A big change occurred in the marketing industry recently. The social network giant Facebook changed its parent company name from Facebook to Meta. This name change might seem insignificant right now, but it's a huge move that might change things for both the entire marketing industry and Facebook (Meta) as a whole in the near future.
This one change popularized the newest buzzword, the metaverse. Now that everyone is starting to learn more about the metaverse, it is clear that Meta has huge plans for the new metaverse market and how to use it to their advantage. Only time will tell what the exact changes will be, but in this article, we will cover some of the more obvious ones that marketers should get ready for.
What Is The Metaverse?
The metaverse has been hailed as the next evolution of the internet. Currently, the idea behind the metaverse is simple: it will be a fully-fledged online space where users can interact and experience things that the current internet doesn't support fully at this current time.
When thinking about the metaverse, it is important to note that this isn't one specific technology. The metaverse refers to a brand new way of interacting with the web. This could mean that there will be a wider adaptation of Virtual Reality headsets, with detailed environments, and completely online experiences. Digital elements and our real world will become even more intertwined and harder to distinguish. If everything continues as planned, we will be able to live parts of our lives completely online, immersed in the new world they created.
Why Is It Important?
The metaverse will be a huge change for all of our lives. The final result may be a completely digital life that mixes VR and AR elements and gives users access to virtual worlds, currencies, goods, and experiences. This makes a lot of sense when you consider that Facebook bought the VR headset producer Oculus a few years back, so now it seems that are slowly starting to back that purchase up with real projects.
Metaverse involves us having shared virtual spaces where we can interact with each other, as well as with products and goods that we can purchase from one of the millions of advertisers that will join in on the program.
The company has slowly positioned itself to be at the forefront of the new digital revolution and the goal is to put Meta in the number one spot. This project is in active development and it's not the question of will it become a reality but more of a “when will it become reality”. And one thing is for certain, affiliate marketers will experience a lot of changes that might help or hinder them in the future.
How Can It Affect Marketing Campaigns?
Popular free-to-play games like Fortnite, League of Legends, or Raid Shadow Legends have shown that free experiences can be incredibly lucrative if monetized properly. Most of these games utilize a free playing system that adds cosmetic or gameplay changes for a certain real-world price.
This could be the same path the metaverse could take. Imagine buying your avatar a new pair of shoes, or branded clothes that you can show off to other users. This will only grow bigger and bigger, and soon you could be selling Teespring shirts, Etsy mugs, and unique products directly to virtual avatars on the metaverse.
Facebook is an advertising company first and foremost. While they are known as a social network, we all know that is not where the money comes from. The main source of revenue for Facebook is through the collection of data from its billions of users and helping advertisers market to these users.
One of the biggest advertising groups is affiliate marketers.
Marketing is always changing. Things that worked years or months ago might not work at all right now, and the same goes for the future. Once the metaverse launches, marketers will have to adapt to the new rules quicker than ever.
The first users of the metaverse are likely to be younger people that are more tech-savvy and ready to experiment with new technologies. So the first thing marketers will have to do is adapt to a younger audience, as well as a whole new environment.
Most likely the change will start slowly. Items that are available in the real world will slowly get advertised in the virtual world. Then some items might be available to buy virtually as well. Soon after that, if it's profitable enough, those items might only be available digitally. Circumventing the need to create real physical products and invest time and money into designing, producing, and shipping things.
How Will It Change Marketing?
The metaverse will bring sweeping changes to all industries. The purely digital world will transform consumer behavior drastically, similar to how online shopping changed everything a decade ago. A certain thing that will happen is an increase in money spent on advertising. The pure scale and novelty of the program will attract billions of users right from the start, giving advertisers a massive audience to try and influence. The metaverse will bring advertisers unparalleled data and information on potential leads.
You as an advertiser will have the chance to target specific people that have just the right interests for your products. There will also be a lot of new stores opened completely virtually. These stores will mostly hold a mix of real-world and digital items, but we think that all of this will slowly transition to digital-only.
Marketers will need to start spending more on their campaigns as well. To have success, they will probably need to create elaborate and unique online experiences that potential customers will want to interact with. Users will get more knowledgeable and experienced with how everything works. They will soon be less attracted to clicking or interacting with regular advertisements. They will need a new way to advertise and attract new people.
To grow their audiences, affiliate marketers might need to use and implement technologies like cryptocurrencies, NFT’s, or the blockchain into their campaigns. However, predicting just how much of that will be regulated and work cohesively is near to impossible at the moment.
There will probably be a great surge for digital collector's items. Some of these items will be sold on auctions or through regular marketing efforts. This will certainly be backed up by blockchain technology and things like NFT’s. These can be designed to have very creative real-life, or metaverse benefits that could incentivize people to buy even further.
Interactive LIVE events will become common. Currently, the closest an advertiser can do online to a real-life meeting is an online Livestream. These streams are often boring, take a lot of time, fail to hit the mark, and change people's minds on converting.
This is where things like massive interactive live events (MILE) could come into play. With the metaverse being a primarily online experience, it might be simple to organize massive, digital-only events that could promote brands and their products. These events could be incredible experiences that users would interact with no matter what is advertised.
Conclusion
The Metaverse will be a huge shift on the internet as we know it today. Meta is slowly positioning itself to become an industry leader. As we know, Facebook is no stranger to maximizing its advertising capabilities, so affiliate marketers should rejoice.
Amongst advertising the “classic” way, advertisers will have the possibility to advertise to customers directly in virtual worlds. These ads have the potential to be incredible and to attract heaps of people that might not ever interact with your brand beforehand.
Have you heard of the Metaverse? How do you think it will change the internet and affiliate marketing in a few years? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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