The
main force creating this opportunity is probably time itself. As time goes on,
technology progresses, and with coding technology this is especially true. In
10 years there can be A LOT of progress. It is why un-updated websites from the
2000s look so stale and gross now. Social communities also change regarding
their priorities, humors, and wants, and it is absolutely vital for social
media creators to take note of this. Due to a neglect in this area, my
opportunity has arisen.
Geographically,
this market can be located just about anywhere in the world, as it is online.
However, I’ve noticed concentrations in the western Unites States and Canada.
Demographically, it is majority women who are mostly college-educated. The age
range is 18-25 with a few outliers. They are all either artist/writer hobbyists
or professionals, and are interested in experiences with their friends.
Currently,
I think customers are mostly satisfying their need for a modern platform to
chat, write, and draw by using a cocktail of 2-3 different websites and
lowering their expectations as a way of coping. Due to these lowered
expectations, I’d say they’re none too loyal. In my own experience in the past,
this market jumps ship to another social media website within months of a
better alternative being released. Usually, the only thing keeping people’s
loyalties are their followings that they’ve worked hard to build up, but even
then it isn’t always enough.
This
market I am targeting, while more niche, I would still comfortably say is a few
thousand people big, and according to a poll I conducted, seems to be either
stagnating or growing. The people in this market spend plenty of discretionary
income on fandom and original merchandise, so I know a small monthly membership
fee is not unrealistic.
The
community doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so I would say that the window of
opportunity will last until someone else creates something. I can safely say a
year or two at minimum, seeing as I’ve been in this community for years without
any alternative offered. My only guess for why nothing has been created is just
that most people involved are hobbyists and have schoolwork or full-time work
to do, so no one’s taken the plunge in creating something.
My service is on the more
continuous or dynamically continuous levels of innovation, as it won’t require
much (if any) learning at all beyond getting used to the interface. My market
is a more tech-savvy one, so a new social media website should feel ideally
familiar and intuitive. The most innovative part is who it’s for- all I am really doing is combining the most useful
aspects of the 2-3 websites my market frequents.
To be more specific, my
current market uses various combinations of these three websites: DeviantArt,
Twitter, and Discord. The reason why my market cannot survive on just one of these
alone goes as follows, with each website’s pros and cons:
DeviantArt
+ Capable of hosting artwork, animations, and
literature
+ While ill-suited for original content, groups can be
hosted here as well
- Outdated chat and social functions make it very hard
to meet people
- Groups with decent HTML formatting and organization
are charged $60 a year to upkeep.
Twitter
+ Artwork can be posted here, whether finished or
in-progress works
+ Very easy to meet and socialize quickly with people
through mutual followers and the dashboard feature
+ For professional artists and those who offer
commissions and merchandise, Twitter is additionally a great place to advertise
themselves.
- Picture quality is iffy, not friendly to different
kinds of image formats
- Due to character limit, ‘serious’ conversation regarding
roleplaying can’t really be done here- Twitter is just a place for others to
keep up with their friend’s lives.
Discord
+
Easy
to use and great for creating large chatrooms for roleplaying groups with many
members
+ Direct messaging feature
+ 2000 character limit is pretty literature-friendly
+ New and constantly updating
+/- Very controlled audience for who sees your content
- While pictures can be uploaded here, quality is iffy
- Cannot upload animation videos
- Shared artworks are easily lost due to being buried
by messages
So, my plan is to combine
the positive elements of these three websites to the best of my ability, with a
large focus on being art-friendly. I plan to profit by either selling
advertising space or by offering premium features for members’ profiles and
groups for a low rate of $3.99 a month.
As stated prior, I believe it will be
customer’s dissatisfaction with what is currently offered that will bring them
to my website. I expect switching to take a few months, so the first few months
of being up and running will be quite the hustle. All of my established
competitors have specific focuses to their websites just like I do, but my main
advantage is that my target audience isn’t really interested in them.
When members purchase a membership, I’d
like to send a nice thank-you card to them as a tangible representation of good
customer service. The purchase process will be automated through a 3rd
party like paypal and my team and I will be available for emails for questions.
My team will ideally consist of me, a coder, a graphic designer, and 1-2 others
to help moderate. We will mainly keep in contact through online medias, though
if the website becomes profitable enough I would love to consider a small
office.
1.
My
important resource is being part of my own market.
2.
Perhaps
partner with a merchandise-making company to give people the option to turn
their art into prints and charms.
3.
I
would like to be able to grow this venture enough so it becomes sustainable in
the next 5 years. In the next 10, I’d like to move on to my own artistic
endeavors. This will be useful business experience.
