Metaverse is an evolution that will power the next generation of the internet. It is the new frontier of marketing that businesses and professional marketers cannot take for granted.
Technologies like VR and AR that most people see as a waste of time are reshaping online interaction. Facebook, Snap, Gucci, and other brands are already promoting virtual communities, art, content, assets, and worlds for their audiences.
Here are some facts and stats that show the impact of the metaverse and why marketing pros should not sideline it:
- According to Google Trends, a significant number of people have already been searching with the keyword “Metaverse” in the last 12 months. It hit the 100 mark in March 2021.
- Most people are already using the term “metaverse” in their social media bios. For instance, there are over 2700 search results for people using this word in their titles on LinkedIn.
- Google News reports that there are over 175,000 search results for the search query “metaverse news.”
- The hashtag #metaverse gets up to 500 plus tweets every hour on Twitter based on the news cycle.
- There are over 43K posts on Instagram that are using the keyword metaverse.
Therefore, the metaverse is exploding on the internet, and in the coming years, it will become a necessity for all brands.
If you are looking forward to the future, then surely you should learn more about metaverse marketing. Businesses that take a leap in the virtual marketing universe today will stay ahead of their competitors tomorrow.
Metaverse marketing will make it easier for brands to reach, engage, and nurture customers by leveraging the power of VR, AR, and connected devices.
This article will discuss metaverse marketing in detail and make it easier for you to explore the most significant opportunities available in the virtual reality space.
Let’s begin!
What is the Metaverse?
Metaverse is a combination of two words. Meta means ‘beyond,’ and verse means ‘universe.’ Hence, metaverse means ‘beyond the universe.’
Metaverse is a new term used to describe a virtual online space characterized by interconnectivity and interactivity. It is a sum of all augmented reality (AR), virtual worlds, and the internet.
You can also view metaverse as a shared online space where everyone can have a virtual experience in 3D, whether you are gaming, exploring, or playing.
In metaverse, you can try or buy virtual clothing, attend a trip online, be a part of a virtual concert, or buy and sell NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).
Marketing in the Metaverse: What Marketers Need to Know
Digital marketing professionals should be kept to speed with the recent developments that are most likely to influence and affect strategies.
One such development includes metaverse and its impact on marketing. Metaverse is not just a trend but something more likely to reshape the marketing field. It is here to stay for long, and marketers should start digging more into various ways to incorporate it into their marketing strategies.
Here are some strategies that marketers should have in place when tapping into the power of metaverse in their marketing plan:
2. Create Parallel Metaverse Marketing
What your brand is already doing to market in real life should be parallel with the metaverse marketing experience you create. For instance, in June, Stella Artois worked with Zed Run to develop a Tamagotchi-like experience for their target market crossed with the Kentucky Derby.
The AB InBev’s Stella Artois is well known for sponsoring sporting events, primarily horse races. This helped create an online platform where NFT horses are being bred, traded, and raced like the natural entry point.
3. Bring Users Together in Real-time Using MILEs
Massive Interactive Live Events (MILEs) is a single simulation that brings different users who interact and influence an event or game in real life. Most of the MILEs you are likely to see today are game-based, and some examples include Rival Peak, an interactive media experience distributed by Facebook Watch.
You can bring your target audience and users from multiple platforms and engage with them with the help of MILEs.
Many industries are already applying MILEs in engaging with a large audience. For instance, Travis Scott performed a live concert in Fortnite to over 12.3 million gamers, and this collaboration won the Grand Prix in Digital Craft at Cannes. In another project, Balenciaga used Unreal Engine to design a video game, Afterworld, for its audience.
4. Offer Branded Collections
There are many trends that the pandemic accelerated. For instance, the collection of limited-edition items and alternative assets became an online trend. In the metaverse space, people can easily accumulate and showcase their accessories and items to express themselves.
This is the reason Roblox has been persistently asking its brand partners to provide branded merchandise and virtual fashion on the platform’s marketplace. According to the company’s director of brand partnership, Winnie Burke, “This is one way to promote designers and brands. It is also an easy way to launch entire collections and test new ideas in the marketing field’.
Roblox is encouraging brands to go outside the box and start creating digital versions of their merchandise. Improving user engagement in marketing is a key to becoming an authority in any industry. Metaverse marketing is one easy way to experiment with different designs and bespoke items.
5. Invest Your Resources in Creating Immersive Experiences
Some brands are already creating branded installations or pop-up events thanks to the experimental nature of the metaverse. An immersive experience means creating marketing content that users can interact with and not just running billboards or digital banners adverts.
Users tend to be more emotionally attached and loyal to brands that promise to interact more with them on all platforms. Ideally, brands that can give their users an interactive and persistent space where fans enjoy their content tend to build a more loyal customer base.
The metaverse space gives room for creating immersive engagement opportunities for users, unlike the passive experience you get when on social media platforms.
Public Relations and Metaverse
Most brands that are already adopting metaverse in their marketing strategy are already making a show. For instance, 60 Minutes came to the limelight recently by featuring a story on how Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) enable people to buy and sell products and services and use metaverse at the same time.
Metaverse is a digital and physical world convergence, making it easy for brands to push their marketing messages to a broader customer base. These are some of the most creative ways that marketers can now use VR and AR and dip public relations in the metaverse marketing:
- Focus more on creating some of your content by using AR.
- Use platforms like Facebook Horizon and AltSpace to host and attend events.
- Set up Google Alert so that you can easily follow the metaverse keyword and keep educating yourself more on how to make your brand fit in this trend.
- Partner with creators and influencers already in the digital space.
- Use AR to create PR content to make your brand stand out when pitching stories directly to journalists and your target audience.
- Start interlacing more with analysts, journalists, and reporters discussing VR/AR and the metaverse trend.
Metaverse and the Social Media
Facebook is one of the digital media companies that is now seeing itself as a metaverse company. The social networking service now looks forward to going 3D and 2D with its hardware Oculus and the virtual reality platform Facebook Horizon.
Additionally, the newly formed Facebook Metaverse executive team is proof that the company is taking significant steps towards metaverse marketing now and in the future.
So, what are the key entry points and steps you should make as a marketer when you target Facebook Metaverse?
- Get a quality Oculus 2 headset
- Visit the Oculus website and create an account
- Register yourself on the Facebook Horizon
- Visit the Oculus Home dashboard to create your avatar
It is that simple, and you don’t need any experience. Once you are inside the Facebook Horizon, you are free to venture and visit different worlds depending on your interests and the topics you prefer the most. Here you will find almost everything you need from gaming, meditation, gardening, and all your favorite community groups that are linked to Facebook Groups.
With Facebook Horizon, you can easily share your photos, selfie, and worlds from the 3D world to 2D users. It creates a connection between different worlds. You can also collaborate with other users, hold your meet-ups, host live events, and establish meaningful avatar relationships with your audience.
Final Thoughts
The future of metaverse marketing is now, and marketing professionals should be aware of this. Nowadays, it is possible to create a virtual being and become the new influencer for your brand.
Virtual beings are becoming an essential part of daily lives, especially for the millennials.
It might have taken the internet decades to become what it looks like today. However, with metaverse, the growth of digital marketing is bound to take a new shape poised with steadfast growth with audiences who are always ready to take the challenge and explore new worlds.
The time is ripe to get started with metaverse marketing and become part of the metaverse experience.
About Coinbound
Coinbound is the leading cryptocurrency marketing agency. Coinbound works with major crypto brands like eToro, Cosmos, MetaMask, OKCoin, ShapeShift, Voyager, and CoinStats to boost brand growth through influencers, publishers, SEO, social media management, PPC, and paid advertising.
