Showing up late to Second Life

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Dave J.

Second Life peaked in its web2.0-ishness foolishness, um, like two years ago. And for B2B it was questionable to begin with.

So, when you are a components manufacturer opening a virtual corporate museum in 2008, you are likely to attract snarky posts, like this one from Circuits Assembly Magazine’s blog titled Art as (Second) Life:

“In trying to explain why the company is underwriting the costs from its R&D budget, Jan Jurcy, Avnet’s vice president of digital communications (you probably don’t have one of those, either), said, “We look at this as another piece of the social media revolution.”

And here you thought they were in the business of selling components.”

Now, quit rubber-necking at the accident on the information superhighway and get back to real marketing work :)

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  • Anonymous

    Here’s an interesting use of Second Life by a pump company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsWsLvR8yPE

  • Anonymous

    Here’s an interesting use of Second Life by a pump company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsWsLvR8yPE

  • Linda P. Morton

    Dave,Are you saying that Web 2.0 isn’t real marketing? Everything I’m reading says its great for traffic and for links to help with SEO.I’m preparing to do a Web 2.0 campaign for my blog. I market information products for small business owners. Is it worth the time and effort?

  • Linda P. Morton

    Dave,Are you saying that Web 2.0 isn’t real marketing? Everything I’m reading says its great for traffic and for links to help with SEO.I’m preparing to do a Web 2.0 campaign for my blog. I market information products for small business owners. Is it worth the time and effort?

  • Dave J.

    Anon–I can see that usage as it is talking to a wider audience. But could they get engineers who actually specify and buy their pumps to visit in Second Life?Linda– Second Life is a bad choice for b2b/industrial marketing. And there is no SEO advantage. Maybe for b2b/tech companies. Like any marketing strategy, any web2.0 tool has to fit your business and be something you can commit to. What will people think if your blog is #1 in a search, but has only four posts and is a year old? You’ve gained traffic, but no credibility. And that’s why I’m busting on this supplier in my post. It doesn’t fit and I doubt they can cost them credibility.

  • Dave J.

    Anon–I can see that usage as it is talking to a wider audience. But could they get engineers who actually specify and buy their pumps to visit in Second Life?Linda– Second Life is a bad choice for b2b/industrial marketing. And there is no SEO advantage. Maybe for b2b/tech companies. Like any marketing strategy, any web2.0 tool has to fit your business and be something you can commit to. What will people think if your blog is #1 in a search, but has only four posts and is a year old? You’ve gained traffic, but no credibility. And that’s why I’m busting on this supplier in my post. It doesn’t fit and I doubt they can cost them credibility.

  • Bryan

    I’ll save being redundant, but please read my response in Mike’s blog.I will say directly though. I would hope that you understand that Avnet is far more than just a “components manufacturer” or “supplier”.…and, “Snarky post” or not, thank you for your thoughts. Hopefully if you have the time, you will come by the museum and learn more about who we are.Thanks, Bryan

  • Bryan

    I’ll save being redundant, but please read my response in Mike’s blog.I will say directly though. I would hope that you understand that Avnet is far more than just a “components manufacturer” or “supplier”….and, “Snarky post” or not, thank you for your thoughts. Hopefully if you have the time, you will come by the museum and learn more about who we are.Thanks, Bryan

  • Dave J.

    Bryan–Thanks for dropping by and chiming in. Certainly Mike and I have our own outsider view. What you are doing probably has value from where you sit, but from the outside it is a head-scratcher. And as large as your company is, a little experimenting in the virtual world is worthwhile.

  • Dave J.

    Bryan–Thanks for dropping by and chiming in. Certainly Mike and I have our own outsider view. What you are doing probably has value from where you sit, but from the outside it is a head-scratcher. And as large as your company is, a little experimenting in the virtual world is worthwhile.