There are a lot of skeptics right now, who think the metaverse is just a flash in the pan. This is how some people thought about the internet in the 1990s. But then, as now, one thing was clear: While we didn’t know which companies would shape the development of this new technology, consumers were flocking to it. Growing consumer acceptance has led to fundamental changes.
Brand marketing and engagement are more consumer-centric. In the past five years, influencer marketing has grown by more than 50% on platforms such as WeChat and Pinduoduo in China and YouTube and Instagram in the Western world, a trend evident. This shift bodes well for the development of the metaverse: a large portion of innovative and engaging experiences will likely come from these creator users.

Likewise, the appeal of today’s virtual world to consumers represents a major shift in the way people use technology.

This revolution and technology, a contraction of Meta and Universe, aims to become the online world of tomorrow. Present at first in books (« Snow Crash » by Neal Stephenson or « Ready Player One » by Ernest Cline), it came back to the forefront at the presentation of Meta (ex Facebook).

If you are not familiar with this concept, the metaverse marketing materializes as a virtual and immersive world accessible through the Internet. In this article, I’d like to focus on its use in the workplace and its future. I came across some tools that allow you to build your own metaverse easily. I share here my experience of implementing an online office in my company thanks to the Gather Town virtual reality tool.

Why bet on the « metaverse marketing » or digital metaverse?

The health crisis has changed our habits. More specifically, it has changed our relationship with time. Travel time, break time, work time, this notion of temporality has become important to us. We are entering an era where time is becoming a rare resource. During this crisis, with telecommuting, the time related to travel to the office or to appointments has evaporated. Back to a classical pattern, we notice more and more complaints about the loss of time caused by these trips. This is where the metaverse or virtual reality comes in.

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If I told you that you could get to the office in less than 20 seconds, that you could walk around a design space, navigate between offices or have a coffee break with your colleagues in two clicks, would you believe me? Well, it’s possible. Before giving you some advice on how to implement it in your practices, it is important to explain why you should bet on these tools. The advantages of a digital use of metaverse marketing in business are multiple:

The space of this virtual world greatly favors informal discussions and social needs, which brings employees closer together
It is possible to create rooms and delete them as the need arises
We are able to organize the offices of our dreams in the blockchain of this digital technology
We no longer have to get lost in the real world with meeting links, everything happens in the metaverse and virtual reality

Moreover, this allows your company to participate in a major technological revolution of the web (which can also be a communication and marketing axis). Let’s note that using a marketing metaverse in your company or for your NFT project brings great changes.

How to bring your teams to the « metaverse marketing »?

 

 

If tomorrow you decide to try to bring your company into the metaverse in a virtual world, as digital banks do for example, you can turn to a social tool like Gather Town (free under 25 users). It is an online social avatar tool that allows you to create virtual spaces and universes, and then to invite customers to interact with them in this metaverse. These virtual spaces are fully customizable and you can create rooms, nft games and decorate them or add virtual objects. In Gather Town, we have a 2D avatar that allows us to move in a virtual space with a Pixel Art style. Thus, we can move with the keys of his keyboard. To exchange, the sound is spacialized, which allows you to communicate in visio by approaching your colleagues. You can also use the chat if needed. The real interest of Gather lies in its room system, which allows all the persons present in this last one to see each other and to exchange.

Successfully integrating the metaverse into your company’s ecosystem and marketing requires time and, above all, support.

Whether you are a remote or traditional company, here are some tips to help you in this great initiative:

Lead the change: Using the metaverse marketing can be a big change for your uses. It is therefore important to support this implementation by designating people responsible for this project and essentially helping your teams to take control of this usage.
Compulsory or complementary: Before you start, ask yourself if you want your employees to connect compulsorily. Rules must be established. It can also be a complementary tool. In this case, think about defining time slots to meet in your space.
Form a core group: To succeed in this experiment, it is important to form a core group of users of your metaverse. This core group is crucial. Whether it’s to welcome people arriving on the space or to have referents on this project. Also, connecting to an empty metaverse does not necessarily make people want to stay. It is therefore necessary to animate it as much as possible.

Investing in metaverse marketing for your company can only be a great experience. When I talk to companies that have tried it, they are all delighted and recommend its use. Especially those who are remote or use telecommuting a lot. However, I still have one point to clarify. Obviously, the metaverse will never replace the feeling of meeting in person and the exchanges that follow. Is that its purpose? In my opinion, clearly not.

The metaverse is a great ally to improve your remote work and can only be the beginning of an answer in the framework of a reflection on the revolution of our work mode.