Advertising in the metaverse is an aspect of digital marketing. It involves taking advantage of the large audience a virtual world can pull.
No doubt, people around the world are interested in virtual activities. Experience has shown that the number of event attendees grows immensely when such event is taken to the metaverse.
Similarly, since humans are in control of avatars, their daily metaverse activities might not be different from their actual engagements. Frequent metaverse events will be a driving force for more people around the world to be a part of the virtual world.
Accordingly, startups, companies, or advertising agencies will take advantage of increasing metaverse users. Also, the similarity in real and virtual activities of humans will be an excellent opportunity for talented advertisers to get ahead with metaverse marketing.
This article will discuss factors advertisers should consider before advertising in the metaverse and how to create effective metaverse marketing content.
Advertising in the Metaverse
When planning your strategy to advertise in virtual worlds, the following are essential factors that you or your advertising agency might consider:
Take a survey of users of the metaverse platform.
There are two reasons why you must know the kinds of people using a metaverse platform. Firstly, most products are for a specific age distribution. Accordingly, a brand must ensure that users of a platform are of the right age to use its product.
For instance, blockchain-based virtual worlds that sell virtual lands often have users above 18 or 20 years. In contrast, most of those playing virtual reality games might be teenagers.
Why? Blockchain-based worlds allow players to invest and earn. As a result, adults looking to own virtual assets use them more.
A car producer planning on marketing in the metaverse will not fail to consider the above narrative. Such a brand will like to place its advert in virtual worlds where players make money and can use the money to buy cars.
Secondly, brands must know the average number of people visiting a metaverse platform daily. This stat will help to determine how many persons (in the form of avatars) are likely to see or interact with an advert in a day.
Remember, with a larger audience, there is more possibility that some persons will be interested in a brand’s product.
Review the platform’s community
Metaverse platforms often set up communities for users to interact and stay updated with the game. Players can ask questions or learn how to use the platform in a community.
Blockchain-based virtual worlds often create their communities on Discord. For example, Decentraland’s Discord community contains over 175,000 members. Also, The Sandbox has 290,000 members, and Somnium Space has 45,000 Discord members.
In like manner, Roblox has a community space where players can meet one another, and Fortnite has a Facebook community with 6 million followers.
A brand can get to know the following facts about a metaverse game through its community:
- Countries where most players in a platform are located and their languages.
- The cultures of those countries and how this might help your brand.
- The kind of virtual events that most players are likely to attend.
- Previous player complaints and how to avoid them in your adverts.
Understanding the activities and events that players respond to the most is essential before advertising in the metaverse.
Select a suitable location to advertise
The location of an advert or a metaverse marketing event is as important as the content. Remember, virtual worlds operate like the actual world. Hence, ensuring that your marketing efforts are set in the right location and for the right audience is vital.
An advertiser in the real world would not leave highly-populated urban cities to advertise in isolated areas. Accordingly, if a brand must purchase or rent virtual land to advertise, such LAND should not be far from popular locations.
Moreso, LANDs most suitable for marketing are located near significant partners of metaverse platforms. While LANDs in these premium locations might be expensive, it is worth the investment if a brand must reach a reasonable number of people.
A brand might see no reason to purchase or rent virtual land for metaverse marketing. In that case, other advertising options like virtual billboards, video displays, and virtual events are better options.
Nonetheless, the brand must also consider a few factors relating to location when advertising in the metaverse. For a billboard to be effective, it should be visible to thousands of avatars at any time.
Accordingly, it would be best to set up the billboard or marketing event in premium locations of a platform. Meanwhile, another alternative is to gather information regarding significant upcoming events, fashion shows, or gaming tournaments.
When you know the location and date of such significant events, set up an advert, or locate your marketing spot near the arena. At the same time, while such an effort might be expensive, it can be more effective and help you get ahead with metaverse marketing.
Evaluate the potential risks of your metaverse marketing strategy
Business is a risk. It involves convincing people to buy your product or use your service. Hence, before advertising in the metaverse, think of a few things that might discourage people from using what you are about to advertise.
Does the product or service you are about to promote already exist? If so, you or your marketing team must add a new idea or feature that will spur people to leave the existing product for yours. Otherwise, advertising a product that has a current and trusted alternative might lead to a waste of resources.
Similarly, you must think of unexpected happenings when planning a metaverse marketing event. Before advertising in the metaverse, you may consider the following questions:
- Are there limits to the users a platform can accommodate at once?
- Do you need to translate an ad to multiple languages to reach more audiences?
- Are there teenagers and children in a virtual world? If so, be sure to avoid publishing adverts that are unsafe for them.
Evaluating the cost, risk, and potential reward of an advert or virtual event can help brands get ahead with advertising in the metaverse.
