myspacers

cameragirl21 wrote: anyone who's on myspace, please explain to me how it works. here's the thing--i am in the process of starting another company and this one will have a global presence as opposed to the more local focus i've had with my current business. i've been told repeatedly i need a myspace page for my business and i gave it some thought but never really took it beyond that.
what intrigued me was reading about a young British pop star wannabe who couldn't get her music to get noticed so she put a few demos on her myspace page and suddenly got a slew of downloads.
so how does this work--i imagine the downloads were free and the idea was to get people to want to hear more of her music, right? i mean, can you sell something on myspace?
also, how did people find her? if you're not looking for someone or something, how does it get to you on myspace? if no one had heard of this pop star wannabe then how did they find her myspace and thereby her music?
does adding more friends get you in front of more people...i imagine it does just because the more people you add, the more their other friends may see your page but beyond that, do you get higher on the totem pole or whatever for adding more people?
also, i want this for business only, this page is not meant to be about me other than a blurb about why i started this company, etc.
someone please explain to me why companies are going on myspace. i mean, obviously it's for networking but beyond that, how does one get a slew of downloads (figuratively speaking, i'm not going into the music business) on myspace?
also, do you build your own page and is it difficult? is it something i need to ask my graphic artist or hire someone for? i'm not good at web graphics at all and couldn't build a website with a gun to my head so that is why i'm asking how this works on myspace.
thanks.

luvmykids replied: I'm new to myspace so I don't really know how a company would benefit from it. I suppose people search categorically as well as by names, which would direct them to a particular business.

gr33n3y3z replied: I thought advertising a business on myspace wasnt allowed

check and make sure though the rules are there

I will build you one but I'm expensive

grapfruit replied: I think it has to do w/the friend adding feature. I used to (before I changed my settings) get requests ALL THE TIME from bands, dance places, all sorts of stuff. I don't think you can ADVERTISE per say, but you can always have a my space page. The worse they'll do is delete it for you if you're misusing the site. I'll add you as a friend.

OH, and it's REALLY easy to set one up. Doesn't take long either.

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied: I am not positive at all how it works for business use. But as for creating your own background and such, I just created my own and it was very simple. I found a great site that had really easy to follow directions. If you decide to do it let me know. I will add you as a freind and give you that link.

If you want to check out what I created, I will change my setting from Private to public for a few hours. My url is myspace.com/cyndi0107

grapfruit replied:
I'll do the same. I'm her "friend" (yeah right ) my "name" is "Super Fly Casey Ali" long dumb story there.

grapfruit replied: Ok, I looked, I'm number 5 on her "friends" list.

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied:
Yeah, but it was real funny.

holley79 replied: I am clueless on the myspace business advertisement part. I had a photographer email me though myspace about photographing Annika.

cameragirl21 replied: Cyndi, your myspace page is too cool, i love it! Casey, i haven't seen yours yet. way cool, seriously, i love the pic in the back but it's not good for business because it's a bit distracting but as a background for a private myspace page it's too cool.
so...if it's done for business, the question is, do you list your age, height, etc or any private details about yourself? i seriously want this just for business and networking, the focus is on the company, not on me.
idk if i will build it myself or hire someone to do it, i haven't thought that far ahead yet but i do think it's a cool idea.
i will definitely share my myspace page whenever i get it up, still working on a website and company logo so i'm feeling a little overwhelmed and by all of it.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Well share!



Reminds me of offspring... lol

cameragirl21 replied: Casey, i love yours too, i love the music, i wanted it on my photography website but the graphic artist who designed my webpage says they're not recommended in web design...i really wanted "Pictures of You" by The Cure!
anyway, my plan was not so much to advertise, per se, but major corporations these days are putting up myspace pages...fortune 500 companies so i figured i should give it some thought.
still curious how you get a ton of people to your page...is it really just about adding friends and the more you add the more you extend your network?
i rarely go to myspace, maybe i should venture over there more....

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied:
Thank you.
Yeah, My background wouldn't be good for business. The website I found allowed you to upload any jpeg you wanted to use for the background and then you picked the box (or lack of on my page) and text colors. You don't have to list anything you don't want to list.

The blurb below is from their terms and conditions. (reading it I don't know if you could do it or not.) What kind of business are you trying to promote?


April 11, 2007

Non-commercial Use by Members. The MySpace Services are for the personal use of Members only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by MySpace.com. Illegal and/or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of Members by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing of or linking to the MySpace Website is prohibited. Commercial advertisements, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation may be removed from Member profiles without notice and may result in termination of Membership privileges. Appropriate legal action will be taken for any illegal or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services.

cameragirl21 replied: interesting, but there are a lot of companies on myspace, some of them huge corporations. i think the difference is that you can't solicit business, as in, email people on myspace offering them products. i think putting your business info on there is acceptable...it must be anyway because many are doing it.
i'll have to give this one some more thought, i know someone who does business with myspace, bet he would know the answers to this.
so you got software to make your page or is the page self building?
hmmmm, this is all very new to me, i never thought i'd be on myspace and here i'm seriously considering it.
i do really like your page though, it's very cute.

luvmykids replied: As I said, I'm new to myspace so there are certainly things I don't know about...buy my page didn't require any software, there are tons of sites you can go to and pick your layout and all the boxes are automatically built in. If you want a more custom look there are also layout generators. You can also hire people to make your page if you want it fancy schmancy.

Anyone who wants to look at mine can, www.myspace.com/mmcnm. I usually have it on private but it's public right now because family wanted to see my pics.

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied:
I agree it is all very confusing. You can add all kinds of people as friends, from singers to actors and they all advertise themselves. That is their business. I bet you would be fine so long as you didn't start emailing everyone on their list. jk I know you don't want it for that.

All I did was go to http://www.myspacelayoutspy.com and under the Myspace Tools section on the left I clicked on the Layout Generator and then I had fun. It was all really simple (it has to be for me to do it).

Yeah, I never thought I would be on there either, until one night sitting at my house I was watching Casey and she talked me into it. Now I am addicted. Well kinda anyway.

If you decide to it is a really fast (so long as you know what you want it to kinda say) setup. I had mine done in 10-15 minutes. Let us know though.

cameragirl21 replied: Monica, I LOVE your myspace page...and wow, do your girls ever look just like you! i don't think i've ever seen your pic before, holy cow, your girls are definitely their mother's daughters.
and i gotta say--i never took you for an LL Cool J listener, i love that song!
i like your pics, you did a great job.
hmmm, now my head is spinning with the possibilities...it seems like maybe i could do this myself, i assumed i'd hire someone to do it because i always have someone doing the graphic design and web aspect of my business but *maybe* i can do this myself.
i'm glad i asked, this all piqued my interest in a huge way.

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied:
I like your background.

luvmykids replied: Thanks I do love LL Cool J, and it suprises just about everyone

But myspace IS addictive, I never thought I'd bother with it but now I catch myself on there all hours of the night

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied: So you never said what kind of business. Is it something you can share with us?


I really think you could do it on your own. It would save you some money on the graphic designer anyway.

Crystalina replied: I've seen alot of businesses on MySpace. I'm not sure if it's allowed or not but they are on there.

Here is mine: myspace.com/crystal810

Anthony275 replied: they're allowed to be on there

Kentuckychick replied: I'm a little bit late responding to this today. I wanted to respond this morning but had to leave to babysit right after I first saw it and had forgotten until now.

I think it would be a great idea to use myspace as one means of 'advertising' you business. Are you going to be using it for photography? I think you could definitely make a neat page for that with all of the photo options available.

And I think the only problem you would encounter through myspace would be if you were to start badgering other users for business (which we all know you wouldn't do) so there shouldn't be a problem. Unless someone contacts myspace about abuse nothing would be likely to happen anyway (it's amazing some of the stuff that goes on!) You are allowed to post photos from your business and advertise on your site and it can be spread through word of mouth and friends lists and such. I'd definitely be willing to add you, I love your photography!

One example I have here is a family I babysit for. He is a country musician and he uses myspace as one way to get his music out. He has a link on myspace that allows users to purchase the CD from his page but of course he never sends out anything about that unless you're added to his email address log. At one point he actually had his home address (also his business address) and cell phone number on there but as the site got more popular he pulled those off. It's been pretty neat to watch his site grow and become more popular. He does have some security features set up now. If you want to take a look at what he's done to promote his "business" he's #11 in my top friends, it's "Trey"

my myspace address is http://www.myspace.com/kentuckychickrk and I've marked it public for now.

Good luck!

cameragirl21 replied: Rachel, I can't see your myspace because by the time I read this you already set it back to private.
And Cyndi, my new biz is not a secret per se, I'm just uneasy about saying too much about it till it's out there and ready to go, I guess I'm a little superstitious that way.
As soon as the myspace page is ready, I'll share it and then the secret will be out!
Thanks for the info about myspace, everyone, I did some research, well, my ga did anyway and it is legal to have a myspace business page so I'm good to go.
a little nervous for some reason but otherwise good to go.
ETA--Monica, I really liked your spinning pictures...where can I get that template? thanks.

Kentuckychick replied:
Sorry about that... I had it set to allowing on users over 18... I think that was messing up the whole thing for some reason. I set it to public now.

Good luck with your business though! Let us know when it's up and running and we'll definitely help you spread the word

luvmykids replied: Jennifer, I got that at www.slide.com. They have a lot of cool templates