The benefits of setting up a MySpace site for your Company.

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

Some may frown upon it, but, no matter what anyone says, MySpace has millions upon millions of users......a pool of people that can be tapped into very easily with your products/services. Big name bands do it all the time, with their massive friend lists of several thousands to hundreds of thousands of peoples.....

The thing I like about MySpace.......especially for businesses......is that potential with it's features......

For example, here is our MySpace site:
MySpace.com - www.myspace.com/384750426

It has alot of CSS/html coding, so the load time may be a little longer than normal........Iv'e gotten varying reports back about it.....

but.......as Iv'e seen with alot of big shot companys that essentially got their start on MySpace, you can do so much with it's features..........Zappos.com, and Threadless........two extremely successful companies, to the tune of several million a year in sales, got their starts on MySpace.....

.......MySpace allows for deep integration of even your products.....if you go to our site, you can even see how we have photo albums divided into individual product lines......I haven't even added captions, but, you can even set pricing, or put your company's URL as the captions.......

You can post blogs......and, include clickable links to your site......

You can use Slideshows......from slide.com or MySpace.com, in order to display products/ services.....

The opportunities are near endless.......

Is there really a reason why a company WOULDN'T use MySpace?

[Aletheides]

lol Zappos definitely did not start on Myspace, but nice article.

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

lol.....maybe I gave MySpace's role in their success a little to much credit.......but, even still, they did establish one and used it to help promote their site/brand.....so, I don't think it really hurt them much.....

[Yiie]

MySpace's demographic is teens and tweens. Sometimes this may not appeal to businesses as their target market might be an older crowd. I was speaking to a business owner who didn't wish to set up a page on MySpace as she felt the people on it won't have a credit card and won't be able to afford her products.

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

Does she realize that ALOT of older people use MySpace, as well?

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

and......for some reason, the unique thing some people seem to miss about MySpace is........it's features essentially group people already.......pre-made demographics that you can tap into VERY easily.......

For example: Our company caters to a global military population. MySpace has many groups for "Military and Supporters", "Cadets/ ROTC", "Veterans"........doesn't get any easier than that.....

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

These things are so blatantly obvious if people would just take 5 minutes to look through their features......

[Fanatik]

good point, Yiie.. it is certainly demographic-bound depending upon your products/niche. Although there are some of the 'older' crowd there, they aren't the people that'll give many businesses the time of day to peruse the albums, etc to purchase certain things. Sure, it may not hurt you, and it may convert a few sales, possibly, but I don't think it should be a big part of the marketing/business plan.

If you're selling PacSun stuff, you'd get a lot of attention. If you're selling ad space for small businesses, you'd not be apt to convert anything.

[Fanatik]

For mil sales - GSA, Military.com (go there and post discounts for your stuff in their discount section. mine are still in there from BuyXenon.com), base newspapers, etc are optimal for military conversions. Also, depending on which bases you advertise on, you could cater the advertisement to that base's demographics. Example: If you're advertising on Nellis AFB - "The home of the Fighter Pilot", you could cater the ads to high-performance gear, flight essentials, etc. If you're advertising at the training bases - Ft Benning, Hurlburt Field, Lackland AFB, you could cater more of the 'essentials' like boots, cheaper uniform items, spec ops stuff (some kids like to 'look' cool, and others actually need it, ie TACP, PJ's, Rangers, etc).

My 2 coins. lol, i could go on and on and on about advertising for mil stuff/demo's.

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

T-shirts are definitely the way to go on MySpace.....if you have quality, and unique, designs.......you'll make a killing.................or, even better, just like a company called "Threadless" did......they essentially made a platform where people could create their own designs......people did all the work, and "threadless" would just pick a few designs and feature them.....

They grew extremely fast.

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

For mil sales - GSA, Military.com (go there and post discounts for your stuff in their discount section. mine are still in there from BuyXenon.com), base newspapers, etc are optimal for military conversions. Also, depending on which bases you advertise on, you could cater the advertisement to that base's demographics. Example: If you're advertising on Nellis AFB - "The home of the Fighter Pilot", you could cater the ads to high-performance gear, flight essentials, etc. If you're advertising at the training bases - Ft Benning, Hurlburt Field, Lackland AFB, you could cater more of the 'essentials' like boots, cheaper uniform items, spec ops stuff (some kids like to 'look' cool, and others actually need it, ie TACP, PJ's, Rangers, etc).

My 2 coins. lol, i could go on and on and on about advertising for mil stuff/demo's.

Man.......with this kind of advice, I may have to bring you aboard as a side job or something one day, Jay.....lol.....of course, both our company's will hit big, im pretty sure of it....

[Fanatik]

haha no worries. i had to plan out a lot of the advertising schemes when I was going to sell HID's at certain bases, then I was going to hit them with car audio/performance items, catering to each base's demographics. Then I sold all the businesses, and am concentrating on one. But I still have all those advertising/demographic data in my head, lol! I went down to re-training for TACP/JTAC and all the new enlistees were amazed that I had my own car audio/performance business. I survived for a few months just on their sales! What a great NCO I am... =P hey, i was fair with the prices though

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

For mil sales - GSA, Military.com (go there and post discounts for your stuff in their discount section. mine are still in there from BuyXenon.com), base newspapers, etc are optimal for military conversions. Also, depending on which bases you advertise on, you could cater the advertisement to that base's demographics. Example: If you're advertising on Nellis AFB - "The home of the Fighter Pilot", you could cater the ads to high-performance gear, flight essentials, etc. If you're advertising at the training bases - Ft Benning, Hurlburt Field, Lackland AFB, you could cater more of the 'essentials' like boots, cheaper uniform items, spec ops stuff (some kids like to 'look' cool, and others actually need it, ie TACP, PJ's, Rangers, etc).

My 2 coins. lol, i could go on and on and on about advertising for mil stuff/demo's.

Jay,

What I basically did was....I took the top leading military-known companys, and I picked them apart, and tried to find things that they do, that I could do differently......or, that they don't do at all......

MySpace was one, of several things, that I kept arriving back at......the time spent there is moreso to develop a 'presence' and get the Duffle-Bag Depot name and brand 'out there'.......fortunately, it kinda rolls of your toungue, and the 'duffle-bag' is synonymous with all service branches, dating as far back as the establishment of our first national militia......

Fortunately, I started a group on Facebook that has become incredibly viral to the tune of almost 200,000 members.....and, that's been a great place to promote it, as well.....

[x3xsolxdierx3x]

Now stores like RangerJoes and USCav have the benefit of having brick and mortar stores, as well, that have been in operation for quite some time......but, their pricing can be on the expensive side.....It's been a monumental task, but, Iv'e been going item by item (of thousands) and keeping a spreadsheet of current pricing for competitors, as well........it taks ALOT of work.....but, ultimately, I do want to make sure the pricing is set below all of there's....store wide......

[Fanatik]

hey if it works, i ain't knockin' it. again, you have certain demo's that it'll work with. just don't put all, or 1/4 of your eggs in one basket is all. if you have 200,000 of those in the group, imagine the damage you could do with 1.2million active duty and reserve military members

a HUUUUUUUGE story that came out here at Hanscom... there is a place in Maine that sells "official" Air Force Mil uniforms. You know, we just got the new digital tiger-stripe, and ONLY aafes carries them. Well, this company in Maine claimed to have permission (which they didnt), and took tons of orders. Come to find out, they ran out of supply, and some of the people here on base have waited OVER 8 MONTHS for their orders. When they call, they can't get someone to talk to them. They visit the actual store, and they're put off with 'you'll have to wait, the money is paid, it's not coming back to you'. Worst part??? VETERAN OWNED BUSINESS!!! Now, this has happened to E-9's and some officers. So, I'm sure the sh*t will hit the fan... but don't do what they did, and I'm sure you'll be ok hehe.