MySpace can be an excellent advertising tool. I have successfully referred MySpace user to my website, iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.com, where they can buy my Cd's, digital downloads, and my book, "The Musician's Guide to Brides". I have seen a marked increase in sales revenue from My Space users. I've also successfully used MySpace to increase my fan base and
network with others in the music business. Does it work for folks who are not in the entertainment business? No reason why it can't.
The following tips, and much more, are just part of my contribution to Joan Stewart's new e-book, "How to Be A Kick-Butt Publicity Hound".
In the meantime, here are some tips to guide you with
MySpace for commercial use:
1. Consider creating your MySpace page as a billboard
for your services.
The sole purpose of your page is to convince visitors to purchase your products and services and to visit your official website. Resist the temptation to post anything of any personal nature on your MySpace page. You can set up your Ping and Twitter accounts to post on MySpace, but that is about all the personal information you'll want to include.
2. If you are short of cash and are just beginning to
establish an online presence, never ever use MySpace
(or pages on any other social networking sites) as your
"official" web page.
Buy your own domain name," as my good friend David Jackson says, who hosts the podcast, "The Musician's Cooler-Where Musicians Go to Trade Advice" He goes on to say, "Your MySpace page is a great additional tool for your website, but don't use it as your sole website. You don't own MySpace, they can change it at any time, and you can do nothing about it. You could lose your page on MySpace tomorrow."
3. Consider MySpace as a way to reach customers who may not be
using Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
So, it's okay to allow your MySpace page to mirror your business pages on other social networking sites. MySpace was originally set up by a bandleader, so its interface is best used for musicians and entertainers. But increasingly, politicians, authors, and anyone who has videos
or audios to share are creating pages.
4. Search around on MySpace before signing up for an account.
Check out how your competition uses MySpace. If you are a musician or entertainer, look up similar acts. If you are an author, look up other authors. You can easily do a search without setting up an account.
5. Make a list of the pages you like and why.
Are they using media players to load audio or video on their pages? Which players? Do they play easily without a long wait for downloading?
6. In your quick research, you'll soon discover that pages with
"skins" and lots of flashing doodads take forever to download.
Just like when building a website, strange fonts and graphics make your information difficult to read. And on MySpace, this stuff greatly increases download time for any visitor to your page.
These tips are just a start. In a future blog entry, I'll include some simple idea for getting started with MySpace.
And by the way, for musicians interested in performing at weddings, I also cover the topic of marketing yourself on MySpace in my book "The Musician's Guide to Brides" You can find this
book at Amazon.com , SheetMusicPlus.com and wherever Hal Leonard Books are sold. You can also view pages from the book and purchase it directly from my website at www.celticharpmusic.com.
Have additional ideas about successfully marketing yourself on MySpace? Please add them as a comment below.
My best to you, Anne Roos Celtic Harp Music by Anne Roos http://www.celticharpmusic.com/
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