In-world products and services
Because Second Life is a social environment, most success is viral: Residents buy, find or experience something that someone else admires, and word of mouth begins to spread. So how can marketing become viral in Second Life? In a nutshell, companies must provide applicable value within the virtual world.
For example, Reebok identified a match between its real-life customers and Second Life avatars: They all love to create custom looks. So the in-world Reebok store enables visitors to create custom virtual shoes -- just as they can on the Reebok website for real shoes. Coldwell Banker similarly provides something useful that relates to its brand: Visitors can rent or buy virtual land through Coldwell Banker's office.
A few telecom companies have found their own niches. Vivox has placed virtual phone booths in various places within Second Life, where users can make free VoIP calls to real phones. Vodafone's new service, InsideOut, is a heads-up display that enables avatars to send and receive texts and voice calls in and out of Second Life. These services fill real needs and thus expose the brands to potential real-world customers.
Crowne Plaza also extends services into Second Life, in this case by providing free virtual space for anyone to host meetings. Finally, Aveda decided to partner with a respected independent designer in Second Life to create co-branded Aveda hair styles that avatars can buy from the designer's store or from Aveda's location.
The lessons? Companies that find ways to fulfill real-world needs are much more likely to succeed in Second Life. Companies that find ways to enrich a resident's virtual experience will stand out as particularly trend-savvy. Overall, companies that distribute useful products and services are much more likely to go viral and market successfully.
The ROI of Second Life?
There's no quick and easy way to be successful in Second Life. As in many new marketing channels, the ROI of Second Life is far less than a science. The number of active users is relatively small; useful metrics are difficult or impossible to track; the path to success is a moving target and traditional rules of online marketing don't always work in the metaverse.
In Gartner's hype curve, Second Life has passed the Peak of Inflated Expectation and now lingers in the Trough of Disillusionment. This is the additional challenge with finding success in Second Life or any other virtual world: After the initial frenzy is over, realism sets in and the real work begins.
How do you find success in Second Life? Immerse yourself in Second Life culture and identify your customer base. Find an unmet need that supports the philosophy and cachet of your brand. Finally, create dedication both inside and outside Second Life to invest in the long term.
Steve Mulder is director of emerging interactions at Molecular. Read full bio.
Rebecca Tapley is a consultant, builder and real estate developer in Second Life, and the author of "Designing Your Second Life." Read full bio.