MySpace sells small businesses on self-service ads

New Corp’s MySpace allows small businesses and individuals to create their ads targeted to its 76 million members starting today.

MyAds, the self-service advertising service launched by MySpace, targets small businesses as they allow them to create and expose their own advertisements without burning a hole in their pockets. This service releases its “beta” version for a public test today after testing it for three months by 3,400 clients.

"If I'm a small business, I can't afford to hire an ad agency to do my creative. I can't afford to hire a graphic designer. I can't afford to hire a media buyer," Chris DeWolfe, MySpace chief executive stated in an interview.

A model customer of the service is Bacon Salt – a product that claims it can turn anything to taste like bacon. According to Arnie-Gullov Singh, an executive at Fox Interactive Media, this product’s traffic went up to 200% overnight with the use of MyAds.

The MyAds service is free to set up but has a minimum of $25 charge for campaigns which can go up to as high as $10,000. The fee that the advertisers will pay will depend on the number of clicks their ads get. Their ad will either be a 728x90 or a 300x250 banner ad. This will continue to be displayed until the campaign expires or had reached the advertiser’s spending limit.

MyAds uses the “Hypertarget” technology which means that advertisers can choose which audience they would want to expose their ads to. They can match their ads to specific users based on their profile helping them get a positive response.

Another good thing MyAds has for advertisers is that it will not require them to be account holders or users of MySpace in order to place their ad on the site. This service will allow the advertisers to lead users to other sites outside of MySpace.

Jeff Berman, MySpace president of sales and marketing, said "We are working with virtually every one of the top 100 brands in the country now. So the concerns that advertisers previously had being in the space have largely been addressed. We are going up against major portals and Yahoo for major integrated branded ad campaigns, and winning. I think that is the best proof that there is of where we stand with advertisers."

Source:themoneytimes.com