Your Brand on Myspace

While Jim and I may disagree on the viability of myspace, the web’s hot property (which now even has its own independently developed toolbar) remains a giant unknown or avoidance for most online marketers. However, there is one feature on myspace that everyone involved with their brand should be aware of: the Myspace URL feature.

The Myspace URL feature is the ability for a user to set their URL address permanently so that browsers can surf for myspace.com/URL. What does that mean for some of today’s biggest brands? Here’s a rough sampling (please note the contents of these pages are likely innappropriate for a workplace environment or those uncomfortable with foul language or other lewd content… In reality, those things are exactly the reason I’m posting this…)

www.myspace.com/google yields a picture of some guy with Fabio.
www.myspace.com/nissan gets us an ugly green page with some pretty crude language.
www.myspace.com/nextel is more crude language and racy images.
www.myspace.com/walmart is the homepage for a young woman, not the world’s largest retailer.
www.myspace.com/foxnews ironically (considering who owns myspace) is a Fox News satire page.

Overall, I’m not trying to say that every brand should have a myspace presence. But, considering this website continues to grow, I cannot believe that these myspace “URL’s” will not be somewhere people will expect to find your brand. Furthermore, once someone sets their “URL”, it cannot be changed by any user tools. If anything, it would have to be done by myspace corporate (I’m not even sure they would accommodate a trademark holder’s request for the name, but have no evidence suggesting one way or the other).

I suggest that if you are interested in developing a new brand name, in addition to getting your .com domain, you also create your myspace.com/mynewbrand. Worst case scenario, it just sits there and nobody else can claim that name. Best case scenario, you’ll be able to use the power of social networking to amplify your brand and create a better relationship with your customers.

Additional Note: Through trying out some 3 dozen brand names, not once did I actually find the company whose brand name I was seeking.