In previous posts, I’ve discussed some online Street Team marketing basics. In this post, I’ll throw out some more ideas on how it can be used as both a branding tool and a sales driver. Some of the suggestions below will not apply to all business types, and some of them may be too complex on the technical/programming side. However, I have successfully used all of these before with clients, so rest assured they do work.

1. Customer affiliate program - give your customers a % of sales when they refer friends and family.
2. Promo packs - Send out your dedicated street team members packs of stickers, flyers, coupons, etc.
3. Free PC Wallpapers - Great branding tool for the home or office
4. Screensavers - Great branding tool for the home or office
5. Printable flyers - Great for getting the word out in the community
6. Avatars - Used extensively with IM applciations such as MSN and Yahoo
7. AOL Buddy icons - Smaller than an Avatar, these are very popular with younger crowds
8. Myspace backgrounds - What can be better than your brand plastered on hundreds of myspace profiles?
9. Mysapce layouts - Even better than just a background, this will change the appearance of their whole color and layout scheme
10. Copy and paste HTML banners - Perfect for people to use on the myspace profiles, blogs, facebook profiles, etc.

I’ll admit it. I finally broke down and created a Myspace and Facebook account. Why? In this post, I share my thoughts on why every business needs a presence on social networking sites. 

1. Brand control: A company I work for recently had a unique problem. Their brand was so popular among the demographic that uses Myspace that well meaning customers were creating profiles that appeared to be the Official myspace of the company. Customers were taking company logos and images off the company website, and pasting them on their myspace profiles. Obviously, this was a problem. Several of the myspace profiles contained content that the company did not approve of, and did not want associated with the brand. In their case, they needed an Official myspace presence in order to prevent this confusion.
2. Your Customers Will Look There: Because these sites are insanely popular, people will likely search for your company or brand name. By adding you as a friend, they feel they are participating or becoming part of your community.
3. They Are Great Communication Channels: When you allow your customers to add themselves as friends, you then have the ability to post bulletins to them. These bullentins can be a great way to share company news or even marketing messages.
4. Claim Your Real Estate: Just as .com domains are becoming rare, myspace domains are also disappearing fast. You might be surprised to find that your company or brand name is already taken. If this is the case, you might want to prefix your myspace page with something like myspace.com/OfficialYourCompanyName.

I haven’t used my myspace or facebook for much yet, but I’d love to hear how anyone else uses there profiles to promote their business. Be sure to leave comment if you have any ideas.