Working with new clients to create social media campaigns starts with the question, “What is your goal?” and leads to “Which outlets are going to be most effective and which are secondary?”
A goal of creating awareness in the social space means you need to determine the intended audience and decide where they are spending their time. Are they on Facebook? And are they ACTIVE on Facebook? The answer to both is probably yes due to the interactive appeal of Facebook and the pushing of messages through the newsfeed and availability of interesting applications.
Are they on MySpace? Are they ACTIVE on MySpace? The answer to the former is probably yes and most likely the latter will yield a no.
Why is this?
My thought is that MySpace was the first big social media networking space that paved the way for Facebook to make a splash. Since Facebook was only offered to students when it was introduced, others who wanted to adopt this activity opted for MySpace feeling it was the only option–therefore profiles were created and MySpace kept it presence.
After Facebook opened its doors to everyone, and MySpace was purchased by Newscorp in 2005, the market shifted and everyone was hanging out on Facebook abandoning their MySpace presence. It did take a bit for people to adopt and embrace Facebook if they did not join in college because the thought was “that is just for college kids, right?”
But now, MySpace is commercialized with ads inundating your login and welcome screen. Businesses create MySpace pages that become second Web sites with high-quality graphics and backgrounds. The messages are interrupted with noise from advertisers, crazy customization and spammers by the dozen.
So should companies abandon MySpace?
If companies are on MySpace, they should stay there and monitor the account and stay “somewhat active,” but their efforts will be better spent creating a blog, updating their Facebook pages or using my personal favorite, Twitter š
I am Jen and this is my Blog. 
Interesting comparison and I totally agree on what you are saying. MySpace is very disturbing and messy and I prefer Facebook. Twitter then.. I don’t know about that. I have been using it a short time now. I use Facebook mostly for status updates and Twitter is all about the same thing. It seems that Twitter has not made a breakthrough in Europe. Most people use just Facebook like I do. I think one reason for that is the problem to find interesting people to follow on Twitter. If there’s no friends then the start can be really slow and it does not motivate to continue.
I have used Facebook only for connecting my friends, but I have started to think if I could utilize it to promote my web site. I’m just not so sure how to build an active group and to really get people to contribute.
Hey Tommi,
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Because Facebook didn’t want its space to turn into pure self-promotion from businesses, it enacted a policy that businesses can create fan pages (and not profile pages) to have a presence on Facebook. They are easy to create when people become a “fan” of your page, your icon is placed in their profile.
There are plenty of ways to market your fan page… and if you would like, I will add more about this in a later post.
Thanks again!
Jen š
Jen,
I coudl not agree more that if a business wants a social site, facebook is a better bet and due to the fact they limit the number of friends you can have, a fan page is almost always necessary. So…should you just start with a fan page? Do you need a full account? PS I also love that you can feed your blog directly into your Facebook account through the notes section (myspace you have to post it manually, as far as I can tell).
Dream Big.
M.
Nice post, but you’re only scratching the surface at what’s really going on with MySpace. I’d like to see a follow up post and learn more about WHY you feel MySpace is no longer a viable marketing platform. Obviously there’s a lot of marketing going on, so who is doing it and what opportunities do they see? Over 100 million people still hang out there, so it’s not a wasteland. What are the demographics of MySpace? It’s still Big with music fans, so is there a way to leverage that with your clients?
I’ve never been a huge MySpace fan, but they’re not dead yet. btw, the founders were just interviewed on Charlie Rose. I think you’ll find it interesting.
Keep up the great work.
Hi,
Thanks Jen that would be great. I’m not familiar how to setup fan page. I have played with the groups, but those seem to be connected to my personal account only and do not appear like fan pages.
Marketing the fan page probably requires proper ways and a good balance, so that it does not upset anyway. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on that.
I am a big Twitter fan. As far a Facebook is concerned, I have had the account for some time but have really just started to become more active. I am noticing that a lot more people I know are jumping on the Facebook bandwagon.