The pandemic has bought with it a lot of changes to the world. Yes, now it is the new normal. Almost in every sector, the way we do things is changing. Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform, with roughly 2.89 billion monthly active users announced recently that they are changing their corporate name to Meta. They are starting a new
revolution and lucky we are the first generation to experience this new digital transformation. Most of the things that we watched in movies that we think will only happen in our imaginations are in the real world now and much more to come.
Meta
Foremost, the name ‘Meta’ according to the company means ‘something that refers to itself’. As stated by Facebook founder, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg in his video, the name ‘Meta’ symbolizes ‘there is always more to build’. Originally, it is a Greek word meaning ‘after’ or ‘beyond’. The name change was announced at Facebook Connect 2021 conference.
The new logo resembles a distorted infinity loop. The company shaped the new 3D symbol as a continuous loop. Depending on the viewer’s point, the symbol can have a different meaning. From one angle it looks like M for Meta and an infinity loop from another. There are also different reactions to the symbol on the internet. Now, I think we have got an idea about the name and the logo.
So, let’s dive into the topic. – Metaverse and let’s see how it’s going toaffect you as a business owner or social media brand, impacts on Digital Marketing.
Marketing in Metaverse
Social, Education, Entertainment, Gaming, Fitness, Work, Commerce, etc… everything in the metaverse – ‘virtual environment where people can interact with each other and their surroundings.’
Metaverse is the space where several companies are betting for and Facebook did it!
An opening for a wide variety of possibilities in the Internet world. It is going to be the place where most of the humans as avatars going to interact with each other, do business, learn, work, play in a three–dimensional virtual space that leverages the metaphor of the real world.
Every important part of life is going digital. For instance, the transition of workplaces from factories to laptops, board-rooms to zooms, Friends from neighbours to followers, a greater number of kids play Fortnite than basketball & football combined, Filters are the new makeup. Everything goes digital and now like crypto, your assets are digital too.
Our virtual life is going to be more important than our real life. When it comes to the marketing side, when people go somewhere new, advertisers are always close behind. Billboards on the road, Radio & TV ads, banner ads on the internet, and now there is a new 3D world opening plenty of opportunities for greater innovations. Marketers certainly need to pay more attention to where there is set to be more and
new traffic.
Marketing is going to be completely digital. Adapting to the new medium is important. It is a bit difficult at the starting point as we started with social media before 17 or 18 years before, it is now the same situation. But gradually tools will emerge.
This will 100% be the future of online business and social media with or without your permission. So, it’s time to get ready for the new revolution.
1) Interactive Shopping
Many of us have come across a situation where we bought something online but it didn’t quite look like what we thought it would. While searching for a piece of furniture or something huge, I always wish I could experience it virtually. But with the help of Augmented reality, we can try it on or we can observe it virtually within the metaverse before purchasing it. It will allow the customers to see how a product might look on them or their home. This gives a better idea of the value that the product can offer.
2) Meetings, Conferencing, class-rooms
Nowadays the popularity of zoom meetings just went high as the need for social distancing increased. In Metaverse, interactions are going to be more interesting and effective. A 3D form can give a much better experience than 2D meetings.
3) Integrating things like NFT’s, crypto, XR
NFT’s – Non-Fungible Tokens, cryptocurrencies and XR extended reality referring to all real and virtual combined environments are another burgeoning space in the metaverse. I am not going deep into these but it is very important to know each of these in detail because in the future digital world these are the things that are going to be the most important medium of economic exchange.
4) Interactive Social Content
Content creation is about to get more layers deeper. In the present scenario, we are mainly consuming 2D content but within the metaverse, it’s about to become completely 3D.
Most of the brands have already started virtual ‘try on’ like Adidas, Gucci, L’Oréal etc…
The technology can absolutely improve customer engagement also there are several other benefits especially in the marketing field like Brand attraction, Content marketing, Personalised experience, helps in decision making.
In our consumer population, Gen Z grows in number. The ‘digital natives’ will be more comfortable and are more familiar with the metaverse concept than millennials and baby boomers. I know some of you might think at this point that ‘people are not going to always wear those virtual reality goggles everywhere they go’ but I am sure that innovations are on the way. It may sound a bit different for us but the coming generation growing with these, it’s going to be just normal for them.
Digital marketing is going to be more competitive in the coming years. Metaverse is going to be a game-changer. As a brand owner or a marketer, this is going to take the brand to the next level. This in fact leads to a new gap between the brand and the customers that needs to be bridged and digital marketers will be ones who can provide a solution here. There will be more options for ads placement. Now we have the ads on Facebook, Instagram, newsfeeds, right-hand column, etc. While we shop through these social media, they have the records of what type of things we searched for, what we bought, the type of music that we are interested in, and many more. When it comes to the metaverse world even the currency is digital, they will be able to track what you spend your money on, how much you spend on average, time, day… everything. Sounds a little crazy now but this is going to be mind-blowing. Just keep up with the technology, there are going to be a lot of opportunities. Even though it seems scary for me right now at the same time I am really excited also.
As Alvin Toffler wrote in one of his observations: “The illiterate of the21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” Now it is time to wade into the Metaverse World.
The future is going to be beyond anything we can imagine!
