After you set up your MySpace account, you need to find friends in your niche to market to. The good news is that you can easily locate your target market. All you have to do is to your account and click Groups on your MySpace toolbar. You'll see 34 main categories listed, and tens of thousands of groups in each category.



You can either click on the category that best describes your niche, or you can type a keyword into the search box below the category listings. If, for instance, your niche is fitness, type "fitness" into the search box. Then all the groups related to your topic are displayed.

Pick a group to meet friends in and click. The people you see in this group are your potential customers! They've already shown an interest in your area of expertise by joining this group, so you know this is your target market. You could then click on each person in the group and individually invite them to be your friend. Once they approve you, you have the opportunity to comment on their space and lead them to your website.

OR you could invest a small amount of money and invite hundreds of friends in the time it takes you to invite one. What I'm talking about is "friend management software" designed for the purpose of enhancing your marketing capability with MySpace. Without this type of software, driving traffic to your site with MySpace is going to be a slow and difficult process.

Some of the programs available for you to choose from are Friend Adder, Friend Laser and MySpace Friend Bomber. The programs range in price from $19.95 to $49, so you'll need to choose the program that's right for you based on your budget.

When choosing a program, you need to make sure it can do two things for you: send friend requests and send comments. That's it. Those are the fundamental aspects of this marketing tactic, so remain focused on the basics when deciding which program to purchase.

Also, some programs allow you use multiple MySpace accounts while others charge separate activation fees for each account. So keep that in mind as well when deciding what "bot" to buy. Regardless of which friend management program you use, the basic process for inviting friends remains the same:

First, write several Friend Request messages. Compose at least five catchy subject lines that relate to the particular group you are targeting. Write at least five brief one or two sentence messages requesting users to add you as a friend. Remember, the goal is to build relationships, so write messages that comes across as personable. Then test and track your subject lines and message content to determine which copy results in the most accepted friend requests.

Second, limit your friend requests to 350 per day per profile. Currently, the maximum number of requests MySpace allows for each account is 400. By remaining under the max, your accounts shouldn't be flagged by the MySpace traffic patrol as spam.

Third, target the largest groups in your niche first, then work your way down to the smaller groups. Keep a spreadsheet of the groups you have ksent friend requests to in order to prevent you from sending repeat requests. And make requesting friends a daily habit.

Be patient while waiting for friends to accept and add you as a friend to their space. It's going to take time for them to get your requests, then decide whether or not to authorize you.

And don't take rejection personally. Not everyone is going to authorize you, but that's okay. It's not about authorization or rejection; it's about sifting the good prospects from the bad. A good prospect will add you as a friend; a bad prospect will not.

Besides, the numbers are on your side. With 10 profiles at 350 requests each, you are actually sending 3,500 requests a day. A good response rate (which depends on the quality of your picture first and your message second) gets you 250 friends for every 350 you request, so you have the potential to gain 2,500 friends each day. After just one week, you could potentially have over 17,000 friends!