Winning Online

I learned something new about Facebook today.

We were brainstorming about creating a mascot for a potential client and setting up Facebook/MySpace profiles for the mascot. But then the conversation turned to how difficult it is to create a persona for a mascot that really connects with the audience. If you don’t make that connection, the audience will ignore you – if you’re lucky. If you’re not lucky, you could end up being mocked on your industry’s blogs until the next stupid campaign comes along!

Later in the day, I stumbled across this story on Portfolio.com about a Facebook profile for Stan D’Arde, a character invented to represent Standard Hotels. Stan has a blog and he had a fake profile, which Facebook has taken down under its Terms of Use.

It turns out that Facebook Profiles are for real people only. Companies can only create a Facebook Page, which clearly indicates that it represents a company.

A quick check of MySpace’s Terms and Conditions finds that “direct commercial endeavors may only be used if they are specifically endorsed or authorized by MySpace.”

This is important stuff if you’re creating any kind of online marketing campaign. Some clients are so reluctant to try new things online. You can’t be sure that a campaign will resonate with your audience, but you can at least make sure you’re playing by the rules.