I’ve thrown a sheep or two in my day… a.k.a. the Facebook Revolution
An article at Forbes online has declared Facebook is the "It" company of 2007 and in the article, the application I used "could rake in over a million dollars in ad revenue this year for their shepherd, a company called Slide."
Facebook, a social networking application is all the rage, with marketing executives everywhere seeking to find a way to capitalize upon over 41 million pairs of eyeballs. Rex Hammock finds Facebook compelling — addictive even.
Nick O’Neil is so enamored, he has launched "All Face Book," a blog about…well… all things Facebook. He’s taken his obsession to the next level, launching a consulting firm to educate those who want access to those eyeballs on how to do so. According to O’Neil, the value of a Myspace user is MUCH less than the value of a Facebook user.
The Myspace vs Facebook debate is hotly discussed these days. At it’s core of the debate is the value of the structure. Facebook’s very infrastructure revolves around true relationships. Unlike Myspace, you can’t go out and "whore" yourself to a million users in Facebook. Facebook is also easier to use than Myspace. Which may be why Rupurt Murdock is reported to have said when asked if newspaper readers were migrating to Myspace, “I wish they were. They’re all going to Facebook at the moment”. (Thanks Trendspotting for that info!)
According to Javerty, who it appears got this from Boing Boing
The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we’d call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.
MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn’t play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn’t go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. Teens who are really into music or in a band are on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.""
In the end, the lesson here is users of social networking sites are as varied as users of other media and they’re just as fickle. For a REALLY amusing illustration, here’s a funny video that illustrates the key differences between Facebook and Myspace.
My Space Marketing: The power of the Profile
After the Myspace user has created a profile, the first order of business is to start personalizing the profile.
Nothing says, "I have NO idea what Myspace is all about" more clearly than allowing your profile to remain without a photo and with the standard, plain-Jane white background. However, customizing your profile means you either dust off your CSS and php skills (which most users DO NOT posses)…. or utilizing one of the MANY automatic Myspace Profile Generators.
Since most users aren’t technically savvy on Myspace, they rely frequently on free profile layouts and profile layout generators. This fact provides a HUGE opportunity for the aspiring Myspace marketing guru.
As you visit profiles, you’ll see users display an amazing number of items on their page to personalize their Myspace profile. THIS is your opportunity to connect with Myspace users: by providing either profile layouts OR do-dads which feature easy to copy and paste code to insert into a Myspace profile.
For example, if you’re a bird lover and you have an online business promoting bridsupplies and you’d like to use Myspace for marketing your bird supplies web site, it would be a GREAT investment to provide a resource ON YOUR WEB SITE where Myspace users grab the code so they can easily post cute comments with photos or drawing of various birds with such sentiments as "thanks for the add".
Providing bird themed profiles would also be another "visitor attraction" tool to add to your web site. You then use your Myspace profile to highlight all the wonderful do-dads your main web site offers to bird loving Myspace users.
Once you’ve created this resource on your web site, then begin promoting those tools on YOUR pimped out myspace profile.
Myspace users change their profile layouts frequently, so be sure to provide a LOT of options and keep them updated.
Once your profile is ‘pimped’ it’s time to start connecting with people and making friends.
My Space Marketing: In the Beginning
A Myspace user begins by creating their own Myspace account, known as a "profile."
During the profile creation process, the user is encouraged to upload an image, enter information and most importantly, import their email address book to the site. The entries in the address book are then sent and automatically generated email which alerts the user’s current contacts that he/she has created a Myspace profile. Contacts from that list who already have Myspace accounts will usually log in to their account and visit the new Myspace profile.
These first "friends" are usually friends in the traditional sense of the word. These are people who the user already knows. This is the foundation of Myspace.
When a user is logged into their Myspace profile, they can send what is known as a "Friends Request". That means their profile will display and be linked to the profile with whom they are "friends".
It’s this part of the process that links "Social" with "Networking".
When someone is your "Myspace Friend" you are able to communicate with them via comments, bulletins and through Myspace messaging. Some users set their profile to private so you have to be a friend to view any of their information.
Users have the option of accepting OR denying a Myspace Friends request. This is a crucial bit of information for you, because many community members who are active Myspace users will visit your profile first before adding you to their list. Some users have placed restrictions on who can send them a Myspace Friends request. In order to send a them a Myspace Friends request, you must either know their email address OR know their first and last name.
It’s tempting when you start out on Myspace to purchase an automatic friends generator. The only "Myspace friends" you’ll add with those programs are the kind who are trying to use Myspace as a free marketing tactic. Myspace is a popular marketing tool for a number of porn sites, so users have become quite savvy about checking out the profile of anyone making a friends request. Usually the kinds of "friends" you’ll make with a friend generator are other marketing mavens and porn sites, so skip the friends generators.
Friends are the basis of your myspace marketing… but in order to make friends, you’ll have to pimp out your profile.
Read more about pimping your profile here.
Behind the scenes: How MySpace can connect you with customers
Knowing how Myspace is USED by it’s members is ESSENTIAL to using it as a powerful marketing tactic. If you just go in, create an account and begin sending friends requests followed by repeated bulletins and spammy comments, you’ll find yourself frustrated by your myspace marketing results.
You need to know how Myspace users USE the site to put it to work for you. To "pull back the veil" of Myspace, I’m going to walk you through how a typical user actually USES Myspace. Knowing how Myspace users use the site will help you to deliver your marketing messages via Myspace more effectively.
NOTE: As I walk you through the process, remember that this is NOT a user whose goal is marketing product or services. This is a "typical" user, the type of user you may have defined as part of your target market.
Is Myspace the place for your marketing message?
Myspace is a GREAT place to meet people. You can share your interests… but if your ONLY interest is marketing, then you will probably want to consider another media.
Robert Hill is living an amazing adventure. In search of a calmer, saner life, he made a leap of a few thousands miles and moved from the United States (Texas) to Australia (Brisbane). Not surprisingly, he’s writing a book to help others who would also like to make the leap. So when Robert contacted me about low cost ways to promote his upcoming book, the subject of Myspace naturally came up.
Myspace is a GREAT place to make connections. For someone like Robert, it’s going to be a great place for him to build a network of connections while he’s writing his book. However, for Robert to make the MOST of his myspace marketing, he’s going to need to start building that foundation of connections NOW, while he’s in the very earliest stages of writing his book. Because if Robert waits until his book is at the printers, then it’s going to be too late. He needs to build his foundation of "friends" now, when he doesn’t have anything to sell.
Once he has a network of people who are used to hearing from him via email and bulletins… then when he can send the bulletin about the publication of his book. If he adopts that strategy, he’ll probably be singing the praises of MySpace to anyone who will listen.
However, if Robert waits until his book is ready for publication and THEN joins myspace, he’ll join the myriad of "pushers" who join, push their product and then are either banned or blocked. (It’s really, really easy to report "spam" on myspace, and users are NOT afraid to hit that button!)
Once again, it’s a matter of marketing tactics vs marketing strategy.
Myspace is a great "marketing tactic" when it’s implemented as part of a planned marketing strategy. Myspace is a lousy marketing tactic when it’s implemented as an overall marketing strategy.
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