Today marks the beta launch of MySpace MyAds, which enables fledgling businesses to create, target and track the performance of their ads on its social network.
MyAds is accessible via advertise.myspace.com, or on any MySpace page through a link marked "Advertise." It was designed to teach advertisers how best to promote themselves on-site while making ad creation as simple as possible:
- Create a display ad in the MySpace MyAds Builder Tool
- Quantify your ad spend, which can be anywhere between $25 and $10,000
- Select the customers you want to target. Tailor age, gender, location and interests
- Follow ad performance via MyAds analytics
So-called "HyperTargeting" ad technology enables advertisers to tailor their demo based on phrases, not just keywords. For example, gamers interested specifically in "Call of Duty 5" could be pinpointed.
MySpace also improved ad appropriateness for users. The site is a casual breeding ground for seedy ad work: new diet tricks, "free iPod" scams, and the like. In June, a prominent video blogger shut down her MySpace account after her profile was repeatedly used as a vehicle for ads that appeared to be marketing young women. Complaints to MySpace went unacknowledged.
To avoid this and other problems of ad quality, MySpace claims a dedicated customer support team will review all advertising. Campaigns will not go live until the creative is approved — typically within several hours. This should improve the quality of work, and reputability of vendors, on the site.
Examples of creative implemented via MyAds:
Analytics tools provide impressions data, click-throughs and running costs on existing executions. Through Analytics, advertisers can renew positive campaigns and edit existing creative. Clients are charged per ad click and have a limitless number of campaigns they can run at once. A screenshot of the platform:
Reception of MyAds is minimal but warm — even for those that don't front indie bands, MySpace's demographic darling. (The company has launched several efforts meant specifically to serve the interests of young bands, including MySpace Music, which enables artists to sell tracks; and Transmissions, a virtual platform for live music.) One example is Dan Davis, owner of Chicago-based roofing company D&D Installation, who spent $100 on MySpace MyAds and got a roofing assignment worth $30,000 in eight days.
"We're blowing the lid off display advertising solutions for small and medium businesses," boasted President Jeff Berman of Sales and Marketing for MySpace, calling MyAds "a direct marketer's dream."
A Hitwise survey found MySpace enjoys nearly 68 percent of social networking traffic. The network redesigned its site over the summer, in part to make it more ad-friendly.
