Touted as the Future of the digital world, Metarverse opens up new avenues for Marketers. Marketers are always interested in getting the edge over their competitors, making sure that their brands get the best they have to offer. They are always looking for ways to promote their product. Remember watching television soap operas that had long advertisements? When the YouTube and OTT platforms came into the picture, many thought they escaped the advertisements. But marketers found their way into these video platforms and OTT platforms, offering them a chance to earn more money.
In a similar way, marketers are bound to make the most of the metaverse. One only has to remember the spam adverts in Wreck it Ralph to understand the power of marketing.
From creating tokenized content to holding virtual events, there are numerous ways a brand can leverage the platform to promote their projects. Let’s see how these marketing techniques can help your brand grow.
Organize and Hold Virtual Events in Metaverse:
The music industry has made the best use of this strategy. Famous music celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, and Charlie Puth have all performed virtually for Fortnite, with the game characters as the audience. When Travis Scott’s concert went live on Fortnite over 27.7 million players participated in the event. Other musicians on this list were also quite popular and brought in a large virtual audience.
While holding a virtual event like convert is ideal for musicians, other businesses would probably benefit more from holding similar interactive events where a brand executive could communicate with the virtual audience.
Such brands can also conduct events, such as debates, interviews, discussions, and keynotes in a virtual space provided by the metaverse. As we have already seen, adding a popular celebrity figure or even a social media influencer can sensationalize most events, attracting a crowd in the metaverse. Virtual Events offers the perfect platform for businesses to display their products and services to the wider world, gaining much-needed exposure.
Create Marketable Crypto Tokens
Governed by Decentralized Autonomous Organization, known also as DAO, Decentraland is a web3 virtual platform which has seamlessly blended marketing with gaming.
Well-known Brands such as Adidas, Coca-cola, Morgan Stanley, and Samsung have used this platform to showcase their products. One of Decentraland’s best marketing tactics comes in the form of its very own cryptocurrency, known to all as MANA. Players need to use this currency to purchase goods, services, and lands in this metaverse. Following in the steps of such powerful platforms is a great idea. Consider creating marketable tokens or currencies that you can either sell or give away to gain exposure.
One way to create a marketable token is to create a niche-centric NFT in your metaverse space. This NFT will represent your brand in the metaverse, so it is necessary to come up with unique ideas that align with your brand. You can then either give it away for free, building trust and creating a strong relationship. Or you can sell it in the virtual world in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Instead of randomly giving away NFTs or cryptocurrency to your audience, you can choose to award your loyal customers, which will strengthen their trust in the brand. Apart from NFTs, you can also offer them gift cards, coupon codes, or in-game items that would give them an edge over new players.
Build a strong metaverse Community:
We have already seen how giving away or rewarding loyal customers can solidify the bond between a brand and its loyal followers. In the same lieu, you could use numerous experimental marketing tactics to build a metaverse community. Start by creating a metaverse space where communities can gather and engage with each other. In fact, don’t just stick to one space. Create several different spaces with a specific purpose that brings these virtual participants together.
In addition, you also need to offer people the choice to customize their space, avatar, and surroundings, feeding their need to be in control of situations. Building a metaverse platform that can adapt to their needs will go a long way in strengthening the bond between the platform and customers. Even out of the metaverse, their word-of-mouth marketing can help you gain a larger audience. So, start by building a platform that gives them the illusion of control.
With the blockchain as its backbone, a metaverse already has tight security. However, it wouldn’t hurt to tighten the security further. A secure metaverse will give artistic creators a place to get away from thieves who take credit for their works.
Displaying Brands in Metaverse:
From Hyundai to Louis Vuitton, renowned brands all over the world have jumped into the Metaverse with their eyes wide open. Hyundai, in particular, partnered with Roblox, a global gaming platform, a metaverse in its own right. Hyundai targeted an audience of the technological blend, offering them an immersive experience of their newest technology taunting sustainable transportation
The luxury brand, Loui Vuitton, decided to create and launch a 30-piece NFT collection to celebrate 200 years dedicated to custom luxury fashion. In this Louis Vuitton game, a metaverse of sorts, you’ll come across their mascot named Vivienne, a character that takes you through the game where you have to collect the 200 candles for each successful year.
When you decide to use Metaverse for business and marketing, there are so many ways to advertise a brand, displaying your brands in the metaverse and immersing them would connect this virtual platform to reality. You can build a marketing strategy tailored to the products, and the first step is to identify the target audience. When you are narrowing down your target audience, also factor in the gaming platform they use. While many have a PC or mobile, very few have a dedicated gaming console. Feed the data obtained into your metaverse marketing campaign to get the most out of this marketing technique.
Selling Goods in Metaverse:
Coming back to the people’s need to be in control, to express their individuality, a form of self-expression, let’s talk about selling goods and services that give them the tools to stand out.
In partnership with the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney, and Punk Comics, Adidas made and sold NFTs of over 22 million USD. Adidas offered its virtual customers a total of 30,000 NFTs that were minted mere hours after it went on sale. While this kind of response would seem commonplace for a well-established brand like Adidas, a new brand with great products has access to the same group of audience that isn’t shy about spending their money on premium products.
The trick is to offer and deliver premium products that the metaverse audience wants to buy. Do a deep dive into all the present metaverse and learn about the technologies used in the metaverse. A study of this should help you come up with a product that will not only help you make the big bucks but also spread awareness about your brand. This gives you the perfect platform to promote your project.
SEO for Metaverse
Even though the current metaverses are in their infancy, SEO experts all over the world already have plans and strategies in place. While it’s hard to predict the course of the metaverse, everyone is sure that it will undoubtedly change the marketing world. Most will probably treat metaverses as a whole as a social media platform like YouTube or Facebook and devise marketing strategies accordingly.
Since there’s no clear way to implement SEO so far, we can only speculate how it can be used to further SEO. Marketers and metaverse owners can think about how different SEO strategies could benefit their brands.
Consider the following two Metaverse SEO strategies:
- Domain-based SEO Strategy: Getting your metaverse ranked for the top-tier search queries.
- Device-based SEO Strategy: Creating SEO strategy for devices such as VR glasses. It wouldn’t be that different than creating a strategy for voice search or image search.
In addition, it would also be best to follow the search engine webmaster guidelines set by the specific search engines you want to rank on.
Final Words:
Now that we have grasped the necessity of these marketing techniques. Let’s also summarize and talk about the benefits of Metaverse marketing.
Metaverse offers marketers and advertisers a live platform to display their interactive adverts, ensuring that the target audience can reach out in real-time. Building a community can go a long way in building goodwill, helping you keep your loyal customers and attract more quality customers. Additionally, you can boost your brand’s visibility by conducting virtual events, displaying your brand in the metaverse, and selling branded goods in the metaverse.