MySpace Advertising: Free vs. Paid
June 14, 2007 by Kevin
Filed under Social Media
As I have stated before MySpace’s advertising prices are through the roof. I have heard about and received quotes all over the spectrum, some of the hard numbers I have, specifically a MySpace designed “featured profile”, start out at 75K. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “Why should I do things on my own virally, when I can just pay MySpace for advertising?”
In looking a little deeper into MySpace advertising rates I found some interesting numbers. Electronic Arts, the video game company, through their own studies found that through their MySpace Advertising, that 1.8 million MySpace users said they planned on buying a new Electronic Arts video game based on ads they saw on the social networking site. The cost for this was about $1.19 per user for the advertising costs, making the overall cost for those 1.8 million customers over 2 million dollars.
Conversely, 4.5 million people stated that they would be interested in buying games based on word of mouth from friends and the fact that they have been to the companies MySpace profile. These 4.5 million people did not see or notice the ads on MySpace, yet still had the same reaction. The cost of obtaining these users was quoted at .34 cents each, which would be around 1.5 million dollars.
While the advertising costs of having MySpace run an ad take the work out of EA’s hands, the second option, which was cheaper and much more successful was something they could do in house. MySpace’s advertising is largely ineffective, an in house viral campaign run by someone with an understanding of social networking can and will produce better results.
So before handing over money to pay for advertising, look at the costs and benefits of doing it on your own, or paying someone, at a lot cheaper rate, to do it for you.
Technorati Tags: myspace, advertising rates, DIY, social networking, advertising, promotion, Electronic Arts
Very interesting points. My own feeling is that there is a tremendous amount of opportunity for viral marketing offensives, and increasingly, users of social networking sites ae going to be asking questions about the value of their identities. You can read more about what I think on the subject at ww.clivebrooks.com I welcome a discussion and I’m pleased to have found someone else discussing these issues in such depth – keep up the good work!
I prefere free advertising
I currently am putting a marketing campaign together aimed at youth. Although Myspace is very popular among youth, it is ineffective at targeting a particular market especially geographically defined.
I find that advertising on social networks is highly ineffective.
Word of mouth is still and always the best way to go. If you offer quality products that actually add value to someone´s life, things will grow easier.
DS