Marketing Second Life: We Can Do Better

[MizzFuzzyMoran]

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LaskyaClaren wrote:

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Vick Forcella wrote:

If you look who invested most into Second Life, it's not Linden Lab. If you look who would benefit most from new clients, it's not Linden Lab. The answer to both questions is, The Clients.

So from that perspective, who should be most responsible for Advertising? It's the clients.

There are not many client initiatives when it comes to Marketing and Advertising and I'm kinda surprised by that. Perhaps the step to do so is too big.

There should be a client driven initiative that Linden Lab could support and help. Some sort of platform where clients pay to get their ads shown outside Second Life so that new clients would go to those places and spend their money there.

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I LOVE this idea!! Why on earth 

not

?

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becuase the sl marketplace doesnt work

 

[LaskyaClaren]

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MizzFuzzyMoran wrote:

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LaskyaClaren wrote:

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Vick Forcella wrote:

If you look who invested most into Second Life, it's not Linden Lab. If you look who would benefit most from new clients, it's not Linden Lab. The answer to both questions is, The Clients.

So from that perspective, who should be most responsible for Advertising? It's the clients.

There are not many client initiatives when it comes to Marketing and Advertising and I'm kinda surprised by that. Perhaps the step to do so is too big.

There should be a client driven initiative that Linden Lab could support and help. Some sort of platform where clients pay to get their ads shown outside Second Life so that new clients would go to those places and spend their money there.

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I LOVE this idea!! Why on earth 

not

?

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becuase the sl marketplace doesnt work

 

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Maybe that's exactly the reason that this would appeal to merchants, sim owners, etc.: it's another, and possibly more effective way to get the word out about what they have to offer!

[Phoebe Avro]

Before LL changes its marketing techniques, I think there should be a major improvment with the new resident welcome areas, this is the very first impression of SL that a new resident getts!

Last time i looked at a welcome area they were... well rubish to be polite

[LaskyaClaren]

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

Before LL changes its marketing techniques, I think there should be a major improvment with the new resident welcome areas, this is the very first impression of SL that a new resident getts!

Last time i looked at a welcome area they were... well rubish to be polite

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I would agree absolutely -- the "new user experience" has been a problem for a very long time.

I get the sense that Ebbe understands that -- I think he's mentioned it.

What might help, in part, is a resurrection of something like the mentorship programme that SL used to have.

[MizzKittenzz]

Well said, also I recommend all places and jobs in sl shouldn't be just sex and relationships. 

[Phoebe Avro]

I had a short list of easy ideas some years ago, that I posted on SLU (because Lindends used to view that forum)

I also sent it to a few Lindens and the last CEO, but I never heard anything back, I even offered to build a themed welcome area for free!

[LaskyaClaren]

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MizzKittenzz wrote:

Well said, also I recommend all places and jobs in sl shouldn't be just sex and relationships. 

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I think that the point is that all jobs and places to go in SL are not about sex and relationships. 

On the contrary, as important an element of SL as those are, they are but a part of a very much larger picture. The problem with the current ad campaign is precisely that they reinforce that misconception.

[LaskyaClaren]

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

I had a short list of easy ideas some years ago, that I posted on SLU (because Lindends used to view that forum)

I also sent it to a few Lindens and the last CEO, but I never heard anything back, I even offered to build a themed welcome area for free!

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Great!

Do you still have it? Can you post at least some of the ideas here? I'd love to see them!

 

ETA: It's an odd thing that LL relies upon residents to create virtually all of the content in SL, but is distrustful of us when it comes to mentoring and advertising.

I still don't understand why LL discontinued the SL Mentorship programme a number of years ago.

[MizzFuzzyMoran]

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MizzKittenzz wrote:

Well said, also I recommend all places and jobs in sl shouldn't be just sex and relationships. 

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i agree

they shoud only be one or the other and not mixed up

 

[MizzFuzzyMoran]

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LaskyaClaren wrote:

 

I 

still

don't understand why LL discontinued the SL Mentorship programme a number of years ago.

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becuase like politicians if you want to be one it shoud disqaulify you from bieng one

[LaskyaClaren]

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MizzFuzzyMoran wrote:

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MizzKittenzz wrote:

Well said, also I recommend all places and jobs in sl shouldn't be just sex and relationships. 

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i agree

they shoud only be one or the other and not mixed up

 

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Behave! If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem!

And I disagree about your remark about mentors. Caledon Oxbridge and (with some misgivings) NCI demonstrate otherwise!

[Phoebe Avro]

I can see why LL are using those themes, 'romantic sims' are very popular in sl even more so than 'sex type sims'

although I am sure one must lead to the other ^^

But as others have said there is so much more to SL!

LL seem to be aiming for teens, ex FB teens, since they know full well teens are leaving FB in droves, but there lies the problem, do teens have money to spend?

[MizzFuzzyMoran]

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

 

LL seem to be aiming for teens, ex FB teens, since they know full well teens are leaving FB in droves, but there lies the problem, do teens have money to spend?

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so whose laffing at my vidio post now

 

[Phoebe Avro]

I must admit i have not watched it ^^

[LaskyaClaren]

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

I can see why LL are using those themes, 'romantic sims' are very popular in sl even more so than 'sex type sims'

although I am sure one must lead to the other ^^

But as others have said there is so much more to SL!

LL seem to be aiming for teens, ex FB teens, since they know full well teens are leaving FB in droves, but there lies the problem, do teens have money to spend?

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If they are aiming for teens, they are doing so in a very odd way, given that anything other than "General" content is restricted to 18+ (at least in theory). Teens will get here, and discover that they can't really partake in the romantic and/or carnal delights that LL's marketing campaign seems to be highlighting.

But I agree that they are focusing on social media. That's not a terrible strategy, all things considered. The problem is that FB and Twitter are so popular in part because they require so little in the way of a learning curve or investment.

With regard to teens, I'd like to see a new teen grid, but with much much better content. This is a generation that grew up on Poptropica and Club Penguin: they should be amenable to virtual worlds, if they are packaged correctly!

[Phoebe Avro]

I have lost the list, but ...

From memory

New residents when they sign up get to choose a starter avatar!

So.. Depending on the AV they pick, that decides the welcome area they rezz in for the first time, so its themed to correspond to their chosen av!

Welcome areas:-

The themed welcome areas should have all the assets, textures etc, be loaded into the chache on the viewer download for that first time so that the welcome area rezzes very fast

The cam / movement control should be on screen by default on first install (if that's not be done already, I did open a jira about that ages ago) to aid in looking around above and below eye level!

 

As to themed welcome areas, open a contest with a good prize for themed welcome areas to be built

 

there were other things but I can't remember theme right now

 

[LaskyaClaren]

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

I have lost the list, but ...

From memory

New residents when they sign up get to choose a starter avatar!

So.. Depending on the AV they pick, that decides the welcome area they rezz in for the first time, so its themed to correspond to their chosen av!

Welome areas:-

The themed welcome areas should have all the assets, textures etc, be loaded into the chache on the viewer download for that first time so that the welcome area rezzes very fast

The cam / movement control should be on screen by default on first install (if thats not be done already, I did open a jira about that ages ago) to aid in looking around above and below eye level!

 

As to themed welcome areas, open a contest with a good prize for themed welcome areas to be built

 

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These are excellent ideas!

I suppose there would need to be some choice in the themed areas, as not everyone will choose (or want) a themed avatar (if by that you mean something like vampire, Steampunk, Furry, cyborg, etc.), but that shouldn't be hard to do.

Perhaps each themed area should begin with a very brief interactive tutorial?

My imagination is sort of fired by the kinds of themed avatars that one might make available. Imagine for instance an "art" avatar! Or a steampunk one!

[Pamela Galli]

I have thought about this for a long time, then yesterday an idea popped into my head:

 

It is all Role Play.

 

I have never done what I considered RP, but now realize is: decorating my house (years ago).  My customers' RP is "RL but Better". (I would not be surprised it it was the largest group of RPers.)

Going to a club, listening to music, boating, flying airplanes -- all RP.   

 

Even my job here in SL has an element of RP.  I work hard at it, but I am on one level Playing Store, like it is a big lemonade stand. 

If it does not occur to someone before joining SL that by donning an avi they are donning a potential new identity, it will shortly.

 

That pic of beach bimbos should be a gif with other frames showing various RP opportunities.

[LaskyaClaren]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I have thought about this for a long time, then yesterday an idea popped into my head:

 

It is all Role Play.

 

I have never done what I considered RP, but now realize is: decorating my house (years ago).  My customers' RP is "RL but Better". (I would not be surprised it it was the largest group of RPers.)

Going to a club, listening to music, boating, flying airplanes -- all RP.   

 

Even my job here in SL has an element of RP.  I work hard at it, but I am on one level Playing Store, like it is a big lemonade stand. 

If it does not occur to someone before joining SL that by donning an avi they are donning a potential new identity, it will shortly.

 

That pic of beach bimbos should be a gif with other frames showing various RP opportunities.

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This is a good point about RP, although the subtlety of your reasoning will likely be lost on many new users.

I do like the idea of a rotating GIF, which would cover more ground!

Also, wouldn't it be nice if they used higher quality pics?

[LaskyaClaren]

From Botgirl Questi (@botgirlq)

If I ran Second Life marketing I'd do a series of videos with RL users talking about why they love virtual worlds with no SL footage at all.

Hmmm. Maybe. It would have to be a fairly diverse group. And I'm not sure it wouldn't be improved by a few shots of the speakers in-world, providing some concrete visuals of the things they most love about SL.

(Keeping in "G" rated, of course.)

[MizzFuzzyMoran]

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LaskyaClaren wrote:

 Teens will get here, and discover that they can't really partake in the romantic and/or carnal delights that LL's marketing campaign seems to be highlighting.

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only if they tell the truth

do peeple do that on the internet now

 

[LaskyaClaren]

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MizzFuzzyMoran wrote:

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LaskyaClaren wrote:

 Teens will get here, and discover that they can't really partake in the romantic and/or carnal delights that LL's marketing campaign seems to be highlighting.

---

only if they tell the truth

do peeple do that on the internet now

 

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Sure they do!

You are the classic exemplar of that, right?

[Phoebe Avro]

The welcome areas would have lots of tutorials and things to get new residents started (they already have that)

The themed welcome areas could be one to a region (LL could reduce the number of avatar choices they already have)

So the whole region outside the welcome area could have interactive objects here and there  that new residents could click on etc (with signs with instructions etc) as they explore, LL introduced pathfinding that not many regions use, maybe LL could use pathfinding on these regions to showcase its potential^^

One word of caution though, don't use materials or advanced lighting on the first viewer download ^^ or it will be lag city!

 

 

 

 

[LaskyaClaren]

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

The welcome areas would have lots of tutorials and things to get new residents started (they already have that)

The themed welcome areas could be one to a region (LL could reduce the number of avatar choices they already have)

So the whole region could have interactive objects here and there  that new residents could click on etc (with signs with instructions etc) as they explore, LL introduced pathfinding that not many regions use, maybe LL could use pathfinding on these regions to showcase its potential^^

One word of caution though, don't use materials or advanced lighting on the first viewer download ^^ or it will be lag city!

 

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Also, they don't want to leave the impression that one needs a gaming computer to use SL. So, yes, it should be interesting and exciting and visually dynamic, but not rely overmuch on all the bells and whistles.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Rodvik seemed excited that SL was attracting 20,000 new signups a day when he arrived. He didn't mention that SL was losing 20,007 of them per day. New signups are now down to 11,000/day, of which we're losing maybe 11,007. They're disenchanting only half as many people as just three years ago. That seems like a significant improvement to me. 

Maybe LL is doing a better job of marketing?

Retention is the issue.