Metaverse Marketing: Ultimate Guide

Metaverse is one of the top 5 emerging technologies for 2023. It combines web, virtual reality, and blockchain, which will be accessible across different platforms, such as VR, AR, PC, mobile devices, and game consoles.

The word “metaverse” has been around for a long time, but it only started becoming popular recently. In 2021, there were over 84,000 social media mentions of the metaverse.

In 2020, the metaverse market was worth $478.7 billion. Now, it is estimated to hit $800 billion by 2024.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, consumers and businesses have had a surge in interest in the metaverse. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of metaverse technologies.

Marketing in the age of metaverse will be more innovative and include individual content creators, similar to influencer marketing.

Metaverse marketing will reach consumers through virtual, augmented, and mixed reality.

In this guide to Metaverse marketing, I will share the top metaverse marketing strategies to help your brand get closer to your target consumers.

Let’s begin!

 

What is the Metaverse, And Why Should You Care?

 

“Next iteration of the internet?”, “Transforming the conventional perception of digital technologies” are the phrases highlighting the metaverse today. Here is the detailed outline of the characteristic of metaverse to help you understand how it might provide fresh online experiences.

Meaning of the Term “Metaverse.”

Neal Stephenson’s science fiction book Snow Crash is where the phrase “metaverse” first appeared. Now, it turns to the digital world that enables virtual user interaction by integrating features from social media, online gaming, augmented reality, virtual reality, and cryptocurrencies. It is, in essence, a network of 3D virtual environments geared toward fostering social interaction.

Metaverse is a 3D social media platform where people can do anything they can do in real life. It is a vast virtual environment where new kinds of interactions and new types of B2C and B2B commerce are possible. People will be able to create, sell, own, and invest in 3D virtual environments of the metaverse.

Like the internet is necessary for all, similarly, the metaverse will become a crucial part of online business because companies would be able to trade products and services through the metaverse.

Moreover, over the next five years, it is expected that 10,000 jobs will be created in the metaverse world.

How Did Metaverse Suddenly Become Popular?

After Facebook was rebranded as Meta, the focus of the metaverse became apparent. The goal is to develop a setting where individuals can interact socially, do business, and enjoy immersive entertainment.

The burgeoning trends impact every sector of culture, entertainment, and marketing. The reason why business owners are so interested in Meta is because of this. Not to forget, Roblox and Fortnight are two excellent instances of incredibly immersive online experiences.

Key Elements of Metaverse

Metaverse is expected to grow in the gaming world and become a $400 billion business by 2025. Thanks to augmented reality and virtual reality technologies.

Here are the key elements of metaverse that makes it unique:

1. Value-Based Experiences

Constant improvements in computing power allow larger virtual worlds to exist. Infrastructural components of the metaverse include cloud computing, 5G, and wifi. All users in the metaverse can enjoy seamless, value-based experiences thanks to a solid infrastructure.

2. Real People As Digital Avatars

Most people today actively embrace virtual reality, allowing various virtual adventures. The ideology of having real people as digital avatars combines video games’ key elements and a metaverse. It involves an interoperable 3D world where players can participate and interact using avatars. In the metaverse, gamers find themselves at home.

3. Virtual Real Estate

Virtual land is a digital property that exists on the blockchain. Owning a virtual property is advantageous since you may rent it out to others, set up shop there, or host events online. According to traffic and popularity, million-dollar sales have already been made on virtual lands. The metaverse land model is recast the NFT market and industry.

4. NFTs

Non-fungible Token. Digital assets bought in the metaverse can actually be considered to belong to Internet users and metaverse users. By utilizing NFT, a person can manage, trade, store, and use a portion of the internet as their own. The digital assets such as a work of art, a logo, a photo, a game item, or a token. With NFT, you may avoid duplication and acquire a unique identifying code.

5. Creator Economy

The key characteristic that sets metaverse apart from the internet is the ability to control user freedom. Second, employees or students can share learning and working spaces remotely, bringing diverse experiences together in the exact location. It demonstrates its worth for the future.

Marketing in the Metaverse

The metaverse market is proliferating and could increase by as much as 13.1% annually. Tech giant Facebook has invested $10 billion in the metaverse.

The present trend of the metaverse is sure to impact business and marketing. Virtual reality is evolving from cutting-edge technology to a real-world business environment.

Partnerships are essential for successful marketing efforts. In contrast to brand advertising in the real world, almost all marketing initiatives in the metaverse rely more on networking and performance data. Given that anything in the metaverse can be clicked.

However, marketing in the metaverse also has its own downsides where marketers or business people might find it hard, like expensive technology and areas that don’t have internet. As the metaverse grows, futuristic tech may include many other features in the upcoming days.

Top Metaverse Marketing Strategies

Metaverse Advertising

Metaverse is a kind of virtual space that uses the latest technology like AR and VR to blend the real world and virtual realities to become one by creating immersive 3D environments. This is the talk of the digital world today; most people say that Meta is the new successor to the current internet and a milestone in creating an interactive digital experience for users.

Metaverse is currently creating different possibilities. It has become a powerful platform for gaming, entertainment, socialization, creative pursuits, and many more. Examples of Metaverse include Fortnite, Axie Infinity, and Robox.

Metaverse has become helpful to businesses today. These are some of the ways companies are using this virtual space in advertising their products and services:

• Ad placement: This is more of real-world advertising like the use of signage, billboard, and posters. Brands like Grand Theft Auto and NBA2K are popular videogames that have been promoting other brands in their games.
• Experience placement: Gucci has partnered with Roblox to launch the Gucci-themed world in the brand’s metaverse. Through this partnership, Gucci consumers can buy Gucci products like handbags and belts while playing the videogame.
• Product placement: Businesses can use metaverse to place their products in fit for their target audience experience. For instance, a partnership between Hasbro and Roblox helped the company introduce Nerf guns to life in the metaverse.
• Event placement: Famous hip-hop superstar, Travis Scott, partnered with Epic Games to perform a concert for Fortnite users. Over 12 million users attended this event.
• Owned Metaverse: Businesses can also create unique metaverse experiences that relate more to their customers.
• Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT): Businesses can explore digital products within the metaverse using cryptocurrency. For example, Nike is on the verge of launching virtually designed sneakers for their customers.

Brand Promotion in the Metaverse

Brands can use metaverse to market in the following ways:

NFT and Metaverse

NFT is one of the strategies that most businesses use. NFT is a data unit that can exist as a file like audio, video, or photo. This file is unique, which means there is no other file that looks exactly like it. For this reason, NFT is usually stored in a digital ledger or blockchain. The value of NFT increases when its demand increases.

You can promote your business in the metaverse by developing an NFT. Metaverse allows you to promote your NFT and business simultaneously. As your brand becomes popular, so does your NFT increase in value.

Interactive Live Events

Individuals and businesses can use Massive Interactive Live Events (MILES) to bring people together in real-time and virtually. For example, Dua Lipa was able to attend a runway show as an avatar.

Similarly, The Weekend was able to perform to millions of people on TikTok using a digital avatar. This was after the prohibition of in-person concerts during the pandemic. Today, most events that were held in person are being facilitated using the MILE. Businesses can now use MILE to draw as many people as possible in virtual events.

SEO and Metaverse

Similarly, companies are applying SEO for search engines like YouTube, Google, and Bing. The same approach should be applied when in the metaverse. For instance, you can use the most relevant keywords to optimize your content and attract a target audience on organic search results.

Here are some strategies for metaverse SEO:

• Local SEO: If you’re considering having a small business or a local restaurant, you can make this possible with Google. Google can use augmented and virtual reality to create 3D experiences from your local listings.
• AR content: You can engage with your audience deeper by taking the metaverse’s different perks. For example, if you are in the tourism business, you can create a virtual guided tour and take your audience through the various hotels and tourist destinations in other cities. This way, your clients can choose where they would like to visit during the tour. You are also free to experiment with the different types of content.
• Social media: Social media is also changing with the metaverse, with brands like Facebook now seeing a future in Meta. The company is set to invest in social media metaverse through its partnership with other brands like Oculus.

Social Media and Metaverse

The metaverse is the internet, as most people know it. This internet is unique because it enables users to consume content in 3D through their screens. Users are also able to experience the range through Virtual Reality.

For instance, as a metaverse user, you can walk inside a mall and shop for items for popular brands like Gucci and Adidas in the comfort of your home. You can buy items from any brand that has established its presence in the metaverse.

New metaverse keeps emerging, offering new opportunities for users to enjoy the technology. For example, there are four different metaverse worlds today; Somnium, Sandbox, CryptoVoxels, and Decentraland. Sandbox is one of the biggest metaverse platforms with over 500,000 active users.

Metaverse is a gold rush today with its increased traffic. Businesses are investing a big deal into metaverse given the increasing use of the Meta platforms.

Today metaverse is creating a new industry with the emergence of digital brokers and digital real estate agents. Marketers now have unique opportunities to showcase their brands and reach a large audience.

Most companies are exploring new techniques to market their brands, like digital billboards and virtual towns.

Some of the top metaverse platforms that are bound to replace social media in the future include:

• Roblox: The platform is available on Xbox, Android, and IOS. Users can create, decorate, and address their digital characters to come up with particular games.
• Axis Infinity: This type of cryptocurrency is placed to earn. Players can collect and create pets with unique axes in the blockchain game.
• Sandbox: This is a virtual metamorphosis in which users and players can experience their virtual experience, homes, and offices.
• Decentraland: This is a decentralized cryptographic technology, which means that no one controls the activities which take place through it.
• Cryptovoxels: This Ethereum metaverse platform offers a virtual gaming world that supports VR experience and PC usability.

Content Marketing and Metaverse

Metaverse will exist for the longest time; it is not going anywhere soon. The metaverse is expected to revolutionize marketing and how brands can engage with their target audience. There are different ways you can use content marketing in the metaverse to promote your brand on social media.

• Share quality content: Content is still king of marketing even in the metaverse world. What you do in metaverse should be fun enough for your target audience – it should be able to draw the attention of your target audience. You can consider things like branded games or clothing range.
• Create a new loyalty scheme: Instead of giving your customers points on a plastic card, you can reward them with a digital experience such as VIP access to live events. You can also award them exclusive and early access to digital merchandise like designer handbags.
• Ad placements: Metaverse billboards will most likely replace social media marketing. They can be viewed as avatars entering the different parts of the digital world. When using ad placements, businesses should remain ahead of the game.

When you use metaverse for content marketing, you must be more creative with your content.

Here are some of the easy you can create content for the metaverse.

• Convert the Web 2.0 content to Web 3.0: You can achieve this when you mint the existing digital assets into NFTs. Some digital assets you can easily mint into NFTs include photography, blog posts, digital images, and videos. It makes it easy to track the ownership of the assets.
• Apply the new content formats: As metaverse keeps improving, there will be new content formats that were not practical before. One type of content will present in the forms of interactive 3D environments and 3D virtual tours. You can create a virtual library with virtual books containing your best e-books and blog posts in a form that represents an actual book instead of a flat website or blog post. It is also possible to integrate most of your videos as a virtual screen that looks like a regular TV in your living room.
• Livestreaming into the metaverse: You can use the connect of Miles to hold sporting events, concerts, and other types of live shows streamed live within your metaverse platform.

Video Production and Metaverse

When using metaverse to market your brand, you want to be keen on the type of videos you use. A 2D video will not be enough to work for your metaverse strategy. To create quality 3D videos, you should capture them in 3D using unique HD cameras. This is important in creating unique and more immersive video content that takes advantage of virtual reality.

You can use the latest video applications to get a fine view of how 3D videos will work. The 3D images are captured using customized cameras and are broadcasted into a live virtual presentation held in the space.

Only a few companies have an in-house experience facility for their customers and can create holograms and volumetric videos. If your business is new to the metaverse and you want to create this experience for your target audience, partnering with a video production service is vital.

Influencer Marketing and Metaverse

Influencer marketing is one of the ways to showcase your brand to a larger audience and increase your sales. Today, the most popular influencers in the real world are found on social media. Metaverse is like social media, allowing people to become a digital version of themselves.

In countries like China, metaverse users use motion capture and 3D technology to create their virtual selves and become digital influencers. Some users even become virtual idols and digital avatars with a considerable fan base and following. However, most of the influencers in metaverse are computer generated.

Digital avatars are AI avatars that can learn from the information fed to them by developers and users interacting with them using Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms. Since the metaverse is still under development and growth, virtual avatars influencing the metaverse will take time.

You can also use virtual influencers to promote your business in the metaverse. Some brands that have used this strategy include Hugo Boss, which hired Nobody Sausage to promote their products through the hashtag #BeYourOwnBoss.

Disney is also planning to use the mass appeal of Minnie Mouse to promote its AR theme park.

You can use Virtual humans if you’re looking for inspiration on how you can promote your brand using virtual influencers. This method’s benefit is using the same influencer you’ve used for your social media marketing.

Today, virtual avatars promote different brands in the metaverse world. What makes them unique is that what they do is most likely to be scripted by their creators.

Let’s look at the top virtual avatars or metaverse influencers you can use to market your brand.

1. Lil Miquela

Lil Miquela is a famous virtual influencer in the metaverse world. The virtual influencer made her debut on Instagram back in April 2016.

The virtual avatars have grown to become one of the most sought influencers with millions of followers on the internet. The influencer is a creation of Brud, which is a Los Angeles startup.

2. Kyra

Kyra is another famous virtual influencer seen as a 22-year-old woman from India. You can see Kyra taking photos of famous monuments and beaches like Hawa Mahal. The influencer is more passionate about modeling and traveling.

3. Shudu

Shudu is a famous South African virtual influencer created by Balmain, the director of Olivier Rousteing. She was designed by Cameron-James Wilson, the renowned British photographer. The influencer made her debut in 2017 and has since become a major sensation on the internet.

4. Rozy Oh

Rozy Oh is a famous Asian metaverse influencer for social media. She was created by Sidus Studio X and made her debut in 2020. Rozy is a 22-year-old lady who never ages.

She is one of the most notable influencers on social media and has modeled for international labels like Calvin Klein. Rozy is also famous for encouraging her followers to participate in democratic processes like voting.

Full-service Metaverse Marketing Agency Services

Metaverse marketing agencies help you build your brand presence in virtual spaces. You can create your own influencer or partner with existing metaverse influencers to promote your products or services.

NetShopping is a leading metaverse marketing agency offering SEO, social media marketing, paid media marketing, influencer promotion, and video production services to elevate your branding.

NetShopping mainly serves B2B, crypto, and fintech industries. The metaverse marketing experts at NetShopping have worked with top brands such as fantom, IronFX, Polkadot, Intellectsoft, and others.

Share your campaign expectations and budget with us, and we will get back to you with a custom strategy to propel you towards your business goals.

Final Thoughts

As of January 9, 2021, the total global fundraising for companies working in the metaverse (Web 3.0 & NFT) space was $6.594 billion. This is expected to rise in 2023 and ahead.

Metaverse marketing is one of a kind that your business can’t afford to miss. The sooner you build your virtual space in the metaverse world, the better it will be for your business.

Partner with a top-rated metaverse advertising agency like NetShopping to start metaverse marketing and take your brand to the next level.