How to make money using Myspace

This is the first in a series of posts on social-networking sites and how artists can work to monetize them effectively. Most of the content in this series of posts originated from a presentation I gave at Musictoday to our Account Management team. Although this post will deal mostly with music profiles, and contains advice for musicians it could be applied to many other fields.

Myspace has always been about music fans and musicians connecting. A few months ago with the complete overhaul on their music platform they increased their dedication to this portion of their user base, and with Myspace profiles generally showing up in the top 5 Google results for any given artist, it's absolutely essential to make the most of the attention and traffic the profile receives. The following information will provide an overview of some of the basic things an artist should be doing.

1. Banners. The first and most obvious promotion tool are banner links from the profile page itself. Hopefully your profile is not too cluttered and you can throw in a banner or two linking to your merch store, your itunes page, and the best place for fans to buy tickets. If it's part of your income as an artist, you better be linking to it from your profile. TIP: Use photobucket to upload your banner image and get the HTML code for banner placement.

2. Widgets. If you want to take a step beyond banners, widgets are where you want to be. Use widgets to display videos, audio, merch products, tour-dates, rss feeds, you name it. The best part of widgets is that they can be posted anywhere. Encourage your fan-base to spread the widget on their own Myspace pages, blogs, or websites. TIP: Checkout reverbnation.com for some really easy widgets. If you want to get a little more fancy, check out Widgetbox or Sprout.

3. Bulletins. Beyond passive linking from the profile, you need to be taking an active roll in getting information out to your fans. If a fan is your friend on Myspace, odds are that they have at least a passing interest in anything you're doing. Send out a bulletin. On Myspace a bulletin is a message you post to a virtual bulletin board that all your friends can see. Keep in mind that your fans' bulletin boards are most likely full of bulletins from their other friends. So, it may be necessary to post the same information more than once; there's a fine line to walk between re-posting and spamming however. Be cautious. TIP: Only send bulletins when you have major news, send the bulletin a few times on the day of the announcement, and then leave your fans alone!

4. Blog Posts. Blogs show up on your main Myspace profile, and it's an excellent place to post timely information such as a tour announcement, show cancellation, or the release of your new single. TIP: The title of your post is like the subject of an email, make it enticing or your fans won't click to view it.

5. Events. If you're playing shows, you better list them on Myspace. Myspace provides a basic event listing platform which is probably the best way to go. TIP: Make sure you include ticket links and information for each event.

6. Status Updates. Status updates are a quick easy way to make short updates or announcements. Your status update is displayed on the homepage of each of your fans and also on your main profile next to your profile image. TIP: Update your status at least once per day to keep up visibility to your fan-base.

7. PPC. Myspace recently launched their own pay-per-click advertising platform. If you've got a few bucks to spend sign-up and target some banner adverts to fans of "like-artists." TIP: Monitor your spending closely, and kill any ineffective campaigns.

8. Major Announcements. If you've got a major announcement like a new tour, or a new album release, it may be time to give your profile a complete redesign to reflect the news. While working with Jay-Z on the marketing of his Heart of the City Tour with Mary J. Blige we decided it was a good idea to design his myspace profile to promote not just the tour, but specifically the ticket pre-sale. TIP: Your Myspace profile should visually mirror your official site as closely as possible. source>>>

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