1. Advertised on other social networks
In our experience, advertising products on social networks has not been very successful. People don't want to be pitched to while they're being social. Do you want someone selling to you at a nightclub? The same goes for a social network -- except when you're selling another social network. We found targeted advertising on Facebook and other social networking sites to be very successful. If people were in a social networking frame of mind to begin with and admitted their passion for Broadway on their profile, they were easily converted to our niche network.
2. Established BroadwaySpace as an approved authority
Everyone from JetBlue to Procter & Gamble is on social networks these days, and most of them link from their main sites to Facebook, MySpace, etc., legitimizing the site to the consumer.
The same is true for Broadway shows. Most of them were linking to their pages on the other social networking sites. We contacted all of the shows and offered them free advertising in exchange for a link on the site next to their links for Facebook, etc. In addition to legitimizing our site, it also provided us with a steady stream of the most qualified traffic imaginable. In addition, the shows were sending people to a boutique (a niche network) instead of a department store (a non-niche). The show benefits from sending their user to a site where their product is more likely to be discussed, and therefore where their user is more likely to receive multiple impressions (and also where they can actually purchase the product).
3. Let them rub shoulders with the elite
When Justin Timberlake goes to a nightclub, there's a line around the block at the club for months. We extended the nightclub analogy again with a concerted effort to convince the JTs of the Broadway world to join our site and become active members. For the first time, fans could e-meet, friend, and message some of their favorite Broadway stars. Many of these individuals didn't even have central fan sites. On BroadwaySpace, we were able to provide a common meeting place for all of their fans from the distant corners of the web. BroadwaySpace has more than 20 of Broadway's biggest stars, including Adam Pascal, Kristin Chenoweth, and Idina Menzel, as its members, and thousands of their fans have followed.
By building this network of the taste-makers and taste-talkers of Broadway, we have been able to sell media to advertisers looking to reach the core Broadway audience. Thanks to the low overhead costs of running a Ning network and because so much of the content on the site is user generated, we are able to keep the costs of the media down, which is very attractive in these difficult times.
What we would have done differently
There's nothing more important than the name of a product. In the case of BroadwaySpace, we chose the less-confident route of selecting a derivative of a popular network at the time. Obviously the brand of that network has changed significantly since our birth, and we will be forever tethered to that brand. When choosing a social network name, we now encourage creators to develop a name that is as unique as your network. No two niches are alike, and no two names should be alike either.
It is amazing to think that social networking is less than five years old, as it is now such a major part of so many people's lives. There is no doubt that social networking will be around for the next five years and beyond. However, if there is one thing that we have learned from the past five years and the Friendsters and MySpaces that the web has left behind, it is that there is always something new. It is my prediction that the next network will not be one network -- it will be niches.
In fact, I'm sure someone will create a Tupperware social network soon enough.
Ken Davenport is founder of Davenport Theatrical Enterprises.
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