Looking at Myspace marketing
With over 70 million registered accounts at the time of writing, myspace is an internet phenomenon that is hard to ignore for those involved in online marketing.
If the myspace juggernaut has somehow passed you by, then let me fill you in with a 5 second overview. Myspace is a social networking site based on the idea of creating a profile. Users can register for free (and do so in droves), upload pictures, write a bit about them and create blogs and the like. The networking part comes from the fact that users can add each other as friends.
I first looked at myspace some time back before it had anywhere near the momentum that it now does. My impressions were that it had a rather basic offering and had more bugs/problems than most people would be willing to forgive on an ongoing basis. At that time it was also targeted quite tightly at the music scene and I have to confess that I didn’t pay it a lot of attention. Myspace is still basic, still full of bugs, but it seems that no-one cares and millions of people use myspace on a daily basis.
So that’s what myspace is, but does it have marketing potential? The answer to that is a resounding yes. 70+ million users in an environment that disposes them to being approached and provides you the means to do so certainly has potential. From what we’ve seen so far it’s actual wide open to being pillaged by less scrupulous marketers, but there are also longer term angles with even more potential.
With that in mind we’re running a little experiment at work at the moment. We’ve taken one of our online properties that is quite well suited to the myspace user base and created a profile for it on myspace. Things are in the early stages at the moment, but we’ve developed an angle that we believe can be both effective and within the ethos of myspace and are currently working on building a targeted network of users. Using myspace this is actually surprisingly quick and easy, with us building an opt-in list of over 100 groups an individuals with very little work so far.
The plan is to use this initial small list not to market to, but as a launch pad for a larger network which can then be subtly marketed to in a way that is in keeping with the myspace community. Whether this works or not is yet to be seen, but I’ll post here again when things have moved on a bit. Click the myspace tag below for anything related.
Hello,
I’m glad it’s not just me that saw myspace and thought, hmmmmm customers!
I’m tinkering with a by jo myspace at the moment (nothing flash, don’t get excited), and was pondering the possibility of linking it with byjo.co.uk. Thought it looked like a great way of having an easily updateable space with the more human aspects of the business on, as well as that opt in mailing list thingy. I’ll call in next time I’m at Hayling and maybe we’ll have a chat (we can drink tea too ;-)).
Great site btw, liking the ‘moody blue’ colour scheme.
Interesting we are putting together our first proposal involving Myspace marketing at the moment. Once it’s underway I might add that to the big list of ’stuff I should blog, but won’t get around too’.
Hmmm… Tea. Bring biccies and the quality of advice increases.
Hows your Myspace Marketing going? Opt-in lists are crucial, it’s something I also advise clients. Like you said you can easily build massive opt-in lists with the kicker being they are targeted and eager for contact! Social networks by their very nature are often very open to being contacted with RELEVANT advertising. Just don’t advertise Pills, porns and casino :P On that note, anyone else notice 888.com pop-ups on myspace recently? Weird.
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