Marketing News
What marketers need to know about the Metaverse
By 2026, 30% of global corporations will be offering products and services through the Metaverse, according to new research by Marketing Profs.
A further report by Gartner predicts that 25% of people will spend at least one hour per day in the Metaverse by 2026 and that it will have its own virtual economy run through digital currencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
Both agree the future of the Metaverse is huge and will impact every business that customers interact with on a daily basis.
But what IS the Metaverse? How big will it get? And should your brand consider diving in?
The Metaverse is about to completely transform the way marketing, sales, and customer success teams are communicating, educating, and selling. What should marketers learn before considering jumping in, what are the marketing fundamentals and how do you get started?
What is the metaverse?
Meta means beyond and verse stands for the universe, put simply it is a non-physical realm, a virtual reality that mirrors our own world and is being built using the latest web 3 technology.
It is not owned by Facebook, which in fact changed its name to Meta to capitalise on the growing new world, instead technological pioneers are rushing to build the architecture for it and place their flag in the virtual world to claim their space.
Why? Well, it’s big business. Although it runs on a sort of crypto currency called NFTS (more on those later), users or avatars, which are the personas people create to enter the Metaverse, buy those NFTs and the equipment they need to enjoy their experience with traditional money or crypto coin.
Socialising, gaming and destination experiences emerge from the activities early adopters are interested in pursuing, mirroring the general population albeit in a different order. Entertainment, fashion houses and sports’ clubs are the sectors who have been most enthused about it because it’s a way fans can enjoy a next level experience and more importantly pay for it.
It is bigger than augmented reality and you can see the appeal for everyone from soap fans (Emmerdale just launched in the Metaverse this week) to Manchester United, who have recreated themselves there.
The reasoning? Which die-hard supporters wouldn’t pay to ‘play’ on the Old Trafford pitch or have a pint in the Woolpack?
You can also interact with other avatars in the Metaverse meaning at some stage there will probably be a Metaverse World Cup, football leagues and in fact, virtual replicas of every sporting tournament you can imagine with virtual branding and advertising as another benefit.
What arenon-fungible tokens?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the currency used to buy ‘things’ in the Metaverse. They can simply be passes that enable you to visit or take part in activities.
Technically a fungible asset can be broken into units and used to exchange for other assets (ie like pounds and pence), they are given value because they are ‘one-of-a-kind’ assets.
Originally NFTs started life as multi-million pound digital artworks, for example, Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet being sold for more than £2million, but now they are being used like certificates or tokens users buy for access.
A record of ownership is kept in the blockchain, which is used by crypto-currency and now NFTs, as a literal bank of information, using thousands of computers to store the information which cannot be altered.
The Metaverse in the UK
The latest YouGov research shows that unsurprisingly it is the younger generation who are adapting the Metaverse first with the report saying a third (32%) of Gen Z and almost a quarter (23%) of those aged 25- 34 are interested in the Metaverse. And the areas they are most interested in are social media platforms, gaming and entertainment.
Further research from Mintel found that half of people in the UK felt neither positive or negative about the Metaverse, with over two-thirds (69%) of those who knew about it, interested in using it for financial purposes, though 44% are concerned about banking security in the Metaverse.
It’s very big business
Finally, why should you consider your company joining the Metaverse? Because the financial predictions are, excuse the pun, out of this world.
What’s more, companies will be able to do so much more in the Metaverse as the architecture grows. From meeting clients and customers there to using it to market and advertise, similar to how social platforms are currently used
And can you afford not to be in the Metaverse? Being an early adapter will bag you a potential bargain as thanks to likes of the new Decentraland, you can start to own land and rent it out!
Sources:
Gartner Predicts 25% of People Will Spend At Least One Hour Per Day in the Metaverse by 2026 Gartner
Marketing in Today’s Metaverse MarketingProfs
Unlocking the Metaverse YouGov
Reasons for entering the metaverse according to users in the United States and United Kingdom (UK) as of March 2022 statista
UK Financial Services and the Metaverse Market Report 2022 Mintel
52 Metaverse Statistics | Market Size & Growth (2023) Influencer MarketingHub
What are NFTs and why are some worth millions? BBC
A Short History Of The Metaverse Forbes
Emmerdale makes soap history with never-before-seen addition to village The Sun
Decentraland Decentraland
