My experience in Second Life was quite overwhelming. I expected to encounter some strange personalities (which I did). And after wandering aimlessly for awhile, I located some businesses, such as Dell. Dell had its own island, which had cobblestone streets, with storefronts and cafes that had chairs outside; it was very welcoming. There were signs and displays about products and other information. I then realized most companies on Second Life have their own island. This isolation defeats some of the purpose of Second Life. The only way to end up there is to teleport, and one would only teleport there for a reason, not by coincidence. Also, when visiting the corporate islands, many times no one is present. In a 2009 study on Second Life, Tikkanen, Hietanen, Henttonen, & Rokka suggested that “a company representative could, for example, welcome visitors and help customers to familiarize themselves with the company location to increase interaction and user involvement” (p. 1368). There is little to no engagement without someone there to interact with visitors.

Tikkanen et al. (2009) also found in a survey of 200 Second Life users that “72 % of respondents were disappointed with the marketing activities in Second Life and only 7% considered current virtual world marketing activities to be having a positive influence on brand image and on their buying behavior" (p. 1364). Another study of Second Life by Mackenzie, Buckby & Irvine (2009) surveyed 20 businesses on Second Life and found there was an “apparent inability to attract, engage, or sustain engagement of Second Life lead user avatars” (p. 198). A few weeks ago we discussed how blogs were effective because of the engagement factor. In Second Life, the engagement is in real-time, so immediate reactions and responses are most effective. Also, the potential engagement is more limited. Second Life can only accommodate a few dozen people in one place at the same time, which is unlike the mass marketing potential of Facebook and blogs (Lyons, 2010).

Virtual world marketing does have some usefulness. Companies can use Second Life to test market products and ideas, and they have the power to experiment in real time with low cost and small risk (Lyons, 2010). Starwood Hotels built a virtual hotel in Second Life to test their new design and layout, and received good feedback. A vice-president stated, “We’re saving money. If we find that significant numbers of people don’t like a certain feature, we don’t have to actually build it.” (Tikkanen, 2009, p. 1370).

Today’s marketing can still rest on the foundations of concepts such as the Four P’s of product, price, place and promotion. However the way companies approach these concepts has to change since the boundaries between industries and customers are being reshaped (Wind, 2008). For instance, the element of “promotion” is still relevant, but the model needs to shift from TV commercials to blogs and Facebook. Wind’s article “A Plan to Invent the Marketing We Need Today” also suggests companies use more analytics and metrics to better evaluate marketing investments. It seems as if companies were measuring the size of their presence on Second Life and not the degree of engagement with other users. Companies should identify the measures that count instead of the ones that are easy to measure (Wind, 2008).

References:

Lyons, D. (2010, March). Money for nothing: The serious business of pretend products.. Newsweek, 155(13). Retrieved February 1, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1989486261).

Mackenzie, K., Buckby, S., & Irvine, H. (2009). A framework for evaluating business lead users' virtual reality innovations in Second Life. Electronic Commerce Research, 9(3), 183-202. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1849212361).

Tikkanen, H., Hietanen, J., Henttonen, T. & Rokka, J. (2009). Exploring virtual worlds: Success factors in virtual world marketing. Management Decision, 47(8), 1357-1381. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1934043601).

Wind, Y. (2008). A Plan to Invent the Marketing We Need Today. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(4), 21-28.