The Truth About Marketing On MySpace

Newsflash: Marketing your products and services on MySpace.com will NOT work.

Why? Well first of all, it's against their Terms of Service (TOS)which clearly states:

"The MySpace Services are for the personal use of Members only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by MySpace.com. Illegal and/or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of Members by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing of or linking to the MySpace Website is prohibited. Commercial advertisements, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation may be removed from Member profiles without notice and may result in termination of Membership privileges. Appropriate legal action will be taken for any illegal or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services."

That rule is pretty "cut-and-dried" isn't it?

However, the aforementioned rule is not the reason why marketing on MySpace doesn't work. No, it's more complicated than that. It has to do with the "apples and oranges" concept.

Let me explain:

According to comScore Media Metrix. MySpace has about 100 million registered users, about 90 percent in the United States.

Their primary demographic is about a 50/50 split between males and females, ages 16 to 34. However, a common misconception is that MySpace is primarily made up of kids and teens. In fact, 80 percent of the audience is above 18. MySpace's 30-plus demographic is its fastest-growing group. (Source: ClickZ Network)

Regarding the apples and oranges concept: According to branding expert Rob Frankel, "MySpace has only one thing really going for it: eyeballs. Lots of eyeballs. But simply having eyeballs isn't nearly enough. If you recall, that's the mistake people made which led to the Internet bubble bursting. Just because you have tons of people doesn't mean you have an audience. Witness the demise of women.com and other domains that were supposedly gathering spots for people. It doesn't work that way. For a community to really succeed, it must have four elements:

A. A central, specific common interest among its users
B. A means of generating revenue through that interest (brand strategy)
C. A system to establish its credibility
D. A strong, visible leader to manage the community

MySpace in particular has none of these. The users are free to create multiple personalities. There is no verification of anything. There are no true means to focus any users into any kind of channels. There are no user-driven revenue sources. There are no leaders or managers - it's a rudderless ghost ship with the inmates running the asylum, so any business either having a page or advertising there is simply taking shots in the dark."

In closing, if anyone tells you marketing on Myspace works, I challenge them to prove it, by showing real, data-driven documentation that their MySpace marketing program did anything to improve sales and/or inquiries.

Dale King is the owner of the new Internet marketing website, Guruknowledge.org.

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