6 Ways Your Business Can Use the Metaverse in Marketing

By Austin Rotter

The metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds designed to foster socializing. While the internet is brimming with the buzz around this evolving concept, you might be left grappling with some unsolved questions about what the metaverse means for small business.

How can the metaverse be used in marketing, and what are some of its benefits? Which businesses are already using the metaverse in their marketing efforts? How can I start using it in my own marketing campaigns? What challenges do I need to be aware of when using the metaverse in marketing?

6 ways to use the metaverse in marketing

1. Advertise in virtual metaverse worlds

There has been rapid growth in direct-to-consumer selling on social media. People can purchase things and have them shipped directly to their location in just a few steps. And recently, a partnership was announced between Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and e-commerce technology company VNTANA that will make it easier for brands to run 3D ads.

How can this be helpful to consumers? Imagine you are on Instagram browsing for a product. A moment later, an ad pops up that you can spin around and zoom in or out as if it were in your hand. 3D advertisements will allow consumers to interact with a product before buying it from the comfort of their homes.

Businesses will be able to reach customers by placing these ads within the virtual worlds where people surf. In addition, 3D billboards can be placed in video games where players roam virtual cities.

2. Create a walkable VR store for your customers

Virtual reality (VR) is a completely immersive experience where users can interact with 3D environments and objects as if they were real. This technology is in its infancy, but there are already a number of businesses utilizing it as a tool for a number of activities, including conducting meetings, training employees, developing and marketing products, and telling unique stories.

Technology also exists for experiential e-commerce, which allows businesses to create virtual stores. With Obsess, customers can visit a store and walk up to products and analyze them before buying; businesses can evaluate customer interactions with products to help with future marketing decisions.

3. Let your customers experience products in real life with AR

Augmented reality, a.k.a. AR, is similar to VR, but instead of being fully immersed in a virtual world, it brings digital elements into the real world. Take Porsche, as an example. The car company has created an AR visualizer, which allows customers in their homes to use their own phone's camera to take a glimpse into what their ideal car would look like.

In the same way, you can also utilize AR to create personalized experiences for your customers.

4. Allow customers to experience your product before buying

Mixed reality, or MR, is a hybrid of VR and AR, where virtual objects are placed into the real world in a way that users can interact with them. For instance, Microsoft's HoloLens headset allows users to view, hear, and interact with digital content in the physical world.

This technology is also being used by businesses to train employees or give customers a virtual tour of a product before they purchase it.

5. Offer virtual tours of your brick and mortar business

There are a number of tools available online that allow you to record 360° videos and photos to give viewers a panoramic view of an environment or situation as if they are standing in the middle of it. This type of content is often used in small businesses' marketing efforts since it provides customers with a more immersive experience, allowing them to understand a product or service in a better way.

6. Use 3D scanning technology to easily import physical products into virtual platforms

Another next-gen technology that is increasingly being utilized in marketing is 3D scanning. With this you can build virtual representations of your products or any other real-world objects, and later use them in VR or AR experiences. Unity's RestAR, for instance, allows you to create photorealistic 3D renderings of simple videos using only a mobile phone.

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• Big Brands Starting to Use 3D Printing in Creative Marketing Campaigns
• Digital Transformation Best Practices: 5 Ways to Stay Legally Compliant
• Virtual Reality Is Finally Here—Is Your Business Ready to Benefit From It?

Challenges for marketing with the metaverse

Before the metaverse breaks into the marketing mainstream, it must overcome some key challenges:

• Trust issues. A key challenge small business owners face in the metaverse is a lack of trust between users. That's primarily because the metaverse is a decentralized platform; there's no one authority tied to overseeing all the transactions. As a result, users are often reluctant to engage in deals where they do not know or trust who's behind the scenes.
• Immature technology. Metaverse is still in its nascent stages of development, which means that the audience is quite limited. This presents a challenge for businesses as they need to find ways to reach a global audience. The technology is also immature, and there are concerns over its security and privacy.
• It's expensive. The cost of setting up and running a business in the metaverse is rather substantial. This is because businesses need to invest in virtual reality equipment to participate in it. Additionally, they need to pay for the bandwidth and server space that is required to run their operations.
• There's no standardization. Finally, there is a lack of standardization in the metaverse. This means that there is no one set of rules or guidelines that all businesses need to follow. Instead, companies have to be aware of the different standards that exist and make sure that they are following the appropriate guidelines.

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