Virtual World Marketing
Thinking a lot about marketing in virtual worlds lately. Not just Second Life but across the board. The evolution of this space is happening and there is more going on in the dark corners and back rooms that we don’t know about just yet. Trust me that the real fun stuff is still to come!
I’m still formulating my thoughts completely as there is plenty out there to think about. It feels like Second Life is the current whipping boy of the press right now. Makes sense because there is always a backlash after a round of praise so that is where we are at.
All I know is that if you or your company are thinking about doing anything in any virtual world that you really think about how you are going to measure success and then shape everything towards that. If all you care about is number of visits then perhaps a virtual world strategy is not the right on for you. If you are interested in length of engagement or looking for another piece to a bigger effort then perhaps they are.
No one has all the answers. We are all figuring it out as we go along.
There are tons of worlds out there. New ones are appearing almost as often as new social networks. And I would argue that all virtual worlds should be viewed as social networks as well.
Lots to think about. Lots on my mind. Maybe I’ll record a Managing the Gray about this once I get my head all wrapped around it. Not sure.
August 1st, 2007 at 7:59 am |
Keep wrapping your head around this- can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
August 1st, 2007 at 8:01 am |
Looking forward to hearing your mind on this one then CC, not that there are hard and fast answers, I’m sure.
August 1st, 2007 at 8:03 am |
and I should mention that my good buddy Chris is what nudged me to think even harder this morning
http://marketingconversation.com/2007/08/01/second-life-marketing-has-only-one-life-to-live/ to read his thoughts. Great blog to read daily
August 1st, 2007 at 8:48 am |
Food for thought:
How many people are concurrently viewing your web site right now?
When people say that marketing in virtual worlds is pointless because sims are empty a lot, ask those people how many concurrent visitors they have RIGHT NOW on their web site.
That’s the sim equivalent. Do we count that? No. We count visitors. How many feet came in the door over 24 hours. 30 days. A year. Why wouldn’t the same metrics apply to a sim?
August 1st, 2007 at 10:21 am |
More good points:
http://www.storygeek.com/?p=99
August 1st, 2007 at 3:04 pm |
I wrote on a comment on the site you referenced CC, thanks.
Chris, sim numbers are incredibly low in comparision to say site page impressions a day, for me at least, like not even worth comparing.
However, brand engagment is where the answer is, where the gold is, where the future is, SL is gravy baby for that.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:00 pm |
Anxious to hear your thoughts on this. I am curious how a company like I work for could make use of SL. Do you see SL as a bridge to companies who produce tangible (ie not virtual/electronic) products from a marketing perspective or is there a marketplace in SL for tangible products? By SL I mean SecondLife or similiar virtual realities.
Thanks CC!/
August 1st, 2007 at 5:23 pm |
I feel odd responding to this because my name isn’t Chris like practically everyone else.
From what I’ve been reading, Second Life isn’t quite cutting it. Christopher Penn asks us how many people are currently on our site NOW. To me, that misses the point. Second Life is a place where people are supposed to congregate. That’s not happening. That’s the problem. So three questions:
1) Why aren’t they?
2) Are you telling/showing clients how to engage people on Second Life?
3) Could it be that it’s a bit too early for the Second Life business model to be a successful marketing vehicle? I mean, is 2009 more viable?
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 pm |
[…] has been a lot of blow-back against Second Life lately, and I know many smart folks (including my friend C.C. Chapman) have and will be talking more about this, but I wanted to address one of the biggest criticisms, […]