5 Second Life Marketing Pitfalls, and How to Avoid Them

There's been an enormous rush recently of companies bulldozing into the virtual 3D world of Second Life. Many of these corporate efforts seem to be of the "Get Me One Of Those!" variety. In my short time as an SL resident, I've noted quite a bit about what's working and what's not, as well as made a lot of educated guesses as to what could work. Below are what I consider to be the 5 biggest pitfalls for businesses coming inworld, and some thoughts on how best to avoid them.

1. Replicate your real life business

Simply replicating what your company does in real life shows an amazing lack of imagination and more often than not, is just pointless. The normal rules of physics, and business do not apply in Second Life, and nor should they. Companies need to let their hair down, let their imaginations run wild, and create memorable, remarkable experiences that residents will want to show to their friends, not lifeless copies of the stuff we know already.

2. Build it, and they will come

This almost never works in real life, so why would it work in Second Life? If you're building a virtual presence, whatever that may be, and you want people to come to you, you need to promote! Creating events like this is one good way to do that. Others might include giving away imaginative, useful freebies, holding discussion groups, organizing community events and participating in  related events. There's a lot you can do, but sitting around waiting for hordes of people to descend on your SL presense is not going to work past the curiosity phase.

3. Forget to staff your business

Amazing as it may seem, many real life companies with a stake in Second Life have no one there to help the people that do bother to come and see them. Though comparisons to real life are limited, this one is not. You'd not build a business in real life and leave it empty would you? SL is about people, it's a social space, an interactive space, and a space that demands human contact. Real estate firm Coldwell Banker provide both a good example of an exception to point #1 above, and an demonstration of how to provide real human help inworld.

4. Fail to protect your investment

Lots of fairly harmless but embarrassing vandalism has occured to companies and organizatins in SL, but it's easily avoided. Before opening, just check with whoever's doing the work for you that they've taken precaution against "griefers". Who wants their virtual offices literally shat on?

5. Make Assumptions about the Second Life community

Making assumptions of any kind in marketing is an iffy business at best, but in Second Life, where the culture is still defining itself, has multiple levels of subculture and at the extreme can be pretty whacky, it's sheer folly to assume you know what will work. Here's a thought: Instead of guessing, or having some "expert" tell you, or instead of just assuming it'll be the same as in real life, why not talk to the residents? Seems an obvious one doesn't it? I'd bet a great many companies do not do this prior to entering the Metaverse though...

Have more?

Go ahead and share your experiences and thoughts on this. It's not a comprehensive list, just some loose observations and if anyone want's to fill in the blanks that'd be great!