Are you ready for the Metaverse in marketing?

The appeal of the metaverse is real. Marketers are always on the lookout for new and engaging ways to reach their target audience and the metaverse is one of the most promising new ways to do so. This is because the metaverse is built with the customer journey, one-to-one connections, and new ways of interacting in mind. Many businesses are already positioning themselves in the metaverse, from Samsung to Prada to McDonalds. Let’s look at a metaverse marketing strategy that will help you get ahead in this emerging digital world. 

Including the metaverse in your marketing strategy

The metaverse promises to be a powerful marketing tool in which you can portray, sell, and tell a story around your product or service. The immersive platform will create new opportunities for brands to showcase themselves in ways that have never been possible before. Read on to learn  three ways to elevate your marketing strategy through marketing in the metaverse. Find out how to better understand the meta market size, metaverse advertising, and how to create creative campaigns in the metaverse.

1. Understand the meta-market size
A market analysis, conducted by Emergency Research, shows that the global metaverse market size is expected to reach USD 1,607.12 Billion in 2030. This prediction is based on expected growth driven by factors such as the increased demand for VR and AR-based applications and products. On top of that, it is also expected that the digital world will keep on merging with the physical world, with the metaverse being one of the leading platforms to enable this.  

Industry experts expect to generate over USD 1 trillion in industries involved in social interaction, gaming, content creation, learning and training, online virtual shopping, and more. This means that the metaverse has huge potential for businesses that can sell and promote their products and/or services online. Not only will businesses benefit from this, digital artists also have more ways to monetise their work online as well, through NFTs and other immersive ways to portray their work.

2. Metaverse advertising opportunities
Have you heard of 3D advertising? A world of possibilities is opened the moment that businesses can use 3D models to let users try out or sample their products in the virtual world. Users will be able to interact with an image; let’s say a virtual shoe that they want to try on. The user will be able to see the shoe (or any other product) from all angles by moving it around. 

Users will be able to click on buttons to purchase these shoes straight away. We know that these 3D models work extremely well and create purchase intent because people are being exposed to these products in an immersive way, which creates a desire to purchase and ‘own’ that specific product. However, there might also be a downside to 3D advertising. Since these ads are shown in 3D, they might potentially be intrusive, more so than regular ads.

3. Creating creative campaigns in the metaverse
The metaverse opens up a world of creativity for marketers. From working with virtual influencers to selling your products and goods in the form of NFTs. The digital world is rapidly changing, and so is our view of the physical world that is merging into the digital world. When creating campaigns that suit the metaverse, try to see what works best in the physical world, and see how you can transform this to suit the metaverse.

This way you stay on brand, and your followers and buyers will still recognize your content and brand message. And by adapting your products to the metaverse, you will now be able to approach your target audience in a new, immersive, and more engaging way. You can start small, by adopting AR and VR techniques into your marketing outreach. There is a lot more to come, you can read more about how the metaverse is expected to change our digital world here. 

Going deep: the metaverse business model and ecosystem

Whilst all of the above might grasp your attention, it might simultaneously still be a very abstract concept for many. Let’s answer 3 questions you might have about the metaverse, NFT’s, and the areas in our lives it most likely will impact.

Question 1: What is the metaverse and who is building it?

The metaverse is not owned by a specific company, but Facebook seems to be running the game. Even though Facebook doesn’t have full ownership over the movement, they are paving the way with their company Meta. However, big tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others are all joining the metaverse as well.

VR and AR are playing a big role in the metaverse and even though using this technology daily might seem like something that will only happen in the future, businesses are already implementing these changes in their business models today. The metaverse isn’t built by just one company; many businesses, developers, strategists, and investors are involved in the creation of the metaverse. As Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, mentions: “I strongly believe that an open, interoperable metaverse built by many different developers and companies is going to be better for everyone.” Despite the metaverse being built by different organizations, Meta is playing a fundamental role in bringing the metaverse to life. 

Question 2: What is an NFT and how do they fit into the metaverse?

An NFT is a Non Fungible Token, which is a unique digital identifier. This identifier cannot be copied and belongs solely to the owner. An NFT helps to certify authenticity and ownership over something someone owns in the digital world, such as art. The metaverse helps businesses to grow their business model since there are more opportunities to sell their goods and services online. An NFT will help create order in a seemingly chaotic digital world. It enables people to own digital goods without having a fear of them being ‘stolen’ or ‘used’ without their consent. 

Question 3: Which areas of our lives will the metaverse most likely impact?

Before technology changes our lives, it can sometimes be hard to understand the impact it will have. The metaverse is a digital world that will take over and/or merge with certain aspects of our physical and digital lives. What can we expect? With the effects of the pandemic, we have seen a major shift in the working culture, especially in how people perceive ‘working from home’. Hybrid and remote working models are now the new norm for many companies and the metaverse ties in with this new movement perfectly.

This also creates the need for better technologies and programs to enable this. One of the examples of the metaverse facilitating new ways of working together is Horizon Workrooms, a virtual meeting space where colleagues can meet and work easily. What makes this different from Zoom, Google Meet, or any other platforms? Besides being able to call in from your laptop you can also join the meeting as an avatar using VR technology. This is an example of the metaverse already making its way into our day-to-day working lives. The metaverse is most likely also going to change other areas, such as; the way we game, sport, go out, share conversations with our friends and family, learn, and much more.

Expected opportunities and challenges

Whilst the promises of the metaverse might sound thrilling and exciting for most, we have to keep the potential downsides of it in mind. With everything in the digital world, there is an extra risk of online theft, cybercrime, fraud, and identity theft. On top of that, Facebook has been critiqued for not being transparent and fair when sharing user data in the past. Meta will become even more powerful than it is today with its ability to gather very detailed data about its users. There is greater risk for people to get their data breached or used without their consent.

There is also a risk involved if one company, such as Meta, which already owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other businesses, will have a monopoly and a lot of power. This can be detrimental when the business is operated with wrong intentions. Another downfall or threat of the metaverse is the risk of addiction. We have seen that games, social media, and other digital aspects in our lives are creating a high likelihood of addiction since it triggers a reward system in our brains.

The metaverse can also be a great way to escape real life or to hide behind a ‘better’ version of yourself, like your avatar. People have the option to create avatars that are ’different or better’ from who they are. You can only imagine what this can do to the minds of, particularly young adults.

Despite its challenges, there are many opportunities that the world of the metaverse introduces to our current digital and physical worlds. As technologies are rapidly evolving, changes will start to make their way into our daily lives. From work to leisure, to sport and learning. Are we ready for this?

Let’s create a metaverse marketing strategy

Do you already know in what way you would like to adopt the metaverse into your business? Get in contact with us if you want to brainstorm or receive help with implementing these first changes. We are happy to assist your business in further growth and a future of new digital possibilities.