MySpace AdPlatform – will it work?

The launch of Myspace’s new ad scheme myAds into Beta last week opened up the social network as an advertising option for businesses of all sizes.  With a 4 step, simple campaign set up there is no doubt this is aimed at small businesses with little or no experience of online advertising.  And with the super low minimum commitment of £25 they have reduced all barriers to entry for small businesses.  No doubting that this is an attempt to follow in Facebook’s footsteps in attracting direct advertisers and allowing self service and flexibility on ad campaigns (its the future, remember?) but is Myspace in a position to make a go of it in the same way Facebook has?

It certainly has the audience for it, with nearly double the unique user figures of Facebook there is an audience there to be tapped into, but impressions are what the modern day advertiser is after.  It is also most certainly not what the small business advertiser is after, I know from experience that if a small business is investing £100, then they sure as hell want £200 back.  They do not have large marketing budgets and they don’t give a hoot about brand building, they want a return on investment.  And I’m not convinced Myspace can give it.

For a start on Myspace there is less browsing involved.  On Facebook you are looking at news feeds, checking out updated status’ and searching for groups, and this is the time when you are most likely to be tempted to click and ad.  With Myspace there is less of these type of actions involved, at least there is how I use it.  And you are generally there to view a particular persons profile or catch up with a contact, and when you have a purpose, you are less likely to be tempted to click an ad, no matter how well targeted.

Also, the garish nature of Myspace profiles means that it will take something special for an ad to look right on the page, this will make users opposed to the ads and less likely to accept them as useful.

I suppose the idea of the ads, much like Facebook’s similar programme, is to utilise the profile information to target your audience effectively and I buy into this, use all the information you can to show the right ad, to the right person, at the right time.  I’m just not sure Myspace has the layout and the typical user actions to support such a programme.  And certainly my experiences with Google Placement ads on Myspace haven’t shown me anything to suggest otherwise.

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