A couple months ago MySpace launched their advertising platform. Since then (and since my local PPC marketing guide), I have received a TON of email with questions about the platform – everything from getting better click through rates to what offers to pick.
I thought I would do a new post about my experiences in the past couple months and also provide you with some techniques that will help you do better in general.
First of all, much like I talked about in my local PPC marketing guide which focused on social networks, right now there is a massive dislocation in the advertiser’s advantage… very much like the main search engine advertising dislocation from years ago. People are making a TON of money right now with MySpace’s ad platform.
The reason there is SO much money to be made is because it is so new and there is a ton of testing that needs to be done. Most people will not put in the work it takes to test the platform and play with all of its options… or else they have a small budget to test. And at this point, there is little documentation at this point to hold your hand through the process. This scarcity is what creates the huge dislocation… for now.
But let me tell you – this dislocation will not last. Mark my words, in a short amount of time it will no longer be possible to make such an amazing return off of an advertising network.
Okay, back to MySpace MyAds. MySpace has a huge audience. I mean HUGE! I know you are like, “Duh!” Right? But look at this:
When you think about the fact that MySpace has almost half of the impressions per day as Google AdWords and almost twice as many as Facebook… MySpace is pretty impressive! Plus, its audience is very unique.
Compared to the other advertising platforms, I personally love MySpace MyAds’ ad creation flexibility. At one point, Google AdWords sort of convinced the advertising world that the only way to do display advertising was through deceptive text ads (i.e. Google AdSense) in order to trick the user into clicking on the ad as if it were part of the site’s content. Well, I think people are wising up to this scheme and once again, creative banner design is working. (And if for some reason you want your ad to stay looking like text – there’s still this option.) It’s just that we have found good looking, well-thought-out banner designs do much better on MySpace.
On the other hand, the biggest beef I had with MyAds was their run time. In a couple instances, I would start running a campaign, the ads would run for about 30 minutes, and then they’d abruptly end only to never run again. What was going on? There were no messages explaining why they had stopped or what I could do to increase the impressions. After contacting the MyAds team, they basically told me this was due to my low CTR (click through ratio). I strongly advocated that they explain this to the user and I suspect they will in the future.
When running a campaign on MySpace MyAds – the big thing to always look at is the click through rate. CTR is king. (But you probably knew that.) So how do you get a better CTR? Targeting!! Here are some of the ways you can really target your ads.
Geographic Targeting:
- Are you advertising a local business? Then target ONLY your area.
- If you are running affiliate offers, then using Google Trends can help you isolate cities that have a history of being interested in the offer you are trying to promote. For instance, if you were promoting Acai Berry products then you might be interested in this. Then, target ONLY those cities.
When beginning a new campaign, start very small and work your way up.
Remember CTR is your best friend. With a higher CTR, you will get lower priced bids and ultimately more impressions on the MyAds network.
Demographic Targeting:
On MySpace, you can use the following criteria for demographic targeting.
- Male/Female
- Age
- Education:
- Relationships:
- Parental Status:
Plus, you can target based on categories of interest. A good combination of all the above is where the secret sauce is right now.
Ad Copy Targeting
When designing your banner ads, you should always use pictures of the things you are selling or who you are selling to. For instance, if you are trying to sell Acai Berry weight loss products then a good ad for this would be a picture of a pregnant lady with an “after” photo of a thin lady. You would then target the ad to “Women” who “Just Gave Birth” who are also interested in “Working Out”. This matches 1,346,660 people.
Do you think that will have decent click through ratio?
I’ll say it again, the real secret sauce to killing it with the MySpace MyAds platform is all in its targeting power. Play around, don’t get frustrated and remember to start small and grow your audience slowly.
- Comment Likes 
- Comment Dislikes
April 29, 2009 at 2:11 pm
by far, this is one of the best contributions you can make jeremy. the way you give that information out and give a inside perspective on the benefits on these services, if any. thanks again. you deserve everything you have today…
January 26, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Sorry to leave you Shoe, but I’ve got to go check this out….
January 7, 2009 at 11:59 am
It’s a pretty good product. They have a great forum on their MySpace profile, too: myspace.com/myads
January 3, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Really? I hate those stupid Myspace ads. All they seem to be are dumb IQ test, insurance, dumb games and dating ads. they are so annoying because they are so big. I really think that is why facebook is doing better than myspace. however I still use both of them but I use my facebook more than my myspace account.
Thanks
Mr. School Fundraiseing Ideas
December 31, 2008 at 6:32 am
I love the targeting idea, google ads are so random – but this would make niche marketing so much better. I thought myspace was mainly teenage girls – how wrong I am!
December 24, 2008 at 4:12 am
I started a small campaign on there for one of my sites & I was surprised at the results. I’ll definitely be using MyAds again.
December 23, 2008 at 6:58 pm
the power of social bookmarks has really yet to be fully explored. just the other day some guy was covering a plane crash on twitter.
December 22, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The amount of places to advertise cost effectively on social marketing sites is mind-boggling. The other great thing is that you can really target your audience.
December 22, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I would also think that My Space users are older and therefore have more spendible income than Facebook.
December 22, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I would think that My Space also has an older audience than Facebook and therefore more spendible income per eyeball.
December 22, 2008 at 11:34 am
Jeremy, you have inspired me to action. I’ve been putting off trying to understand MySpace, dismissing it as something for whippersnappers under 30 whom I don’t trust. But now I see I’m going to have to knuckle down and figure out how it works. Thanks!
December 20, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Thank you for idea myspace ads it good
December 20, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Its great info. I have been waiting to start a campaign on MySpace for my online store. I have not invested any time in other ads currently running to get a feel on what’s up. Thanks for the post
December 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I bet it is sorta like advertising on other social media sites. It is only good for certain types of ads.
December 20, 2008 at 6:10 am
Is there no one else besides me that can’t get beyond the signup page??? I tried 3 browsers but everytime I push the button of “build an ad” or “upload an ad” just nothing happens.
Anyone have an idea??
December 19, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Well I just got turned down by them because my landing page had a woman wearing a bikini. Apparently, this is not acceptable at MyAds…yet uploading risque photos onto your MySpace page is for some reason okay to do. Yep…makes perfect sense to me.
December 19, 2008 at 4:17 pm
What would really be awesome is if they started a revenue sharing program for user profiles … I’d be banking some cash off myspace.
December 19, 2008 at 4:23 pm
damn that’s genius. They’ve been trying to stop the mass migration to Facebook, that might just be the way how!
December 20, 2008 at 3:17 am
genius??? .. damn I should have kept that one to myself .. now Tom is going to steal my idea and take all the credit.
December 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Yeah like the digital point forums do…
December 19, 2008 at 2:13 am
i was trying to research about myspace ads. Good thing i saw this post. this is so informative and well explained.
December 18, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Jeremy, this is one of your best posts recently. We’ve been wondering about MySpace MyAds for some time now, thinking it was not the target audience we were after. But, as you clearly showed above, EVERYBODY is on myspace and we can easily define who our target audience is. We think we’ll give it a spin. I hope MySpace gives you a good tip (seeing their banner on your blog makes me think they did.
December 18, 2008 at 2:32 am
great information…must be consider to use myspace…. more better tha fb
December 17, 2008 at 7:29 pm
But it will not up to there with Google
December 17, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Do you find that the myspace ad’s are more cost effective than google adwords?
December 17, 2008 at 7:34 pm
it depends on category but because it is new, yes. they start at .25 cpc on most category targeting.
December 17, 2008 at 10:47 am
Ive used the facebook version, thank you for posting the myspace review.
Ive tried a lot of different things on myspace and other than just connecting with friends, its been a waste of time.
I find it very intresting that myspace is getting almost half the traffic of google each month! I’m wondering at what point will we see google add more of a social community aspect to its search engine? Ive already noticed the voting tabs.
December 16, 2008 at 10:38 pm
thanks for guiding us about myspace, actually I’m currently working to add new friends and update my page… is someone here interested in adding me..
December 16, 2008 at 11:59 am
The geo-targeting aspect has helped me the most in my MyAds and Facebook Ads campaigns. And it works great not just in determining the audience, but also in the ad copy. The CTR is much better when the ad “speaks” to the viewer. The keyword also has been huge in getting a more focused market and better ad copy.
December 16, 2008 at 7:52 am
I was surprised. This is truly a unique platform for business.
December 16, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hi Dick.Great to hear you like it. i am here for any questions you may have on this!
December 16, 2008 at 5:00 am
Great post Shoe, we have a college planning (content) site that we would like to pitch to parents of high school seniors. It sounds like MySpace might be the place to look at.
Thanks for doing the leg work, it is very much appreciated…
Johnny
http://www.CollegeTidbits.com
December 16, 2008 at 4:06 am
Time to try something new now, hopefully myads turns out to be better then adwords for me
December 16, 2008 at 3:36 am
Thank you for this guide and the tif for ad copy targeting. I`ll try to get a fashion project up an myspace. I was a lil scared of the weak click through rates other marketers write about, but i will give it a try.
December 16, 2008 at 2:58 am
This is a great explanation of how myspace ads works. You really can get some targeted hits.
December 16, 2008 at 12:23 am
Looks like there are a lot of great options to pin point your market. Nice review, thanks for sharing.
December 15, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Going to give it a shot later on this week and post results and see how it goes.
December 15, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Sounds interesting, but i’m seriously wondering how good a company like ours (B2B) would do on a site like MySpace
December 15, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I have tried MySpace ads with limited success. I do agree that there is a lot of money to be made. provided you have the resources to invest in testing on a large scale.
Thanks for the tips, I will keep plugging away.
December 15, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I believe I will be trying them out to start the year out
December 15, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I have just completed my 4th campaign with myspace and I am pretty happy with the setup and results. I still have to get a hold on the targeting and I think you nailed the tips I needed in this post! Thanks!
December 15, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Myspace. I got to get into this.
December 15, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Is anyone else having troubles singing up for Myspace advertising? I cannot “build an ad” or “upload my ad” on the very first page. It’s just… not responding at all. Tried 3 browsers.
Anyone?
December 16, 2008 at 5:02 pm
yes, me too… tried everything, safari, chrome, firefox, ie.. different os… proxies….
December 15, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I never tried it though.
let me checkout and signup for a campaign.
December 15, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Cheers for the tips, Should come in use sometime.
December 15, 2008 at 4:23 pm
It deserves a try!
December 15, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Thanks for the advice on banner ads. Nice to know the trend is growing, and also how to develop a good targeted banner. Seems obvious but we all need to be reminded.
December 15, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I have a great idea for the myspace ads and would make a bundle. If anyone is interested email me bob@osgamenews.com
December 15, 2008 at 12:49 pm
yeah the new Myspace ads look pretty good as well. There placement on the page is pretty good.
December 15, 2008 at 11:25 am
Oh Great, yet another place for me to spend money, and manage.
December 15, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’ve had best conversion rates so far with MSN, but willing to give myspace a try one more time. I had $25 in a campaign for an experiment, was flooded with clicks in about 5 minutes, unfortunately no conversions, but if you want traffic, this is deffinetly a platform.
December 15, 2008 at 11:16 am
wait. did you win your own comment contest?
December 17, 2008 at 9:00 am
LOL that would be awesome!
December 15, 2008 at 11:02 am
I’ve used FB in the past with mild success. I will definitely give MySpace a whirl. Thanks for another great post.
December 15, 2008 at 10:49 am
Nice analysis of MySpace ads. I’m on and off with it but it may be worth it just to check it out. I’m not too fond of Facebook ads but I’d like to see an in depth comparison and result of the two side by side.
December 15, 2008 at 9:41 am
Great information. At this point I never even considered MySpace for advertising but after your in depth analysis I think I will give it a try.
December 19, 2008 at 9:05 am
I think a lot of people are in that boat – who would of though networks like facebook and myspace would EVER have their own networks!! Crazy for sure
December 15, 2008 at 9:04 am
I had no idea myspace had it’s own network – at least they’re keeping up with the times!!
December 15, 2008 at 8:03 am
Good advice. That is one thing I like about Myspace Ads and FB ads the targeting.
December 17, 2008 at 9:19 pm
how does it compare to facebook ads and conversions
December 15, 2008 at 7:50 am
Nice post. I was just talking to a real estate company about this Thursday. What would you recommend for targeting local real estate? I was thinking college educated, recently married people in the area. Is that too broad?
December 15, 2008 at 7:43 am
I also felt it sucks to have the ads stopped.. At the first hour of my ads running, it was good but then it was like stopped and i was pissed…i have a small budget set for it though and i haven’t gone full blast w/it..yet
December 15, 2008 at 7:39 am
Lets try them out and find what payment options they accept, minimum campaign size, ad sizes etc
December 15, 2008 at 7:21 am
Looks like I’ve got some work to do with my ads
December 15, 2008 at 6:56 am
Shoe – the level of detail & clarity in this post in incredible. I wonder how many people will recognize just how valuable this is? Keep up the great work.
December 15, 2008 at 6:56 am
The biggest problem with MyAds is.. it doesn’t work here. I reinstalled flash 10, cleared cache, etc. even tried 3 different Browsers but it’s always telling me “FIM” is not definied when trying to login.. something is seriously bogus over there.. or is it me?
December 16, 2008 at 4:38 am
Happens to me as well. Would like to try this out for sure.
December 16, 2008 at 10:00 am
It works on my laptop which is running Vista 32Bit, however, not on my Desktop – Vista 64Bit. Both are using the same Flash Version..
I feel like Flash is bogus on 64Bit since v10…..
December 17, 2008 at 9:18 pm
r u in US
December 24, 2008 at 4:10 am
It worked just fine for me using Firefox.
December 15, 2008 at 5:56 am
Thanks for the guide on MySpace Myads. Thanks Greg Ellison
December 15, 2008 at 5:55 am
Finally some real competition for adwords – just in time for the holidays.
December 15, 2008 at 5:53 am
Thank you verymuch for the great tips
December 15, 2008 at 5:46 am
Is it available outside of the US yet?
December 16, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Wondering the same thing
December 15, 2008 at 5:34 am
Thanks for the tips, this is sort of what I was looking to see before I jumped in the fray of MySpace advertising. Looks like I’ve got some work to do!
December 15, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Okay, whatever happend to the contest for the two Mac laptops? And how in the world were you a daily winner yesterday?
I thought it was for September and October. It’s now December.
December 15, 2008 at 12:32 pm
2 laptops from months ago were given away (dont you read the newsletter?)
There is no grand prize for december as I wrote about
. I do not know why it took this long to pick me. Maybe I should comment more.
AND quit replying to peoples comments that are off topic. Last warning.
December 15, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Actually, I’ve subscribed to the newsletter with two different emails, and still haven’t received any yet.
My bad on the off topic comment replies. Didn’t realize it was a problem.
And, the “comment more” comment was pretty funny.
December 17, 2008 at 12:45 pm
How would this work for high end service industry. I photograph wedding for those who can handle the 4900.00 mark
December 17, 2008 at 9:18 pm
do these ads convert…any stats on that