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Social Network Advertising
Online Advertising with MySpace MyAds: Connecting Users With Advertisers
MySpace recently kicked off a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) ad platform called MyAds that will allow small and medium-sized businesses and others to create their own ad campaigns by creating or uploading display ads and then monitoring and improving the campaign results online. This is a new and relatively inexpensive opportunity, especially for small businesses, to reach the 72 million visitors that visit MySpace each month.
The MyAds service functions similarly to Facebook’s Social Ads self-serve advertising solution, except that Facebook only allows text ads while MySpace MyAds only allows display ads that are either 728×90 or 300×250 in size. While ads from various other ad platforms, e.g. the Google AdWords Content Network and MySpace’s own Hypertargeting-based ad program, are already appearing on MySpace pages, this is the first time small business advertisers will be able to deal with MySpace directly.
The MyAds Self-Serve Advertising Platform
The new MyAds ad-serving platform offers ad creation and placement tools that allow advertisers to create customized display ads and select from a number of ad targeting options such as geographic, demographic, and various user interest categories. After selecting their desired ad placement, MyAds advertisers will be able to use the customized tool to pay for their ads and initiate placement. MyAds advertisers also have access to analytics tools, enabling them to track and optimize the ad campaign performance.
What the Benefits Are
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Reach - The MyAds program provides an inexpensive way to reach potential customers within the MySpace social network. |
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Targeting - MySpace advertisers can target users demographically, geographically and behaviorally, based upon information that users provide on their profiles, including gender, age range, city, state and behavioral data compiled through MySpace’s Hyper-targeting technology. |
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Ease of use - Advertisers can set up an ad campaign online in just a few simple steps, using tools provided through the MyAds program. |
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Ad budget control - Advertisers can determine how much they want to spend on a campaign and they only pay when potential customers click on their ad(s), the traditional CPC system. Ad budgets can vary anywhere between $25 and $10,000. |
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Measurable campaign performance - Advertisers can track the performance of their ads, edit them in real-time online, as well as adjust their spending. |
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How the MyAds Advertising Program Works
The first step is to sign up for an account, to utilize MySpace’s platform to create an ad. There is no initial setup fee to participate in MyAds and there is no requirement that advertisers need an active MySpace account to advertise. However, please note that ad accounts are separate from other MySpace accounts.
Advertisers have a choice of either uploading their own creative ads, or using MySpace’s MyAds, which provides an array of graphic templates for ads. With the MySpace templates, advertisers can arrange the text, as well as upload an image to augment the ad.
Advertisers, who do upload their own creative, must make sure it complies with MySpace’s guidelines: the ad has size restrictions (300 by 250 pixels or 728 by 90 pixels, less than 600k,) as well as format restrictions (it must be submitted in one of these formats - .jpg, .gif or .png).
MyAds Advertising Terms & Conditions
The ads are subject to MySpace’s terms and conditions. The most important guidelines are: to make sure that the text in the ad is accurate; and, if they are making some kind of offer or discount, the terms and conditions of that offer have to be included in the ad. As is the standard with most PPC advertisements, using superlatives such as “best,” “No. 1,” are not allowed. Also, advertisers must stick to the outlined formats - no audio, no video, no flash or rich media is allowed. For the time being, MySpace is only offering static display ads, although there are promises that video ads will be offered sometime in the future.
Ad Campaign Setup
Once the ad is created, advertisers must specify the campaign(s) for the ad or ads. The campaign setup is used to determine the targeted audience and the run time of the ad. When starting a campaign, the advertiser is required to set a scheduled run time for their ad to begin and to end. This refers to an end date and a start date. Advertisers are not able to control what time of day their ads appear. While the ad could appear anywhere on MySpace, the power of any good online advertising platform is targeting. MySpace is offering some targeting elements familiar to search advertisers, as well as some that are unique to social networking.
All PPC (pay-per-click) advertisers should be aware of the importance of geographic targeting. MySpace allows advertisers to specify locations they would like their ad to appear. Demographic targeting is also possible, allowing them to choose what gender and age range they would like the ad targeted to.
Ad Targeting Features
The truly unique aspect of advertising on a social network site such as MySpace is the ability to target interests. If the advertiser knows what sparks the interest of their potential audience, they can locate and target their ads to people who share these interests. For example, they can target their ads to fans of a particular movie genre or a specific author. They can specify an audience that likes a certain sport or type of music. There are dozens of different interests, and if the advertisers know their specific audience or customer, they can really take advantage of this social networking advertising feature to target their ads to the appropriate audiences.
If utilized properly, this is the kind of targeting that can make social network advertising powerful. Please keep in mind though, that the user data may not be 100% accurate - MySpace counts on information provided by its users and takes that at face value. Also keep in mind that MySpace has been proactive about offering its users the option to opt out of the targeted advertising. Word from MySpace is that the majority of users are opting in.
Budget the PPC Campaign
In order to complete a campaign setup, advertisers will need to set a budget. MySpace requires a minimum budget of $25 for each campaign. If necessary, advertisers can increase or reduce their budget after their campaign launches. Once they have decided what they are willing to spend, they will need to set a bid price, the maximum Cost-Per-Click (CPC) they are willing to spend, for traffic that their ad generates.
Minimum bids start at a minimum at $0.25, but they can set it as high as they need. MyAds are placed through a real-time, auction-based system where a combination of bid price and click-through rate determines which ads are displayed. In other words, advertisers are competing for the same ad space as other businesses, and right now, their bid and click-through rates are the only factors that determine whether they get preference over someone else. MySpace requires that advertisers assign a credit card to their account. Currently, MySpace only accepts credit cards as a form of payment. All billing is postpaid and will be done on a monthly basis.
While brand advertisers may or may not have seen success in the past with ads on MySpace, many of those ads were most likely displayed there via a third party (i.e. Google Content Network). By offering their own platform, MySpace is giving advertisers a chance to have much more control over targeting their advertising, providing advertisers with the option to zero in on some very specific demographic audiences.
With MySpace’s MyAds program, small and medium-sized businesses can test the affordable possibilities of return on investments (ROI) that advertising on a social networking site can offer. |
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Past Presentations
128 Business Expo 2008
The Westin Waltham-Boston Hotel
"Using Social Media to Connect with Prospects and Customers"
Presenter: Louise Rijk, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales
Click here to play the video.
495/MetroWest Business Expo
Sheraton Framingham Hotel
Pre-Expo Keynote Presentation
“A Strategic Approach to Integrated Marketing”
Presenter: Louise Rijk, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales
Click here to play the video.
Bentley College, 2008 - Waltham, MA
“Planning and Integrating a Targeted Internet Marketing Campaign”
Click here to play the video.
WebmasterWorld Pubcon 2007 - Las Vegas, NV
“Planning and Integrating a Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) Campaign”
Click here to play the video.
BizAction 2007 - Washington DC
"Email, Social Media and Search in the Overall Marketing Mix"
Click here to play the audio.
128 Business Expo 2007
"Blogging and Podcasting For Business"
Click here to play the video.
495/Metrowest Business Expo
Pre-Expo Keynote
"The Rise of the Internet as a Mass Advertising Medium"
Click here to play the video.
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If you would like more information on Internet Marketing, Consulting, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing, please
click here.
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Copyright © 1996-2008. Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
251 West Central St., Suite 28, Natick, Massachusetts 01760, USA
Tel: 508-647-5151 Fax: 508-647-5150
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