Use MySpace to Promote Your Cause
MySpace (http://myspace.com) is the most popular social networking site on the web. Users each create and customize a personal page, add MySpace friends to a list on their page, and communicate with their network of friends through comments, blog posts, private messages, bulletin posts, and instant messaging.
MySpace has a whopping 100 million+ registered users and receives as many as one billion page views every day.
Internet savvy cause marketers and politicians assign staff or volunteer to interact with MySpace users. For instance, PETA's "Peta2" MySpace page (http://myspace.com/peta2) has over 125,000 "friends" receiving their daily bulletin messages. The Save Darfur MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/savedarfurcoalition) has 26,882 friends.
MySpace Friends
In order to reach a wide audience on MySpace, add as many (reasonable) people to your friends list as possible. MySpace users added to your friends list can be sent your bulletin posts and will be more likely to visit your page regularly.
However, keep in mind that friend quantity is not equal to friend quality. You want to find friends that are actually interested in your cause. Disinterested "friends" who have thousands of other people on their friends list will be unlikely to ever visit your page more than once.
You can find likeminded friends by browsing the friends lists of other likeminded organizations and inviting their friends to become your friends. For instance, if your organization is dedicated to animal rights, search for MySpace organizations about animal rights, animals, saving dolphins, big cat rescue, etc. Manually invite their friends to become your friends. As your friend list grows, interested people will notice you around MySpace and begin to send you friend invites.
In addition to inviting people to join your friends list, make yourself more visible by posting comments on your friend's pages. Not only do comments remind your friends to visit your page, they are also visible to your friend's friends. To save time, you may leave the same comment for all friends.
Another way to jump start your visibility on MySpace is to send a friend invite to the "Nonprofit Organizations MySpace Page" (http://myspace.com/nonprofitorganizations). Many other nonprofit groups are on this page's friends list, as well as people interested in making a difference. As soon as your friend invite is approved, submit a comment.
You can also improve your visibility by becoming a regular contributor in a MySpace Group. There are over 20,000 groups dedicated to non-profit and philanthropic causes. Many groups focus on a specific cause, others are open to general discussion of ways to make a difference. Well-targeted MySpace group members will be happy to hear about your organization's latest projects and will visit your website for relevant information. As you join the group discussions, interested users will invite you to become their friend.
MySpace Content
The more often your MySpace page is updated, the more frequently visitors will return. Every day, a volunteer or employee should respond to friend requests and write a blog post. Frequently, you should also send out a bulletin.
Add all of the important information from your website to your MySpace page. If you want users to watch an environmental movie, don't require them to visit your website for information about the movie – provide options by putting the information right on your MySpace page.
MySpace Viral Marketing
Include features that let MySpace users share your message with others. When you send out a bulletin, ask users to repost it to their own friends. Include HTML for banners that MySpace users may add to their pages. Care2's MySpace page offers users HTML for four different banners focused on helping the environment, signing petitions, stopping animal abuse, and simply visiting the organization's website. The Peta2 MySpace page gives users the HTML to add a PETA commercial to their pages.
