Why corporate presences fail in Second Life.

Nothing is wrong with Second Life, but there is a lot wrong with how companies present themselves in Second Life. I am now a resident of the Second Life community since about one year . Gosh time goes by so fast doesn’t it?

I have been around a lot in Second Life done this seen the other, talked a lot to other residents and most importantly I have seen quite a bit that is working and what is not. I have seen busy places marketed well, busy places marketed ‘with outright SPAM and lots of places which are just that: DEAD.

Even places of big brands such as BMW, Mercedes and Deutsche Bank have hardly any visitors. Why? Companies are doing the exact same insane mistakes they do with their web presence. By not understanding or simply ignoring the different behavioral pattern internet users have, their presence in Second Life lacks interest and is only wasting server space. As usual the owner does not admit his failure but blames Second Life for it.

Here the most common mistakes in Second Life marketing

Duplicate your real life business

It is amazing how much even high profile agencies lack of imagination and creativity. Instead of create memorable experiences which residents will use and appreciate they show the same boring static stuff we have seen already a thousand times in real life. The normal rules of physics, and business do not apply in Second Life, and nor should they.

I have been recently to Mercedes Benz Island. You know what? You can test drive the C Class., you can buy a virtual car and you can click on screen to go to their website! Amazing isn’t it. What whole new concept, what imagination – a virtual test drive, I hardly can control my excitement. A similar experience, if not worse, I had on one of the BMW Islands.

There is some kind of an auditorium, you sit in front of a screen waiting for the presentation of the new CO2 emission reduced technology to begin…but: nothing happens, just nothing! We are talking here about two of the the biggest car manufactures in the world. Multi billion dollar operations with a completely useless presence in Second Life. Well done guys, I just hope you use a bit more imagination in buidling even better cars.

Build it, and they will come

This is classic in Internet Marketing. Just like many websites you build it, you wait for the visitors to come. You wait and you wait some more, but nothing happens and you are wondering why you did get one of these in the first place. Nothing gets noticed without promotion. If you’re building a virtual presence, whatever that may be, and you want people to come to you, you need to promote it. There’s a lot you can do, but sitting around waiting for hordes of people to descend on your SL presence is not going to work past the curiosity phase.

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. At both presences, BMW and Mercedes, there was nobody to talk to. 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.

Assumptions about the Second Life community

There are clever people out there. They are amazingly clever. They are so clever that they judge the likes, wishes, preferences, demographics, motives and behavior of Second Life Residents just by hearing the word Second Life. These same people in real life do in depth feasibility studies, market research and other means of getting facts first before making a decision, but when it comes to Second Life they know it all.

Ever been to Second Life? Have a try: www.secondlife.com

Regards

Wolfgang Brand