CareerBuilder.com Case Study
Objectives:
- Learn about and leverage the growing opportunities that are being reported in the media about how fertile the world of Second Life is for job recruiting
- Determine if a significant portion of their marketing budget should be invested in Second Life and for the long term
- Learn how to connect with the residents of Second Life in a meaningful way for the brand
- Position the CareerBuilder.com brand as the source for fun and unusual Second Life jobs as well as the leader in placing talented, creative people in real life jobs
- Accomplish this small test pilot program on a very limited budget
Strategy:
- Bring value to Second Life residents with everything the brand does in Second Life which will attract job seekers, build brand awareness & preference, and drive online traffic.
- Appeal to the "local culture" of the residents of Second Life.
- Capitalize on the virtual job market that is part of the fabric of Second Life.
- Bond with Second Life job-seekers by having them promote CareerBuilder.com in truly fun and unusual virtual ways!
Solution:
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Creation & Placement of the virtual CareerBuilder.com Virtual Kiosk in 50 high-traffic Second Life locations where people are likely to explore them for 2 months
- The kiosks list link to real word CareerBuilder.com job information and empower residents to easily sign up for popular CareerBuilder.com programs such as Resume Reviews and Job Alert Emails
- The kiosks offer a listing of virtual jobs in Second Life designed to provide residents with fun and unusual jobs to earn their Lindens in Second Life, which is how many people support their Second Lives. These jobs are clearly branded with CareerBuilder.com logo and signage with information.
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"Buzz Agents" are people who we recruit and train to travel The Grid (the term for the space that is Second Life) to introduce your brand and give out free virtual promotional products, landmarks, links and information regarding your brands. By using teams of Buzz Agents, we were able to have measurable one-on-one virtual interactions with thousands of avatars in a relatively short period of time. All the people who interacted with one of our buzz agents said “Yes” when asked by the Buzz Agent if it is OK to contact them regarding promotions in the future. We recorded every avatar’s name so that you can create a Second Life group for your marketing and promotions. You can then send an invitation to each avatar we spoke with inviting them to join the SL group called “CareerBuilder”. Once they do, you are able to send a “Group Notice” to all of them at once, like an email blast. You can also send instant messages to individual avatars in the database of avatars who have had a conversation with us or asked to join our group through a kiosk.
- CareerBuilder.com Buzz Teams in Action:
- CareerBuilder.com Kiosk Creation & Placement:
Snapshots Descriptions, and Landmarks for each of the 50 kiosk placements were provided to the client in-world
in a notecard for easy access
Test pilot findings about SL jobs:
- CareerBuilder.com is being warmly welcomed to Second Life because the brand is seen as bringing value to the residents... immediately!
- CareerBuilder.com "camping jobs" in action:
- CareerBuilder.com "auto-paying jobs" in action:
Results:
- 6,426 Unique Buzz Agent Interactions – Each avatar name is on attached Excel spreadsheet along with other data collected
- 1119 Direct Incoming Visitors to the CareerBuilder.com site on This Second
- 1947 Indirect Visitors to the CareerBuilder.com site on This Second
- 373 Recurring Visitors (avatars with multiple visits)
- 413 Individual Clicks on CB Kiosk at the main CB site – note: we only tracked one of the multiple kiosks in the bank
- 4219 Auto-paying job transactions between July 9th – August 23rd (Payment continues until 500,000 Lindens are paid out to the job takers)
- Results: Very Positive!
- Due to their popularity and brand marketing value, CareerBuilder.com is extending their Second Life “Job ATM” promotion through the end of 2007!
Sample Media Coverage:
Testimonials:
"Working with This Second Marketing has been a pleasure. Joni educated us on Second Life and gave us excellent advice on how to reach SL residents with our brand. We are learning about SL as we go, and This Second Marketing has made it a fun project for all!"
Ellen Miehl, Senior Affiliate Marketing Manager
