When I first included entries about MySpace on this blog, I
mentioned to never ever use MySpace (or profiles on any other
social networking sites) as your "official" website. Always buy your
own domain name and use that for your website and email. Why?
Because you don't own MySpace, you haven't paid any money for
your profile there, and MySpace could disappear tomorrow and owe
you nothing.
In his latest podcast, my good friend, David Jackson, talks about a
very disturbing instance where MySpace removed a page. This
happened to a band, but let it be a warning to all business owners
that if you don't own your own domain and depend upon a social
networking profile as your website, your fan list, your calendar, and
your presence on the Internet can vanish into thin air. All those
applications you've used on that profile will be gone.
The wise way to use your social network profiles is to make them
blatant advertisements for your official website at your official
domain.
Get the whole story by visiting David Jackson's Musician's Cooler
Podcast #222, called "MySpace - I TOLD YOU SO!".
Do you have your own final thoughts about using your MySpace
page or other social networking profiles for advertising and
promotion? Please share them as a comment below.
Cheers, Anne Roos
Celtic Harp Music by Anne Roos
http://www.celticharpmusic.com
1 comment:
I find the web site is just another component. Your web site hosting company can dissapear too, as I have had happen to me. Most web site hosting companies are less stable than places like MySpace and Facebook.
As you point out, though, your domain name is the most crucial as that can be uplifted and parked anywhere you choose, even on your MySpace page, though i am not a huge MySpace fan myself.
Second to your domain is to have your web site information, photos, videos and other components on your PC and backed up at least on two back up services. Like your domain name these can be parked anywhere too for information and publicity too.
These days I do a lot more work on social media than my web site and many of my clients now have not even bothered to look at my web site. They just message me from the social media and get an email dialogue going. Links I send them tend to answer there specific questions so i send them to where I addressed them on a soical media souce, often my blog.
I find social media so much easier and faster to update.
All together, I use social media and my web site for one goal, and that is to build up my friends, clients and network lists.
Again, do not put complete faith in your list service either. They may also go under at a moment's notice. Always have back up copies of your lists on your PC and at 2 back up points.
I used Topica for listing for many years but now use Fan Reach, not only to save money but due to their automated service of emailing me a complete spreadsheet of my list once a month, so I do not forget.
Try to get addresses and phone numbers on your list too, just in case there is no internet one day!
Sounds daft, but some of my current online list is of folks I had listed during the 1970s when nobody outside of universities used internet and from the 80s when we did not have web browsers but we did have BBS services to collect names.
So in short, I think its all about the list, and now your domain name, as your web site is as fragile, probably more fragile, than the social media services out there.
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