To promote their movies, more companies are relying on their “friends” (as the more than 150 million MySpace members worldwide are called) to spread the word. By building a page on the online social networking site, the studios can build word of mouth for upcoming films and connect with their target audience.

Recently, third-party exit polls for one such venture indicated that 51 percent of theatergoers heard about the movie from the MySpace page.

Successful marketing requires finding where the prospects are and bringing the message to them, and the proliferation of new online congregation spaces has created new opportunities – and new challenges – when it comes to getting the message out. The creators of these spaces know this, and many go to great lengths to assist marketers in their quest.

But for every successful example of reaching out to these online spaces, there are dozens of efforts that come off as half-hearted, misguided, or even outright offensive to the sensibilities of the online denizens in question – because the new media don’t behave like the old. They are much more organic and self-regulating and place users in charge of their own experience. Marketers who hope to tap into these communities may need to reconsider their approach to talking to consumers.

Social media for grown-ups

Many marketers would give their eyeteeth to get their brand and message in front of Netizens age 25 and under – the ones weaned on cell phones and the Internet, technologically savvy and addicted to their gadgets. But the new media are not just for those targeting the youthful MySpace crowd.

Gather.com, for example, features a similar social net-working platform to that of MySpace with added-value con-tent on top. Gather.com is aimed at 30- to 60-year-olds, a seemingly odd demographic for an online networking site.

Not so, says Carl Rosendorf, president and COO of Boston-based Gather. “It’s a very engaged and informed group,” he says. Nearly 80 percent of the current 175,000 members have a minimum four-year education and higher than average disposable income. Rosendorf is quick to point out this number does not represent the full spectrum of people who hang out on Gather.com, since one does not need to be a member to access the content.

Like MySpace, Gather offers a rich array of “partnership” opportunities for advertisers. Starbucks, for example, created a Gather space to showcase its featured author Mitch Albom and his latest book, For One More Day. “Starbucks was looking for a social media platform giving Mitch the opportunity to be engaged with consumers,” says Rosendorf. “People could ask him questions online. People were posting pictures from book signings. It was very powerful.”

Specialty gift retailer Brookstone tried a few different types of promotions on Gather this past holiday season, and Steve Strickland, senior vice president of marketing, says early results – click-through rates and such – look positive. In addition to banner ads, Brookstone sought feedback on new products it plans to launch (such as a massage chair) from community members. The Gather members gave honest answers about the Brookstone brand and its products, says Strickland, who sees interacting with consumers via social networking sites “part of the future of marketing.”

Marketers like Strickland are also learning, though, that in return for intimate contact, you have to give up some control. The Internet is still the Wild West for many reasons, and social network members are largely free to post what they want, when they want (short of threats or illegal behavior).

When users create the content, whether it’s writing articles on Gather.com, creating personal pages on MySpace, or uploading video onto YouTube, expect the unexpected. Marketers know this – or they learn it very quickly – according to Rosendorf, and for the most part, everyone comes out the better for the interaction: The people who visit such corporate sites almost universally already like the brand, and even if they don’t, marketers can learn how people perceive their brands.

Marketing to this new breed of user community requires a much more subtle approach than many marketers may be used to. “You can’t just plaster your brand all over the place,” says Suzie Reider, chief marketing officer for YouTube Inc., in San Bruno, Calif. “You can’t get between the consumer and what they’re trying to do on the site.”

What they do value is specialized content they can’t get anywhere else, such as high-definition versions of videos. “Marketers can bring exclusive content to these sites. The users go crazy over that,” says Reider.

Reider strongly recommends “sidling up to the community” (spending time on the site you’re targeting to get a feel for what it’s all about) before leaping in. Once you do, you should be able to figure out what sort of content or interactive opportunity will excite the community members.