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Add to FavoritesAs the producer of a non-proft music festival, I can say from my experience that MySpace is a nice addition to our outreach efforts, but it falls far short of the hype about what it can do to promote music, musicians, and music venues. It's a complement to more traditional marketing and outreach, rather than a revolutionary form of publicity. My lessons probably have relevance for almost any type of nonprofit organization that is trying to spread its message, sponsor events, or raise funds.
First, a quick overview for the uninitiated. MySpace is a free web service that is especially useful for musicians because it allows for posting of music or music clips, blogging, and the entire "friending" system that has become so familiar through Facebook. It's seen as an easy way to introduce music to a wide range of potential fans. Bands can post photos, list upcoming tour dates, link with bands they like (or that sound like them), and so on. It's a way to build an online fan base and reach out to current and prospective fans. Those same principles can be used for any nonprofit that posts messages about its activities, photos from its events or of the people it helps, and pleas for donations.
So far, that sounds pretty good. Also, MySpace certainly delivers in terms of ease of use and functionality. Posting songs or photos or blogs are simple endeavors. The sound quality and speed of downloading of songs are fine, too.
So why does MySpace fall short of expectations? First, it's very time-consuming to post new information on the site. As many would-be bloggers have learned, it's hard to come up with things to say, and to say them well, on a consistent basis. It's not very exciting for a band to say, "Hey, we played a gig in Cleveland last night, and it was great. We're driving to Dayton tonight for another gig. And then it's Akron on Friday." Those messages will hardly draw a wide readership for very long.
Perhaps for a nonprofit organization with a big staff, it's easier to produce interesting messages every few days. But I've found that it's the rare person or organization that can really achieve a critical mass of interesting messages to a broad audience.
Second, MySpace doesn't generate the traffic that Facebook attracts. Our music festival has both Facebook and MySpace accounts, and the Facebook one is about 8 times as large (and it's been around for about a year less). MySpace visitors seem to enjoy listening to the free songs that are posted online, but it's a one-way street. Unlike Facebook, where people can write about themselves - and thus get very involved in the site - on MySpace, the messages from visitors are cursory and rare. It just doesn't generate the same level of intensity as does Facebook. And for a music festival that's trying to build an audience or any nonprofit that's trying to generate memberships and donations, intensity is what's needed.
Third, MySpace does not have a financial transaction function. In other words, you can't collect money through MySpace. So if you are running a nonprofit, you can't get donations directly. If you are a band, you can't sell your music or your t-shirts. If you are running an event, you can't sell tickets. In every case, you have to direct people off your MySpace site to a merchant site. And you lose a lot of people when you ask them to make that step.
In conclusion, I've found that the effort that goes into MySpace has diverted me or members of my Marketing Committee from doing something else. This is perhaps the biggest problem for any nonprofit that is relying on MySpace as a huge part of its marketing and outreach. There are simply better places to use scarce resources than to post short messages on MySpace and to seek to build a friends list.
Learn more about this author, B. B. James.
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Yes
Nonprofit organizations face many challenges, such as operating within its budget, attracting volunteers, or educating the general community about its mission and services. Nonprofit organizations often advertise in order to both educate the community about available services, and to attract those who are willing to support its goals. Unfortunately, money spent on advertising, is money that is not spent on its main goal: helping the community.
As any one who has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of a profit or non profit organization know, advertising is crucial to attracting clients and publicizing your organization. It is also difficult to target precisely where you should spend your advertising dollars. After all, you want to get the most bang for your buck. Conducting a poorly run advertising campaign that does not yield the desired results is painful, but it is even more painful for a nonprofit who decides to divert limited advertising funds from clients in need to advertsing that didn't deliver the way they had hoped. To remedy this situation, nonprofits must be especialy vigilant when shopping for advertising deals and leave no stone unturned.
In general, the main goal of advertising is to get the word out. A method of free advertising is word of mouth. It's an old method but still highly effective. This method can be brought into the 21st century by using social networking sites. By starting a free page on Myspace, Facebook, or Orkut, a nonprofit organization can establish a presence on the internet, link up with other nonprofits, recruit employees, recruit volunteers, and spread the word about all the great work they accomplish. If you look specifically at Myspace, it currently has over 200,000,000 members, allows geographic searches, and also has a networking function. It is becoming very common for politicians, musicians, and businesses to have a presence on Myspace. If they didn't perceive a benefit, do you think they would waste their time?
Even if you've read this far and you're still not convinced, you have to admit one thing: The price is right. When you're on a limited budget, every advertising avenue should be explored. Ignoring a powerful advertising medium that is 100% free is foolish. If you want to raise awareness of your organization, all methods should be explored, including social networking sites.
Learn more about this author, Damien Baldino.
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