Hold on a Second...Life
There's lots of buzz around the business impact of virtual worlds like Second Life. Sure, it's great for fantasy gamers holed up in their basements, but how will it grow business? Companies like IBM, Xerox and others have jumped in, using its community features to hold virtual meetings and show clients product demonstrations. But it's not just for the big players. You see, in Second Life you can be whomever you want to be, shedding your real-life limitations. For individuals, that may mean making your avatar a body-builder or a bikini model. For businesses, especially small ones, it means interacting with prospects and customers all over the world, using the same tools as the Fortune fat cats. Today's issue of 1to1 Weekly illustrates how one small company flexed its relationship muscles on Second Life.
Terracycle makes plant fertilizer and uses organic material and recycled containers. It dabbles in e-commerce with its Web site, but primarily uses distribution in gardern and home stores to reach customers. But by joining gardening communities and posting in the classifieds on Second Life, the company spoke to gardeners directly from all over the world to gain insight.
What do you think make virtual worlds a valuable business resource, or are they just the latest online fad?
Virtual worlds. - I think we are more familiar with this term in the online gaming environment. In the corporate world looking at characters on the screen that represent Customer Service staff is Ok however I think for the time and effort it is ridiculous. For a customer to have access to 7/24 customer services I think they are very happy with an online help desk. You ask and get answers in real time or you can click online to get access to a live person streaming online. Think about it this way. If I were given two choices - a virtual one or a real person – I will take the real person every time. Until the 10 years olds grow up who have been born into a virtual world maybe they would opt for the virtual character but not me. Give me a real person every time.
I think that people feel safer in a "virtual" world and are therefor more relaxed, open & honest. If that is true then it is a healthier realm to reach out to people.
My granddaughter has a fantasy playmate named "Abby Lilly". She is now
six years old and beginning first grade. Abby Lilly is not around much
any more.
I see a lot of people spending enormous amounts of money to simple gain
brand recognition or maybe even to just get a simple appointment. Much
of this is lost on me. If I want an appointment with someone, I don't
make it in the fantasy of Second Life, I pick up the phone and make the
appointment, see the prospect, design, develop and implement a solution
to meet their requirements and close the deal. The client pays me with
real money, not fantasy money.
Last time I checked, my employees, suppliers, banks and other service
providers still liked being paid in in real dollars. I still have not
found a single one of them that will accept fantasy cash.
Of course, I also like Hall of Fame level NFL football and not fantasy
football, too.
Online portals like Second Life will sure help solid start-ups like TerraCycle reach their leads at a less cost. While people are moving online, companies are getting a unique chance to extend their prospect lists from the online portals. Basically, you can apply the same targeting methods, though arguably more efficiently. Are the online communities here to stay for a long time? Rather, yes than no. Quite a bit of people are now mass-living in the 3D-space having three dimensions: mail, email and Web portal ID. It's a fact of life, and it will probably hold on.
I think Second Life can provide some interesting experimental options for marketing and business but as a sustainable channel for growing anything it would be limited.
First of all you have a very narrow niche. It may be used to build brand for a small subset of your audience but it will not be the largest portion of your potential audience.
It has value in that it is a glimpse of a future where virtual interaction is normal. As with all future marketing - it is one path - one arm of an overall engagement strategy that should be leveraged and watched.
The future is at the fringes and this is definitely the fringe today.