The Ultimate Second Life Advertisement Guide
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The Ultimate Second Life Advertisement Guide
By: Krystalorbs
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It's all in the name of this virtual reality software. It is just like real life, but a virtual life. A second life. Just as we see on our television, social medias, posters and billboards, Advertisement is a must.
Most of us know this, but don't really know how to go about it. Well, I am here to give you a guide on Advertising. I am marketing agent on Second Life and have researched several ways you can successfully advertise on Second Life. The question is how appealing and unique did you make it for others to want to come? Did you also put in enough effort and time into this? These two questions will heavily weigh on how you advertise from the information I will share with you.
1. Social Media!
As we all know social media is the best way to get out there, but then again you will have to gain followers before you can gain some publicity. Which is not easy! I have one great method for those that want to start or even progress further in advertisement on Second Life. Before I do, I want to list some social media sites.
The most used and most popular by Second Life users are the following: Facebook & Flickr
These are used as well, but weighs more on followers. It's good to widen your scope on advertisement though so I would suggest getting an account on these as well. But, if you are new to advertising and don't really know what you are doing. Stick with Facebook & Flickr for now. Then progress with the rest of these.
Other Social Media Sites:
Google Plus
Twitter
Plurk
Instagram
Tumblr
2ND HUB
SL Universe
The last two are social media sites for the use of Second Life users. I, myself are still learning to get a hang of it.
So, here are some lovely social media sites for you to use.
Now comes the method I had mentioned.
Method 1:
Build A Base of Followers...The Easy Way
You will need to create or have three things. A Facebook account, Flickr account, and a blog.
For blogs, I suggest using Wordpress or Blogger.
Create a Facebook account. Not a page, but a normal account. I would suggest using a phone number or an email you never used or you will have your account taken down like I had twice, but I finally figured it. I at least hope, but it's doing well so far. Find an app you like and get a free phone number. I used sideline on the Android store.
Create a Flickr Account. Once you create a flickr account, I would suggest to learn how to take high quality photos or hire a photographer. I am willing to be hired as I have my photography business with affordable prices and quality service. I am willing to negotiate depending on your situation and how I see it is. Visit my Photography Blog and if interested, IM me on Secondlife.
Create A Blog. Signup on Blogger or Wordpress, since those are the most used by Second Life users and are the most popular and best blogs as a whole for blog sites.
So, now you have everything made. First thing first. Add a lot of Second Life users on Facebook. This will probably be your main way of sharing what you have to the Second Life community. There are so many users on there, up to thousands!
Once you have, you are going to want to start making blog posts. Usually just making blog posts and leaving it there doesn't give you that much publicity unless you are selling something or already popular in second life.
The reason we are doing this is so we can become popular! When you make your blog posts, share them on Facebook as well and ALWAYS have #secondlife.
I am a 19-year-old and I already know how social media relies so heavily on hashtags, so put them in there so not only your friends on Facebook can see it but people looking up Second Life can see it in the search results as well.
This rule goes for any social media. ALWAYS use #secondlife. For blogs, you don't need it to put it in the post. There should be a choice in settings for keywords to be attached to your blog. Make sure Second Life is in there.
Doing this over time will help you flourish and grow like an exponential graph.
Let's not forget Flickr! People love photos and even more, this is Second Life! This virtual reality is an art. It is fashion. It is creativity and of course, we must share this with photos.
Flickr will help you gain followers as well. It may not be as easy as Facebook, but it is easy as well. You will definitely need good quality photos on your account to get people to follow you so they can keep looking at more good photos. So, like I said before, hire a photographer and make sure their work is good. I can guarantee mine is. Also, join a bunch of Second Life groups on Flickr and share your photos on there. Make sure it's related to the group as well.^_^
A tip on this as well. Whatever you selling. You could be selling houses, land, clothes, or just be advertising a community. Have stylish avatars and nice background included in some of the photos. You may want it to be just about "this", but you have to think about marketing plans so you can grab that person's attention and they will be into your "This".
Ex. Take a picture of your house. Also, show a beautiful couple eating in the kitchen area enjoying dinner. Selling land.
Take a picture of the land itself. Also, take a picture of a house or someone on the beach.
You don't see commercials just displaying a car or house by itself. They want you to see someone else involved with it so you can picture it as if it was you.
Using this method will gain you popularity and publicity. Just make sure what you are selling or marketing will be worth it to the person.
2. Advertising Networks
I discovered Advertising networks while I was researching. I will explain them in a simpler context. But, if you rather read it directly from the source. Here is the link: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Advertising_Networks
>Second Ads
I find Second ads to be a good way to promote what you are offering at a good price. You pay per how many clicks so it feels like you are getting your money's worth this way. Plus you get paid to have their ad board on your land. I would definitely invest in this since it doesn't cost much and hey if you are getting a lot of clicks, isn't that good?
I like group cast personally. I haven't used it yet but if I had a group I would so use this baby a lot. Why? For one it's free! For two, it's free! For three, you can share your ads to multiple groups that have multiple people in them for free! If you are advertising regardless of money or no money, you should be using this.
>Rez Ads is the same as Second Ads. It's a pay per click ad. You can use this as an addition as well.
This a free advertisement site. You list your business in their directory. There are options to help boost your business in the SL Search. I will recommend this strongly since placements in the search are very important for popularity and higher traffic. So this is a must as well and plus, it's free!
This is just a site that offers kiosks so users can join your group easily and you can control parts of it easier than the manual way. They do offer a free plan on up to ones that cost. I would consider this to be optional depending on if you already have a way for people to join your group when they visit your location automatically.
I must agree that I have to see GoldTokens on quite a sum of lands on Secondlife and most have pretty good traffic. With this, you will just add what they offer on your land to gain traffic. These people may be coming for another purpose which is what you offered them through GoldTokens but they get to see your business and have an interest in what you have. You get more publicity and more traffic!
3. Items
So, just like GoldTokens offers some things to put on your land to gain you traffic. There are some items you can buy as well to lure others. I consider these to be optional, but if you would like to advertise in every possible way, then I suggest this. Make sure you put them like the entrance or the landmark point for when a visitor teleport to your destination. You can also add it as a feature in your description or when you advertise your business as well.
http://www.rezzme.com/Products
So this is a chair that is only for the use of people in your group and they can randomly win money/lindens. I think it is appealing for newcomers to Secondlife and something fun to do as well. We humans just love it when we do something fun to earn money, don't we? XD
4. Addition
I find this to be very interesting. It's like the second life version of google earth. People who aren't even SL users can see this and may inspire them to join. With this, you make a 3D look of your place and it's like a preview for what it looks like. I would so add this to my blogs and add it to all my social media profiles if I had a business. I think this would be a plus to clubs and communities. Even real estate lands as well.
5. Inworld Advertisement
For Inworld Advertisements, there are three methods and these all cost.
Method 1
Advertise on Ad Boards inworld. This will cost you a little out of your pocket to do so. Ad boards can be rented from clubs, businesses and even sole users on Second Life. It's best to rent one that has a lot of ongoing traffic so you know for a fact someone is seeing it and you are getting your money's worth.
Method 2
Advertise on the SL Search
If you have a location for your business, you can go in about land and choose to advertise it on the search engine for a price. You can also advertise on the classifieds part of the SL search as well. Here is a link on how you would do that:
Method 3
Advertise In Magazines
Whether you know it or not. Magazines are a thing in Secondlife. You can find the best pictures, gossip, and information about Secondlife in Magazines. There are few popular magazines on Secondlife. You can usually advertise in their magazines for a price of course. I think it is a good way to widen your scope as well. You can google magazines on Second Life and find the ones you prefer but I will suggest these few:
6. Events
There is nothing like throwing a party to grab people's attention. I myself as a host have been to a couple of parties where they would be so full of people, your viewer would crash.
When I say throw a party, I really mean throw a party!
Hire a band or get a performance to show at your party. They most likely will have a big fan base and hiring them will gather their fans to your business. Here is a website that shows some of the best bands that you can hire for your parties:
Parties will need advertisement as well so bear this in mind and offer giveaways, linden winnings and much more. But, I bet your best bet, is hiring an entertainment tribute band. I recommend Rebel Yell Concerts. I hosted at Fantastic Furniture's opening party and these guys were amazing at their performance and along with the massive crowd, they brought along with them. I knew it was good sign that I lagged about every second XD
7. Cross Promotion
Another good and free way to advertise is a cross promotion. You promote someone's business on your land in exchange they promote yours. To do this, I would believe you have to be on the same level for this to work. I wouldn't expect a newbie going to a ten-year-old business and be like you promote me, I promote you. Not going to work. But, if you find someone that is about on the same level as you or that is your friend, it could work.
8. Attractiveness
Your advertisements weigh heavily on its look to grab attention. It's like a beautiful woman passing by and people turn their heads to watch her. Makes sense, doesn't it?
This includes your main image, logo, notices and templates for advertising events. There are a lot of free programs online where you can make something appealing. Take some time to do so and I know all of us don't have the talent of being creative, but I don't find it is hard to invest in someone that knows how to make your advertisements look good or hire someone to make your main logo or photo for your business.
9. Roles
So, all of this can be quite overwhelming if you are doing it by yourself. It is possible. I know of people that have done it by themselves but it's a slower progress and can be really stressful. If you are especially a creator, You should not be doing this by yourself. Your job is creating as much as you can. For those that are not creating, you should not be doing this by yourself either!
Even entrepreneurs aren't sole agents, they hire people to do things for them and help them. They are the owner but they also have their employees. Maybe ask friends or make a post on the Second Life Community Page for people to take certain roles to help you advertise. Remember to pay them fairly for the amount of work you are giving them as well or you won't flourish at all because you won't get reliable workers.
With all this being said, I believe this is the ultimate guide with all this information. Start with Social Media and work your way through each step one by one. Watch what works and what doesn't. Everyone varies. If I have any more advice I will make a Part 2 Advertisement Guide. As for now, I wish you all the best of luck.
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Yours Truly,
Krystalorbs
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