SmallBizResource Blog -- Internet

25 Bucks Can Buy You Advertising On MySpace

Posted by Gayle Kesten Monday, Oct 13, 2008, 02:09 PM ET

Following in the footsteps of FaceBook and The New York Times, MySpace is testing out a new service aimed at small businesses and individuals who want to create an ad campaign that lives on its multimillion-member social networking site.

According to the MySpace MyAds FAQ: "When you create an advertising campaign with MySpace MyAds, you choose the audience you want to target with your ad, indicate how long you want the ad to run, and specify the maximum amount you are willing to spend. There is no fee for you advertisement to appear on MySpace. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and visits your destination URL to learn more about your offer. We will keep showing your ad on MySpace until your campaign has reached its expiration date, or you have reached your spending limit."

That limit can equal the minimum ad budget of $25, with the minimum price per click set at 25 cents (no charge for views). As far as targeting your ads, MySpace puts to work a technology called hypertargeting, which it launched last year for advertisers with big wallets. "Hypertargeting sifts through all the information people publish on MySpace, be it age, gender, hometown, or a preference for Coldplay vs. Rhianna," says BusinessWeek, which reports that around 3,300 small business and individual advertisers signed up for the test service even before it was officially announced. "Hypertargeting uses that information to create 1,100 buckets, or target audiences, ranging from basketball fans to people who read Chicken Soup for the Soul books." Advertisers choose which buckets to advertise to.

So what does $25 buy? I created my own MyAd (painless, with templates provided if you need them) to learn that a campaign at that amount would start Oct. 14 and end Oct. 19, with MySpace giving me a maximum 100 clicks. Extending the campaign by a day but for the same $25 automatically increased my minimum price per click to 37 cents and decreased my allotted clicks to 68. Going back to my original dates but upping my budget to $50 bought me another 100 clicks, with advice to reset the price per click to 37 cents or risk losing ad placement to other advertisers paying more per click for users in my target audience.

Of note, I couldn't find any info about how many times my ad would run throughout my campaign period or whether how much I spend would affect its frequency.

Think this is worth a try? Of note, you don't have to be a MySpace user to run a MyAd campaign.

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