The metaverse is one of the trends that is marking an itinerary within the world of technology. In fact, there are already brands that have gained early ground in this digital universe that, although it has not yet been fully explored, is on the way to becoming a commercial enclave. Today we will give you 3 tips to manage your brand in the metaverse. If you have a company and want to know how to use this technology to your advantage, this article is for you.
Metaverse and experiences
The metaverse is already among us and it is a scenario that will continue to gain prominence in the coming years. In this sense, a Gartner study places this parallel world as one of the technology trends for 2023 for being able to provide new opportunities and challenges to a broad spectrum of industries and use cases.
Today we see the metaverse as companies try to provide virtual workspaces that drive greater engagement, collaboration, and connection. Meanwhile, this is also a great opportunity for both customer and user experiences.
Why is it an opportunity? Because it is a universe that still has great exploration potential and many people will use it for both leisure and business.
In itself, a metaverse is a collection of platforms, social networks, video games and virtual worlds where citizens (or consumers) can interact in the form of avatars. And whether or not it goes mainstream, the metaverse is driving business models and product transformation at breakneck speed. Let’s think that even Facebook has fallen into this “trap” by naming their company as Meta.
By now, marketers have the metaverse and the immersive experiences it can deliver on their minds, which is why it’s starting to be on the strategy agenda. “Meta-commerce” is upon us and brands must begin to explore it. This change will enrich the omnichannel customer experience with an additional dimension -that of a completely virtual world-, giving companies the opportunity to listen and support their customers in a new way.
Tips for managing your brand in the metaverse
Bearing in mind that the metaverse has arrived and will continue to increase its participation in commercial life and experiences, we want to give you 3 tips to manage the lives of brands in this space.
Provide a truly immersive brand experience
Virtuality is one of the ways in which brands reach people and the metaverse came to promote this activity.
Furthermore, engaged customers are likely to be absolutely willing to follow their preferred brand into the metaverse, and it is already happening with some of them. Of course, this will not be as easy as today where only products are displayed, for example in an ecommerce store. The key is to provide a truly immersive experience. In this sense, those who seek to build connections and interactions with consumers in the metaverse should take into account this type of experience that feeds people’s senses.
The immersive experience takes the user out of their comfort zone, places them in a place they are not used to, and introduces them to another, generally unusual reality, which, in this case, would be the metaverse.
Organisations will also need to keep in mind that many consumers will choose to navigate virtual spaces on their own, giving brands the opportunity to create many different touch points as well as larger, more impactful campaigns. The communication that will be generated in the metaverse will also be a point to take into account and has to do with our next tip.
Create a strong community that identifies in the metaverse
In social networks, the communities that are formed are strong and impressive. The same is true in the world of gaming. Therefore, the metaverse will not be absent from this generation of communities.
Building and managing a community will be essential to a brand’s reputation. For example, it is necessary to be clear about the way in which the metaverse will be communicated, what will happen if there is a problem with a purchase, through which channel claims will be made, etc.
Also, can comments be moderated? To deal with it correctly, a lot of planning is required when it comes to managing the life of a brand in the metaverse.
And what will happen to the influencers? In the world of social networks, gaming and streaming, these characters are very important as they help brands to position themselves through experiences that they generate as “real” users. The sense of identification makes people (and potential clients) see influencers as an example that something is useful and true.
So, the metaverse will also need the appearance of these social figures to generate a strong brand community.
Understand the new customer journeys
And this is a central point. Both brands and companies have their customer journey structured and studied. What happens when they are inserted into the metaverse and the conditions are different from those already known? Is the customer journey through this new virtual world the same as the one they do in an e-commerce or in a physical store?
What organisations need to understand now is how important it will be to moderate complex user behaviour and real-time generated content.
They will also need to bring social media users into the metaverse without lowering customer service expectations, the primary reason for establishing a good reputation. Additionally, they will need to continue to protect their community and their assets as they traverse the universes.
As we can see, both these 3 tips (provide an immersive experience, create a strong community and understand the new customer journeys) work together and if brands focus on it, they will be able to adapt to this new model that, although there is still a long way to go that it explodes in its totality, it will arrive.
