It is interesting how the term “metaverse” has taken on many different meanings for various individuals. Maybe it’s because technology right now, in 2022, appears so nebulous, far away, or unfinished.
Prior to now, the potential of hyperreal digital realities was out of grasp since hardware, behavior, cost, and content prevented widespread adoption. But with numerous large tech companies placing significant bets on the metaverse, all of that is anticipated to alter, speeding up the process by which we resolve the dependencies that would herald the “dawn of a new internet.”
The largest of these is Meta, which has pledged to invest $10 billion by 2021 and hire 10,000 engineers over the following five years, demonstrating that it is significantly more invested in the project than any other metaverse endeavor.
It’s not just Meta, though. Unity CEO John Riccitiello claimed the business will “support and shape the metaverse” during a Q2 2021 earnings call. Only a few months later, Unity purchased Weta Digital for $1.625 billion, with Riccitiello suggesting that this will aid in the development of the metaverse. A recent $68.7 billion acquisition by Microsoft also included Activision.
The race to develop the metaverse has officially started, with major corporations betting huge sums of money on the outcome.
The race to develop the metaverse has officially started, with major corporations betting huge sums of money on the outcome.
Waiting on the starting line is not the best use of your time right now. As a business, there are actually easy things you can do right now to get ready for the metaverse. Here are four strategies for getting ready.
1. Watch out for the technology
The digital environment accessible with VR headsets and mo-cap gloves is referred to as the “metaverse” in the movie “Ready Player One.” Obviously, that would prevent the general public from accessing the metaverse.
Instead of following sci-fi, follow the technologies that will enable interactions within the metaverse, especially those that have been gradually gaining traction for some time before the term “metaverse” became popular. For instance, voice technology.
Voice interfaces have traditionally been preferred by consumers. With a 10% annual growth rate, voice search is now used by more than one-third of Americans. Consumers prefer voice-over typing, according to PwC, by 71%.
The metaverse makes sense of it. You can see how speaking to one another will be a lot more effective way to communicate than typing on a virtual screen.
Many technologies that were developed before the metaverse but seem well-suited to function within it include conversational AI, XR, VR, digital humans, and synthetic media.
Many technologies that were developed before the metaverse but seem well-suited to function within it include conversational AI, XR, VR, digital humans, and synthetic media.
2. Plan for interactions rather than simply transactions
People will desire substantially more conversational interactions, according to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, who made this statement in November. Pichai was discussing the role that his company plays in the metaverse, and throughout the entire conversation, he makes numerous insightful comments. The power of talks is the first.
The metaverse will beckon people to fully immerse themselves. The encounters will be more dynamic and two-way, very different from the transactional nature of websites as we currently know them.
Definitely, a scenario that brands can plan for. However, they already are by using techniques like conversational marketing and conversational commerce. Two-way dialogue is becoming more important in automated marketing and sales platforms (with personality, charm, and charisma to boot). The majority of conversational AI is becoming more sophisticated, with some coming from human contact.
Conversations are still valuable no matter what the use case. In Web 3.0, interactions will be the norm rather than the cold transactions of Web 2.0.
3. Evaluate the metaverse channel’s value
It will take commitment to enter and a clear strategy to succeed in the metaverse, a new channel for brands that have the potential to be large and profitable. Brands can start considering their interactions with consumers in the metaverse right away.
How will your clients experience the metaverse in the best, most seamless way? Which value would your best experience have? What would the risk be if you didn’t provide that experience? How ready are your present channels to make the switch to the metaverse?
Will customers, for instance, want to leave the metaverse to place a pizza order? Are they going to leave their companions, take off their VR headset, open the app for their preferred pizza shop, place an order, and then re-enter the metaverse? Will they return a second or third time to check on the progress of their delivery? Or will they carry out all of those actions within the pizza shop’s virtual reality store?
You’ll begin to understand the importance of your metaverse channel after you imagine what it might look like.
4. Think about how your brand appears and sounds
Within the metaverse, how will people interact? Although it’s impossible to say for sure, the solution won’t involve using mobile devices or the internet in the same way that we do now.
People won’t hang out and read a website in the metaverse, which may be a vibrant, colourful, and alive place. They will seek out brand interactions that also feel authentic to daily life.
It will enable marketers to build brands that go well beyond a simple logo, brand colour, and brand font. The encounter will take on multiple senses. Virtual employees of brands will receive conversations. They will take them seriously. They’ll be aware of them and engage with them. They’ll experience the brand with a greater personality.
It will enable marketers to build brands that go well beyond a simple logo, brand colour, and brand font. The encounter will take on multiple senses.
For companies like Geico, whose online gecko is bursting with personality and interacts now, this is nothing new. It’s also nothing new for companies like State Farm, which already gave gamers the opportunity to connect with Jake in NBA 2K22.
But that job is still in front of the great majority of businesses. The good news is that every brand marketer will be giddy with anticipation over this possibility.
