Social Networking Product Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Networking Product - Assignment Example However, there are some critics regarding child safety and social and cultural issues which require more attention and modification in the corporate policy. The aim of this section would be to help marketing managers at myspace.com to make their decisions based on marketing strategies and tactics. The main issues to have the Gap Analysis on are "Target Customers" and "Market Forecasts". MySpace is presently known as the world's sixth most popular English-language website and also the third popular website in the United States. Therefore it is needed to have a comparison between the first goals of MySpace comparing the current target customers. We need to know who uses MySpace now and who makes a benefit of it. Gap Analysis helps us to do this comparison and close the gaps using tactical approaches. MySpace influences the market too. People join this web site for free and they can get a personalized website for themselves trying to promote their products to millions of people whit out paying money to rent a domain or to pay a lot of cash to build a website. For example in music industry, "bands that have no money to invest in marketing can now expose their homemade sound to a pretty big demographic, the entire world. Bands can customize their site and update it with new music, tour dates, pictures, friends, and blogs about different topics." (Minor, 2007) There are also copyright issues caused by the users who place copyrighted content on the website and gain the access of the product to millions of people for free which needs Gap Analysis. Also the share of MySpace in the market can also be considered. Using market forecasts, we can have a review on future numbers, features and tendencies of the MySpace market and the influence on other markets. 2. Product Concept In Marketing Mix, "The major marketing management decisions can be classified in one of the following four categories: Product, Price, Place (distribution) and Promotion. The product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. In the case of physical products, it also refers to any services or conveniences that are part of the offering. Product decisions include aspects such as function, appearance, packaging, service, warranty, etc."(QuickMBA, 2007) MySpace is a service which functions as social networking website, providing the opportunity for people to get closer to each other, form communities and share the information of their interest. "Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and the probable pricing response of competitors. Pricing includes not only the list price, but also discounts, financing, and other options such as leasing." (QuickMBA, 2007) MySpace not only provides its services at no charge for consumers but it helps millions of people to promote their own product and services for free and helps them make a huge amount of money and this makes it very popular and growing. "Place (or placement) decisions are those associated with channels of distribution that serve as the