SoKy Local Business or "SoKybiz"

The title of this post comes from a recent article I read from the online version of the New York Times (here). The article is interesting in and of itself because it addresses the potential demise of the ever popular MySpace (Link) website. It is further interest to me because if you've read my blog in the past, you know that I'm a branding aficionado and have a keen interest in the theories, practices and methods of effective branding. So this all will tie together now right? Well, I'll do my best.

MySpace: If you've spent anytime online, reading the newspaper, watching broadcast news or even near a radio, then you have heard about MySpace. In a nutshell, it is a website where people, mostly younger people, can sign up for free and post personal information about themselves and share it with each other. What makes it so popular is the ways you can find people in your local area, with similar interests or that you want to be friends with and add them to your own "friends" group. Once added, you can send messages, blogs, comments, pictures etc. to that specific group. Young adults are loving it as it provides a virtual 3rd space to socialize and meet new people.

I recently posted my opinions about how MySpace can be used for small business on SmallBusinessTrends.com where I expressed my thoughts that MySpace can be used effectively. It was accurately pointed out that I am at an unfair advantage because of my understanding of the internet or as Anita said, "I suspect most don’t have the same patience you do to learn how to wade through a site that big." Flattered, but corrected at the same time.

In my "research" I also found that there are some severe technical issues, format barriers and imposed limitations at the site. I've found that user helps or descriptions of various features are either not helpful or non-existent. They experience outages frequently and yes, there is a good amount of "riff raff" slithering around looking for you to visit their porn web cam sites or other less than scrupulous offers. I discovered that Anita was right in that customization and networking on MySpace takes a great amount of time, effort and the learning curve is exorbitant.

I have been watching the headlines regarding MySpace looking for indications of its improvement, changes in business models or anything that might indicate an expansion from what was a popular hobby (which sold for millions of dollars), to a safe and effective "social networking" application. I've seen no indication of improvement and even the official announcements from its founders remain unprofessional at best. "Yes we know there is a problem and we are working on it." Or my favorite, "Don't believe what that are saying, I'm not dead."

I could write several more paragraphs here about what is needed to improve MySpace, how to improve it functionally (including the scripts), and ways to capture more revenue from it. I will refrain for a number of reasons. (grin)

Dan Mitchell or his editor chose the title: "MySpace No Longer Their Space?" And the subtitle, "BRANDS, for teenagers, are fleeting things." Which brings me to my next point, branding, or perhaps better said would be commitment to the brand.

While the article cites MySpace is becoming too mainstream, rumors about it's demise, technical difficulties and potential predators as some of the possible causes for the downturn in popularity, I think the perception that MySpace is losing ground in the teen online popularity contest is overall marketing. To understand how I can say this, you should first understand that my concept of marketing goes much deeper that simple graphics, tag lines and advertising, marketing is public relations, customer service, product innovation, as well as the afore mentioned.

If you use my marketing spotlight, we can look at MySpace and see that they have not introduced any really cool new features in a year. They have done little to solve some of the chronic technical difficulties. They continue to communicate in an unprofessional way to its members. Have not countered the bad press about predators or promoted new features to highlight safety. They are resting on their past success and the hope that the youth will continue to invite friends to join. They don't appear to have looked at expanding markets. The list is long, but my point is, they are resting on their laurels or so it appears to me.

In my opinion, they should look at the features members are using most and expand on them. Give their members a reason to invite their friends BACK to MySpace or to at least visit their profile. Example? Photo posting subscription feature. Allow friends to receive a bulletin or email when one of their friends posts a new picture. This will not only add the new feature, but bring more and more people back to look at the pictures and... yes the advertising. Many more notification or subscription features could be implemented.

So what could be the problem? I have no way of knowing for sure but I'm thinking the founders are on vacation and the new owners have no idea what needs to be done. Frankly, the new owners know what needs to be done in a news context, they simply need to apply some of those rules and ideas to MySpace and start treating it like the profit center it can be.

In context for small business, we should look at our businesses all the time. With MySpace, they do have a fickle audience with high expectations and short attention spans. What are some of the psychographic features of your target customer/market? Are they highly educated professionals with little time but lots of resources? Or are they blue collar factory workers who have limited resources and need escape? Seriously, looking at what motivates your target customer is almost as important as knowing who they are.

If changes aren't made at MySpace, someone will happily come in and gobble up that market. Think of it, they at 14-25 year olds who will be spending money for a very long time. Creating brand loyalty now will pay off for 100 years. The same can be said for our small businesses, if we don't continue to innovate, communicate and service our customers, someone will happily take them away from us. What are we doing to maintain the loyalty of our existing customers as well as use those efforts to bring in new ones? Questions, I always have questions.

I think I've hit all the keywords and tied it all together. I hope it at least provided food for thought. Here are some more relevant links that were offered on the New York Times online article.

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This was posted by SoKy : 2:15 PM