PRWeek: Second Life used to promote Visual Studio features
PRWeek has covered the ongoing Defy All Challenges campaign for Microsoft’s Visual Studio, placing Second Life activity in the context of a larger program that harnesses social media along with traditional methods. This is a great example of how virtual worlds marketing can complement and smoothly align with existing campaigns. Some companies continue to view their virtual world programs as experiments, and there is a case for that ‚Äì the environments are creatively diverse and unscripted (I would argue that’s a good thing from a consumer’s perspective) . That hasn’t stopped Microsoft from extending a high-profile campaign into Second Life, with jaw-dropping user engagement results that we highlighted a couple of weeks ago.
My own background is in PR agency-land, and I’m pleased to see PRWeek highlighting the relevance of virtual events and programs for its readership. All of the proven tools of the trade ‚Äì media relations, community relations, event management ‚Äì are readily translated into virtual spaces, albeit with the help of a little savvy tweaking and an open mind. As the technology improves, user numbers grow and interfaces with other forms of social media emerge, PR practitioners will find virtual worlds to be fertile ground for their work.