Movies and MySpace: The Effectiveness of Official Web Sites versus Online Promotional Contests

Few studies have examined the effects of Internet promotions within social networking sites. This study uses a comparison of online survey results from an official movie site and a movie contest promotion within a MySpace site to examine the effectiveness of the two online promotional tactics. Results indicate that overall the official Web site was more effective than the MySpace promotional page at increasing intent to see the movie. However, on the basis of the findings, the authors believe the most effective campaign would use both an official Web site and a social networking site. This study suggests additional research to explore the effectiveness of advertising messages on social network platforms and understand how users interact and respond to messages within these social communities.