Myspace as Marketing Firm
Scott Karp has been obsessively covering myspace lately. And has a lot of interesting perspectives. He predicts the demise of the site. But, everything he says the media should be doing online, Myspace seems to be doing already. I think he wills the demise of myspace more than he believes it will happen. But, I am not his psychologist or editorial policeman of the blogosphere. So, I really shouldn't care what his bias is.
He is right on when he says that media firms should become marketing firms (Of course, most good media salespeople already sell their products as marketing services.):
I increasing believe that in order to survive and grow in a digital, networked, social, participatory world, media companies need to evolve into marketing services companies.
And myspace is doing just that, as evident by my last post. And as evident by Myspace's campaign for the new movie, Superman, which Scott blogged about.
Further than that, Mark Brooks
highlights how movie studios are using myspace to launch films by engaging film goers on their own myspace turf.
The future of marketing is interaction. And interaction doesn't happen when advertisers produce ads, buy adspace and wait for the orders to come in. It happens when companies engage their clients in conversations.
~admin
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“MySpace allows brands to become living, breathing entities that consumers can interact with.”
Oh please, what hype. So you can set up a page on MySpace and collect “friends” — what a “revolutionary” one-size-fits all approach to interactive marketing. This is not a two-way interaction — it’s like setting up a giant tree and letting people hang ornaments from it.
And about being my psychologist, please don’t quit your day job. I wish MySpace long life, happiness, and true love.
It’s probably important to note that you quoted Shawn Gold. Not me.
And it’s probably important to recognize that there are lots of marketers that are engaging and interacting with their customers on myspace. Setting up the tree and hanging the ornaments is just the start. It’s the stuff that happens behind the scenes that isn’t being observed.
And I don’t have a day job.
Pete, I’m well aware that I quoted Shawn — and, yes, every business plan in the world right now is stamped with “just wait and see what happens down the road.” So, I’m waiting. Perhaps not patiently, but I’m waiting.
I don’t suppose you have any specifics about “stuff that happens behind the scenes” — it’s so hard to get any details these days — even in the News Corp earnings release there’s precious little in the way of details.
First off. I just want to say that I really appreciate your insights. Of the 500 blogs I skim, you are a daily read.
“Behind the scenes” is probably not the best phrase. I guess I was referring to what is possible for smart marketers. The brands that are successful on myspace aren’t necessarily the ones that pay the big bucks to be on the home page. Myspace, however, is smartening up to the fact that selling ad space on a timely basis (eg when a movie is launching) brings a lot of visibility to an advertiser. And that the advertiser can extend that visibility if they have a profile. The advertisers that are smart will take that visibility and turn it into ongoing interaction with fans. It’ll be interesting to see whether Myspace is interested in guiding that process OR just pretending that the BIG ad buy and collecting a lot of friends are what’s important.