March 16, 2011 Maximize Your Dead Myspace Profile (For Artists)
Nearly every active band/artist/musician today has a profile on Myspace and they’ve spent years building up their friend count trying to impress labels and radio stations. Now it’s 2011, everyone has moved on to Facebook or Twitter and these acts are left with thousands of fan connections on a dead social network. What a waste. It doesn’t have to be this way! Here are some tips on how to make the most of your fan connections on Myspace.
Myspace is still a popular music destination. It’s high domain authority lets Myspace rank well for many search keywords, which means lots of targeted traffic to your profile. Visitors to this page are probably not a “fan” yet and it’s unlikely that many visitors will “friend” you. So, make sure you’re leading potential fans to where they will make a connection, whether its Facebook or your mailing list.
Myspace isn’t totally dead yet, it still has 28 million users a month according to Quantcast. You should spend a little time updating the few fans who still use it. Use a service likeping.fm or artistdata to save time if you must.
Part of any good digital strategy includes building multiple touch-points with each fan. This rule applies doubly on MySpace. Convert as many Myspace friends as possible to a more modern social network or your SMS list via blog posts, bulletins, and updates. If you’re not active on Myspace anymore, let the fans know where you are before it’s too late and you lose them forever.
Use a service like Flowtown to identify Myspace users on your mailing list. You can then send a targeted message to these fans letting them know which social networks you’re now most active on.
To summarize, it’s time to stop using Myspace as a social network, and instead use it as a one page introduction to you as an artist. Keep it clean and simple, and direct potential fans to where they can connect with you quickly and easily.
Reader Comments (4)
I spent a lot more time & energy than I should have promoting things on MySpace. Now that it's declined, I don't really see any music oriented social network rising in its wake (Facebook to me still is a bit crap for music) & even if it did who's to say what's worth it. I think going back to the old email newsletter is the way to go. Oh, & please stop spamming with Reverbnation, that is the worst thing MySpace has allowed (& they've allowed a lot of bad ideas).
If you don't have time to invest in a social network, then you shouldn't be there. Yes there is still some traffic there, but honestly that traffic has moved to YouTube. Teens are using music videos to discover all sorts of new music, and they use it like a social network. They comment, like and share.
Don't waste time with myspace (and don't sync it with any other service, the fans you might have there, you probably have somewhere else too, and seeing the double posts will turn them off), put that time and energy into YouTube, focus on the music end. Even the cheesiest video is important, because half the time they don't even watch the video - they turn it on for the music, and hop on FB chat.
Be smart with your time, and put your energy where it'll make the MOST impact. Contrary to what some are saying, it's really OK to NOT be everywhere. Be selective, and have a strong and valuable presence on those sites.
@Brian - yep definitely agree, owning the connection and not having a social network in between is best
@Phil - you're right, youtube is important, this article was written from the perspective of an artist who already has a myspace profile and fan connections on it, you certainly wouldn't want to just delete the profile and lose those fan connections....that said your point is valid
Awesome comments, guys. Artists need to be economical and strategic about what they do with social networks and how much time they spend on them. Social networking should enhance the relationships made with fans through writing and performing music (the real bread & butter of developing a lasting music career), instead of becoming a time-consuming drain.