Do's and Don'ts for Big Business

I've got a great but long-winded article below about advertising in Second Life, analyzing the interesting piece by David Berkowitz who suggests that SL should be "optimalized". If LL does nothing else, they should put the SEARCH button in a more prominent and easy to see place than at the bottom of the screen. Meanwhile, I'll put the rest of my concepts in pictures -- reposting from yesterday due to typepad mess-ups.

1. Don't be afraid of billboards. There are already a lot of ugly ones in SL -- buy one out and put up something better which also dispenses freebies and info -- don't use these land-extortionist ad sellers -- use your own ad budget -- gigantic by contrast with the micropayment world -- to rid the world of this vermin.

2. Don't think your cute little dorky guy that you have as a logo or mascot in RL is going to fit in the virtual world just because it's cute and dorky.

3. Give avatars something to click on and do and interact with on your fancy branding island that isn't just about the brand -- to make them stick

4. Give avatars a take-home that isn't just lame brand swag -- OMG look at these realistic Microsoftmallows -- they were the best part of this clunky build! I loved them.

5. Yeesh, stop building these giant blue cans of deodorant or men's aftershave lotion with the gun-metal grays and blues. We've had QUITE ENOUGH of them.

6. Do not fear versimilitude and don't be afraid of making something beautiful and classic -- most avatars and shoppers like these kinds of buildings to shop in rather than heavy metal, abstractions,

7. Do not put pictures of RL people into the build. It really kills the immersion. They contrast unfavourably with the avatars, who are going to be anything from robots to furries to sexy blondes with hoochie hair that can run circles around these AA coyote-ugly gals. Look at what people actually dress up like in the world.

8. Watch what people actually chose as activities in the virtual world, don't impose RL activities that will wind up looking lame.

9. Don't try to separate avatars from their inworld indigenous brands! Step lightly. And realize the prim craftsmanship is simply more appreciated than your ugly quick-fix texturey logo-y brand thingie and give it up. You don't have to get brand recognition by actually making some little mini avataric version of your product. You can do it in other more subtle ways, just as you would do, say, sponsoring a human rights campaign if you were Reebok

10. . Avoid having your employees look like futuristic clones in the belief such outfits are the best fashion for virtual worlds --- these MOU dudes who look like they're serving 5-10 upstate! Have them look more like the hunk to the left of them -- wow, look at that bling!

11. Every avatar has a t-shirt -- make sure it's your company's logo. Some avatars put it on and never take it off because it needs no washing!

12. Go ahead. Put some signs with your logos in boardwalk stalls, stores, malls and even roadside. Pay the locals some rent in Lindens. Don't listen to Philip Linden who tells you to stay cooped up on your island, or to metaversal marketing companies who want to keep you endlessly trapped in their own after-parties relying only on them. Here's Barnes and Ingrid's mall Tableau, a boardwalk really done tastefully, but with never more than about 3000 traffic. So look for the high-traffic malls and deal with them as well.

13. Don't build a big-ass pretentious build and have a hugely hyped media event with a one-hit-wonder in the RL media and then leave the build out to moulder on an empty sim for weeks later -- it's totally lame. At least throw up some sex pose balls and some freebie boxes.

14. Make avatars remove attachments at events -- laggy or obstructive attachments are annoying and turn people away.

15. Don't create such an avant-garde and laggy build that it becomes uncomfortable and slow-loading for avatars -- fast-rezzing (loading) comfortable (seeable and clickable) seating and display areas are a must.

16. No need to follow the Soviet Union of Concrete Workers' school of auditorium seating either when building -- traditional lecture/podium/seating arrangements don't even work well in a virtual world with 20m hearing distance for text.

17. Stay several chess moves ahead of Governor Linden -- watch for software updates usually 7:00-12:00 am PDT Wednesday mornings; notices of grid-crashes; new features that will break old features.

18. Be discriminating about believing Linden Lab hype. Keep in mind Havoc 2 and HTML-on-a-Prim have been promised for years now, and they have no real plans to go open-source in the near future. Conversely, don't believe them if they say they won't ever change anything -- look at what happened to the telehubs, the old transportation system which was quickly removed.

19. Talk to people who spend time living and working as avatars in the virtual world to see what they think and what they want. Don't just believe metaversal marketing companies -- do focus groups.

20. If an idea doesn't work, don't be afraid of quickly deleting it and rebuilding from scratch -- this is a highly changeable, malleable, fixable world where the costs of rebuilding are still low.

Comments

[Khamon]

"No need to follow the Soviet Union of Concrete Workers' school of auditorium seating either when building"

Okay this one was really funny in addition to being true.

[Prokofy Neva]

I'm glad someone reads all the way down my long articles and even thinks the jokes are funny, thanks, Khamon!

[Brace]

Hey Prokofy! I really liked this article and the other one too.

Your list is awesome and shows you know yer stuffs.

I been hollaring about that damn search button for yonks. Absolutely NOBODY believes you when you say that noobies CANT FIND it.

That's one of the biggest things we try to do (or did - I'm not up on current operations) at the NCI - help people deal with the clunky UI.

Hope you don't mind if I add the link to this awesome list to my soon to updated "Teh Cool Stuff" linky on my blawg.
Well done :D

*smooochies!* ;)~~~

[Prokofy Neva]

Hi, Brace, link whatever you like. How's NCI? Is it overwhelmed? Yes, I spend all day telling people, "No, the search down the bottom...no, you're other search...the search at the bottom of your game screen."

[Roo Reynolds / Algernon Spackler]

I found this to be a really interesting and helpful list. Thanks Prokofy.

[Hiro Pendragon]

Hey Prok,

This entry was easy to read, chock full of useful illustrations, devoid of aggressive ad hominem, and still managed to make some intelligent remarks. THANK YOU! :)

[Prokofy Neva]

Oh, I can do it over just for YOU Hiro if you like!

[Brace]

The NCI has been packed. At least from what I could just tell from the class I just taught there.

The sim was full and the instructor for the class after mine couldnt get in for awhile.

There were brand noobies all over the place LOL!

but as for the day to day helpin noobs, I've been retired from that for awhile - gotta ask Carl Metro for the stats.

I'm in Egypt mostly these days cept for my Living Statues class on Fridays.

*smacks Hiro with the cheeze on the way out!*

[Carl Metropolitan]

NCI has been averaging traffic in the low to mid 30K range (that's not a typo).

I am in the middle of finishing "NCI-South" (thanks to Shawk Pertwee who donated the land) which is directly adjacent to the new southern Welcome Area. We hope that by moving some events there, we can take part of the load off of NCI in Kuula and serve some of the confused people wandering over from the WA.

[Evian Argus]

Many of these recommendations still hold true today. July 12th, 2007.

[Alayan Ariantho]

Prokofy and co...your advice is always pertinent, and never patronising! May you long continue to prosper :-).

[Alayan Ariantho]

Prokofy and co...your advice is always pertinent, and never patronising! May you long continue to prosper :-).