You are shopping online for party wear and you can even try on that pretty dress and see how you look while you are on the move. You are at your travel agent’s office planning to travel to a scenic location, and you can already hear the chirping birds and gurgling streams right where you are seated at the agent’s office. You can even experience holiday adventures like the bumpy jeep ride and bungee jumping before you get there. Are you playing a video game? Feel the breath of Spinosaurus and run through the dense forests of Isla Nublar. Meet your friends and relatives in a distant land right from your drawing-room, with the feeling of having met them personally. You can attend your favorite concert and feel the liveliness from the comfort of your home. Yes! Step into the Metaverse—which literally means “beyond the universe”.
What is Metaverse?
A Metaverse is a virtual space where your physical world experiences can tag along with you. A metaverse experience draws a thin line between your virtual and real worlds. It nurtures social interaction through its collection of 3D virtual worlds with the help of Augmented Reality (AR-VR) headsets and highly developed software. The term “metaverse” is a combination of two words: “meta” and “universe,” which were first coined in 1992 through the science fiction novel ‘Snow Crash’.
A paradigm shift in digital marketing content
According to Google Trends, the search graph for the term “metaverse” has been ascending in the past year. A keyword search on LinkedIn for “metaverse” gives about 2700 results of people using “metaverse” in their profile title, headline, or experience. 175,000 search results for the keyword “metaverse news” came up on Google News. Depending on the news cycle, #metaverse receives roughly 500+ tweets each hour, and #metaverse has been used in over 43,000 Instagram posts. These numbers are clear indications that the metaverse is going to be the future of digital marketing content.
Why Metaverse is critical for content creators and marketers
Simply put, the metaverse is here not just to create new technological advancements, but it is here to have its own self-contained universe that is complete and functional. In this universe, you can do all that you would do in your physical world. You could buy your own piece of land with Bitcoin or Ethereum. All you will need is your credentials and a digital id. The metaverse runs in parallel to the real world, and so it is so easy to step into the metaverse with our real-world experiences and content. With its attractive AR-VR features and 3D visualization, people will search for content in the metaverse, which they can better relate to, rather than looking for content on the web 2.0. Given its adaptability, it is easy for content creators to move their assets easily into the metaverse. The metaverse also gives content creators an opportunity to observe, create, and target their content more effectively and efficiently because the metaverse is a perfect environment for content to evolve with technology.
Content marketing and Metaverse – a match made in heaven
In the world of marketing communications, content is king, provided the content keeps pace with the ever-evolving technology. As a result, when the internet was introduced, businesses began to have their own websites; when e-commerce was introduced, brands began competing to attract attention on e-commerce sites; and with the introduction of social media, businesses now have their own pages there as well. We can be sure digital marketing gurus across the world are brainstorming to make a strong entry into the metaverse too.
Marketing content is evolving to meet the needs of metaverse-native consumers
There is no doubt that content creation and marketing strategies are going to go through a grand metamorphosis in preparation for the metaverse. Content marketing in the metaverse is going to be a combination of 3D animations, virtual space, augmented reality, and much more! Consumers will slowly want to virtually hold and try products that give them the correct and clear experience of what they are going to own instead of assuming facts from the 2D world. And brands will need to create these experiences through their content in order to meet consumer demand. This demand and the need to meet expectations are going to seep into B2B segments as well, making way for a complete revolution in how we create stories.
Digital marketing content will need to start telling its brand stories in three dimensions. Advertisement content will need to create experiences, be it digital billboards, posters or virtual stores. Thanks to the pandemic, we have already seen some major brands make their move towards this end. Blogs and videos will be adorning their 3D attire, making information and marketing catchier and more interesting. This is also going to bring in an array of innovative content creation tools that, as they mature, will be user-friendly, enabling the common man’s participation in content generation.
Interactive content libraries, digital participation in live streams, immersive gaming, virtual stores, 3D advertisements, and AR-VR-enabled tours are going to be the order of the day in the brave new metaverse.
Summing up
No doubt, the metaverse is going to take a while before it finds a place in people’s hearts and minds. But that is just time enough for software and visual media professionals, digital marketing gurus, B2B storytellers and content managers across the world to build the right tools, adopt to new changes, iron out technical snags, learn from challenges and be there to welcome their customers when they start arriving in huge numbers.