I am well aware of the fact that Facebook is the social networking site de rigueur among the social media elite. I hear it almost every day in the echo chamber that my RSS feed reader has become. Prominent bloggers have largely relegated Myspace a “has been” and a “digital wasteland” destined to a fate similar to that of Friendster.
For the sake of full disclosure I should mention that I, too, prefer Facebook to Myspace for my own personal networking. Myspace can be “messy” to say the least, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its own unique advantages for small businesses. It does – a few in fact.
UNIQUE URLs
Myspace allows you to create a custom URL for your business - i.e. www.myspace.com/businessnamehere. This makes it easy to remember and share. Facebook, on the other hand, only provided the big businesses and bands that partnered with them for the initial launch of Pages with “vanity URLs.” The rest of us are stuck with addresses like www.facebook.com/pages/Indianapolis-IN/businessnamehere/6737543177. That’s not so easy to remember and share on flyers, menus, business cards, etc.
CUSTOMIZABLE PROFILES
One of Myspace’s biggest weaknesses is also one of its greatest advantages. So many people turn their profiles into tacky, cluttered, slow-loading design nightmares, but with some basic HTML and CSS knowledge you can create a clean, branded page that represents you and your business well - such as this and this. More advanced knowledge can create even slicker pages – like this. On Facebook, all pages basically look the same. And while many appreciate how neat and tidy the “school uniform” is, those who prefer to express themselves through color and/or design will be disappointed.
MORE TARGETED “FRIEND-ING”
Perhaps my favorite thing about Myspace is that when you join you have immediate access to millions of people. Access to millions may seem intimidating. But Myspace makes it really easy to “drill down” and find the people that are not only potential friends, but also potential customers. Let’s say you own a sports bar. You can go on Myspace and easily browse for single, straight men without kids between the ages of 18 and 35 making $30k-$45K a year who drink and live within a 5 or 10 mile radius of your bar’s ZIP code (or whatever your target demographic may be). THOSE are the friends you want to make because THOSE are going to be the ones mostly likely to frequent your establishment. Facebook, however, limits you to profiles that are in networks you can prove you have an affiliation with - a regional network (i.e. Indianapolis) or work and school networks. You can only be affiliated with one regional network at a time – significantly slashing the number of people you can reach – and if you wanted to go with a more targeted approach, you can’t drill down to specific neighborhoods or areas of a region.
Despite its faults and the naysayers’ complaints, Myspace is still the third most trafficked website in the United States. It’s the seventh most trafficked website on the planet (at the time of this writing). That’s a lot of people you can’t afford to ignore - after, of course, you’ve established the fact that your target audience is indeed on Myspace – especially since sign up and service is free. Putting the time into developing a social media marketing strategy and managing the account and relationships, however, is a whole other story.
Chad,
I gotta take number three away from you. Facebook offers this, with a much less annoying approach than MySpace. The facebook ad system allows you to do just as much “targeting”, with out the potential friend getting that creepy “Who is this friending me?” feeling in their stomach. Sure I may not get as many hits using a facebook ad, but first impressions of my business are pretty important and I don’t want it to be, “I wish these people would stop sending me friend requests!” Keep up the great work!
Roger
Comment by Roger Williams on September 24, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Roger,
Thank you for your comments. You do make a good point. Perhaps I should have specified that I was discussing interactive – not interruptive- methods. I do like how easy Facebook Ads are to set up, but, again, I wish they would allow you to drill down to a specific ZIP code for targeting instead of city network. That might be fine for larger businesses or in smaller cities and suburbs, but if I’m on the north side of Chicago, I may just want to reach other north-siders because the chances of a southsider frequenting my establishment may be slim. Does that make sense? Thanks again for your reply!
Comment by Chad Richards on September 26, 2008 at 4:16 pm