality of the winner, there is some honesty about its dishonesty, it's obvious to everyone what is going on, and they can choose to participate or not.

The other type of contest is a judged contest. At first glance, this type of contest should be fair and I suspect 99% of them are, however there is the odd one (obvious to anyone who looks at it for more than 2 seconds) which is unfair, either rules are changed, someones friend/alt/partner wins or in some cases, the contest doesnt end, it just dies quietly.

This photo was an entry for a Casa Del Shai contest some months back (I came 2nd) and I am really pleased with that, I bought the outfit before I knew about the contest, so it was a happy coincedence.

I hear about contests regularly, and will read up, and if it's something that I am interested in I enter, if not I don't bother, I don't enter contests if I don't like the store - what's the point in winning a gift card for somewhere I would never buy anything?

There is a major contest on right now, for Genesis skins, and although they are beautiful, they just don't look right round the mouth for my shape, so I didn't buy and didn't enter, I've been watching the flickr with interest as they look amazing.

So, the bad contests....... what do you do? - vote with your feet. When I see something dishonest, I don't name names, I just never buy anything from them again, plenty more shops and plenty more contests around :)