Has anyone promoted their biz on MySpace?

Biznik is how my first "real" client found me...and is the reason I consider myself a success. Sniff I get all teary eyed just thinking about it!

I love myspace for keeping in touch with friends, I've reconnected with so many old college friends because of it.

I wouldn't promote a B2B business on myspace, but a B2C I'd consider it. I've been thinking of starting something on myspace for my other business (link below) but don't know really how to use myspace in a way to effectively generate sales.

(http://seattletrikke.com/)

As a performer, myspace can be useful, as we need to get word out on upcoming public shows, and it's a great way to accomplish thta. I mostly do private parties and other private shows for children, but once a month I get together with a band of fellow magicians called "Outta Control Magic" to perform at a comedy club in Kirkland, and we use myspace as one method of marketing the show (http://www.myspace.com/outtacontrolmagic). For a "regular" business, I'm sure it could be useful with some thought, as it's one more method of connecting to people.

Xakary, are you guys measuring how much traffic results from your promotional efforts on MySpace? Just curious how that stacks up to your other online efforts.

Brianna advised me to set up a myspace profile for my business. While I have used myspace in the past to meet up with old friends and to meet new friends, but never thought of it as a business tool. However, once I saw Brianna's profile, I realized that myspace could be used for more. My profile is new but it is a work in progress. I'll keep you updated on how well it works.

www.myspace.com/remotelyvirtual.com

I agree with so much of what Raven says -- dead on!

I'm one of those people who was very skeptical at first. I come from a very corporate/structured background (in marketing, hi-tech products mostly), and frankly I really didn't "get" myspace. However, my marketing sense was intrigued by the sheer numbers. I figured that there must be something to it that I wasn't getting. So, I let go and decided to give it a whirl.

I have come to realize that in order to "get" myspace, you really have to be open-minded, not have pre-judgment, and you have to PARTICIPATE on MySpace to understand how it works. Like many other things, there is a learning curve. But once you've been on for a while, long enough to understand the ins and outs and how to manage your friends and create the network that you want, it can be very fun and rewarding. I like what Raven pointed out about getting to know the people behind the businesses, not just a corporate face.

It's not possible to judge by visiting a few profiles, or visiting the site without participating. Is there a bit of tackiness? Undoubtedly. But, as Raven pointed out, a lot of that is because myspace has empowered people who don't have graphic designers or branding experts at their disposal to create a place to network. Social networking is a bit more free-spirited than the traditional methods of marketing communication (too much to get into in this one post, though). That being said, there are also many professionally branded myspace pages, and if you *do* have a graphic designer that knows how to manipulate the CSS-based myspace layout, you can have your page look as professional as you want it to.

Myspace is definitely what YOU make it. It's a platform for connecting...and it's free!

Here are some ways that it can be utilized for exposure:

1) Bulletins

- Once you've accumulated friends, you can post bulletins. Those are kind of like emails that go out to everyone in your friend's list simultaneously -- everyone in your friends list can view them. Though, the bulletin space is separate from your Inbox on myspace, so a community board is a better analogy. On one profile, I have over 3,000 "friends". When I post a bulletin from that profile, it has the potential to be read by 3,000 people.

2) Comments on friends' profiles

- When you comment on other myspacers' profiles, your comment/photo is viewed by everyone who visits their profile. Those numbers can add up...especially if you are commenting on heavily-trafficked profiles. I typically have a banner or flyer or something that I post, and that links to my website(s) and displays my website address(es). The image of the banner or flyer is hosted on my site, and I can change the image whenever I want to. When I change the image on my site, it automatically changes that image everywhere on myspace that the image is posted (i.e, every comment, or bulletin or anywhere that I have that image on myspace). Pretty cool for free.

3) Blogs

- You can instantly have a blog on myspace that people can subscribe to. So, if you are posting "subject matter expert" type of posts, that can be a way to create exposure and drive traffic.

I can tell you that Myspace is the #1 FREE generator of traffic to my website(s). The more work I do (i.e., participating, commenting, posting, etc, the more the traffic goes up).

Most of my participation on myspace is entertainment-related. However, if I had a small business that I wanted to promote (even a local, or geography-based biz like a restaurant...service-based businesses, etc.) I would definitely consider utilizing myspace as part of my online strategy, especially if I had a limited budget. If you know how to use it, it can definitely create exposure and awareness. You can also add friends based on geography (radius from a zip code, even). There are plenty of people on myspace who are over the age of 13 and professional!

The cost is your time -- about an hour a day on average.

There are certainly some things that could be better, and things you need to protect yourself from (phishers, scams, etc) -- but that goes for the whole Internet, not just myspace.

I think there are some types of businesses where myspace probably wouldn't be a good investment of time -- high-end B2B types of businesses probably wouldn't make sense.

I've just scratched the surface. Feel free to message me if anyone has any myspace questions that I might be able to answer.

Dina

First of all, when it comes to creative stuff, you are crazy not to have a MySpace page. Pride be damned - you NEED it!

We promote Authors, Artists, and Musicians and because of tools like MySpace we can run on a very lean budget. When we promote our events consistantly on MySpace it improves turnout by at least 10 - 15%. That is a damn good return on a free service.

Also, when we post bulletins (how do you spell this word? when will biznik get spell check?) it usually increase the our website traffic by about 25%. If we stay on top of the posting and to it every few days or every week it can up it even more.

It is a wonderful free addition to our marketing that we would hate to live without. Just remember, MySpace is about marketing not sales. It is a wonderful point of contact to improve your brand.

For some reason -- probably because I'm self-employed and have a lot of free time during the day -- I have found myself belonging to almost every social networking site imaginable. Yes, these sites are tacky, but I keep a link to my business on every profile just in case those old college friends know of someone looking for my set of expertise, and because I'm not as guarded as I used to be about mixing my personal life with my professional one. But I guess that's already been a topic on here.

Just to add a little to previous posts I've made...

When I purchased www.mommyscompany.com, part of the deal was the MySpace profile at (http://myspace.com/mommyscompany). I honestly think that is THE reason for the success of Mommy's Company.

Want to see some results? Every ad space I've sold on Mommy's Company is because of bulletins I've posted. The profile has well over 1000 friends, most of them mom-owned businesses. If not for MySpace, I would never be able to post bulletins about my ad space for sale and reach such a targeted demographic.

Just something to ponder...

I avoided myspace for the longest time because I didn't want to be associated with it. Then I looked at my website stats and found that about 300+ hits/month were coming directly from myspace. I had no idea how they found me through it. So I figured I'd set up an account and try to direct a little more traffic. I don't know if it helped or not. Unfortunately when you don't know how to create a myspace page they end up doing it for you and advertise whatever they want. There's 4 suit ads on my page that I don't know how to get rid of. I feel so used and confused!?!

And I'm not going to give you a link to my myspace page because it's so pitiful. See if you can find it and give me some advice. Perhaps there's an 'edit' buttton I'm missing.

I just signed up for MySpace this week, mostly to provide another way to find me online. For now, I've provided links to my profiles on LinkedIn and here on Biznik, where I can better manage my page (without advertising, etc.)

I'm also building a web site called joehageonline.com. Fellow Biznik Erin Pierce (I met her at my first Biznik event) is building it for me!

There are tons of tools online for promoting your business to your "friends" on myspace. [Even auto-inviting them]

You might want to check the terms and conditions. ;]

-Andrey

oh

Old topic, but I wanted to add that I'm on MySpace and Facebook. I think it obviously depends on who your target market is.

As a photographer I'm looking to get my name out with high school students and brides and grooms to be. In my case MySpace and Facebook work well for both.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/percivalphotography

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Bret_Percival/589102168