Dissecting the Future of Social and Search in Metaverse
Metaverse is truly a game changer and since its inception, it is evolving fast, changing the definitions of marketing, and challenging the existing social media marketing and search engine optimization strategies. Contextually, brands are making conscious efforts to win this new space of Metaverse with the revised metaverse marketing strategies that promise brand visibility, that center around creating and delivering the most powerful immersive experiences — experiences that define the very essence of metaverse.
This article lays bare the metaverse “horizons” that are not just social spaces with immersive social presences but are actually “huge” marketing possibilities that the marketers need to identify and utilize. It throws light on how brands can bloom in the metaverse and which social media and search engine optimization strategies and techniques can prove extremely helpful in the course of action.
First things first!
The Genesis of Metaverse
“Welcome to the next chapter of social connection” — This is how the social media giant, Facebook announced its rebranding to Meta. With this it hinted at the emergence of a new era of Metaverse, which is a 3D world with greater, grander, more life-like experiences. While the 2D world was mobile-dominant with images and videos connecting people, Metaverse is way beyond, with augmented reality and virtual reality being utilized to the maximum to facilitate truly immersive experiences.
Welcome to the Metaverse — The Brave New 3D Worlds! Virtual worlds of social connections!
On the way to “Horizons” . . . !
Meta’s Horizon Worlds: The Key Social VR Platform
By February 2022, as many as 10,000 Horizon Worlds were already created and the number is increasing manifold with each single day (Source: Horizon Worlds). The reason why brands are gearing up towards building horizons is obvious — there are endless possibilities to enrich customer experience in the 3D “Worlds.” As a matter of fact, these horizons are not restricted to the “Social Presence” or avatar-to-avatar emotional-social interaction amidst the virtual shared spaces, it goes beyond to offer a complete multi-sensory customer experience. As such, marketers can identify these high-potential marketing touchpoints to make their customer experiences truly engaging and immersive.
As an instance, a beverage brand can make the most of the clubbing horizons, a sports brand can present a real-world fitness experience through their gyming metaverse, so on and so forth.
Creating VR content that brings life-like experiences to the audiences can prove exceptionally outstanding for such industries. Depending on the marketing goal and audience persona, the brands can develop any type of VR content ranging from VR product demos, 360 videos to VR events and interactive simulations.
The possibilities to market are endless!
Avatar Representations as a Mammoth Marketing Opportunity:
Avatars are a must-have for the metaverse to survive. After all, the metaverse needs someone to be “present” there to play, meet, act, and breathe. Contextually, metaverses are full of real-life 3D avatars of actual persons who are present there to experience the metaverse in its entirety.
- Users can design their Avatars: Users in the metaverse can create and customize their avatars in the way they want to express themselves. They can generate photorealistic humanoid faces or full-bodied avatars, and also style it the way they want.
- Marketer’s Duty: Designing an avatar is a user’s choice. Offering the user with endless possibilities is a marketer’s duty! This is true and that is the reason why fashion brands such as Nike are presenting a plethora of products to the avatars so that they can be the best versions of themselves. The metaverse marketing for Nikeland persuades the users to “Jump In” to Nikeland, style their avatar with “Nike Gear” and “Unlock Sport Superpowers” to experience the most exciting games on Nikeland (Source: Nikeland, Roblox).
- Avatars in Metaverse and Dual-Personhood: Avatarisation sounds exciting. However, marketers should be cognizant of the fact that behind the 3D humanoid is a real-throbbing human being with an identity — and that is your real customer! Try understanding your customer persona before you make a move in metaverse marketing. Manage your brand efforts and create your brand narratives in such a way so you address the needs and preferences of both the identities — the one in the metaverse and the other one in the real world.
- Avatar Influencers are on Metaverse: Metaverse marks a shift in Influencer Marketing, with avatarisation of celebrities. Note the global partnership between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Genies to develop avatars and digital wearables for the iconic artists — to name them — Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Shawn Mendes are a few amongst others. (Source: Universal Music)
Also, don’t forget to meet Maya, Puma’s Virtual Influencer and South-East Asia’s first ever virtual influencer (Instagram handle: mayaaa.gram). Maya is a virtual persona, created with 3D versioning techniques and AI technology. Both her personality and story evolve in real-time depending on her interactions with the South-Asian audience. Maya is an exceptional social media influencer and she is, somehow, changing the definition of what exists in the marketing arena.
Metaverse: The New Social
While we see a powerful collaboration between social media and 3D representations of people and assets, it is likely that social media is all set to become life-like with the onset of Metaverse. 3D ads are coming to social media, eCommerce and retail industries are working towards creating and uploading 3D representations of their products. Time to grab the VR headsets to embark upon and experience the powerful immersive journeys.
With the expansion of metaverse, Social VR is undoubtedly the new future and it could mean refurbishing the existing social media platforms to embrace extended reality. The Social VR platforms are in and these can be the new space, the new metaverse to meet, play, and socialize — this could be the new better, expansive, interactive, and immersive virtual world where brands and customers meet for better collaboration.
While 3D rendering and VR development is the key to the metaverse, brands need to be extra cautious of the experiential journeys of their customers. Metaverse, in its very essence, implies a universe of interconnected virtual worlds and consequently, there is a need to enhance the “search” experience too for your audience so that they feel, sense, and identify with the brand voice that rings the same on every single marketing platform and ecosystem.
Metaverse and Search Engine Optimization
In the face of metaverse gaining momentum, and the anticipated transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0., the most pertinent question remains similar — how to be found?
During Web 2.0, marketers optimized their websites and rethought their brand narratives to be found on the 2D dominant search engines. Some of the most critical and successful strategies included voice search optimization, image optimization using alt texts, creating mobile-first responsive websites, and ensuring proper indexing by the search engines and easy visibility by the audiences via structured data markups, local listings, so on and so forth.
The good news is — optimization continues and as a matter of fact, we are already half-way through, having optimized our web assets for Web 2.0. Just with this transition and with the digital world embracing metaverse, there is a heightened need to map our digital marketing strategies, optimization efforts with Web 3.0 which stands for visual reality, augmented reality, and 3D.
What should the Metaverse SEO strategy look like?
Visual Search Optimization: Visual search optimization of the web assets will be the key differentiator for the successful brands. Even today, this stands true for many eCommerce brands, particularly fashion and home decor retailers, who are the pioneers of visual optimized search. One such instance is Pinterest Lens and its allied features such as Lens Your Look and Shop Your Look which rely heavily on Augmented Reality (AR). Try Ons for your favorite cosmetics and home decor items — every virtual experience can be truly immersive, fascinating, and fulfilling.
Metaverse takes Visual Search to a whole new level!
Build Virtual Stores in a Virtual Space: What if retailers create virtual stores for you to walk through. Walmart launched a “new digital shopping experience for home” on their site through a 3D Virtual Shopping Tour. The virtual tour boosted brand visibility to a great extent and also facilitated an easy and highly convenient (and converting too!) shopping experience where the customers could “buy the room” — the way it was designed and presented virtually through the 3D Shopping Tour (Source: Walmart Corporate).
Optimizing for metaverse will not limit to 3D Virtual Tours but extend to having 3D Spatial-aware embedded right on to your websites.
3D Images, Sensory Logos, and Holograms: While 3D images are in, brands should adapt to include sensory logos on their websites as soon as they can. Not to miss, holograms are the future of marketing. However, the idea of adding holograms to the websites is still not reflected upon with full force given the challenges of how to get them indexed by the search engines which are predominantly 2.0 yet. This, however, opens a new round of discussions around the search engines becoming adept at indexing 3D assets.
Maybe it’s time to expect another major algorithm or a model for search engines that synchronizes with metaverse — something beyond Google’s MUM. Google MUM, in its status quo, extends search capabilities to modals including videos and maybe the need of the hour is to coin something that helps rethink and reinvent search while embracing the new virtual realities of metaverse.
Yet there has always been a way to let search engines know and understand the content for better indexing and search results, and that is achieved by deploying well-coded Structured Data Mark-up.
Metaverse and 3D Model Schema Markup:
A lot depends on how our search engines evolve to embrace the metaverse. Nevertheless, the 3D Model Schema Markup can facilitate visibility for the brands on search engines. Markups can assist in tagging various objects present in the virtual world and metaverse spaces in such a way that the search engines find the structured tags easily accessible and machine readable. Once this structured information presented to the search engines is indexed, your business/brand will be found in the metaverse, as it happens with the search results on Web 2.0. The 3D Model Schema Markup will be JSON-LD fed and it will let the search engines know that the content type you have on your website is a 3DModel. In the metaverse, virtual content types will take precedence and structured data markups can be one of the most potent solutions for visibility.
Contextually, 3D objects such as 3D Maps and 3D Street Views is another set of VR experiences that will stay strong in the metaverse.
Local SEO powered by VR:
Optimizing business listings for a life-like immersive experience is no bad deal. It is possible to create 3D experiences with Augmented Reality and Google’s AR/VR techstack can help your brand achieve that in no time. Imagine customers walking through the 3D Street View to check the beautiful serene surroundings of your restaurant — worth the effort, right?
All you need to build such immersive content is to share accurate information about your business with the search engines including visuals so that the AR & VR platforms enhance the representation of this information with augmented reality, creating the most enticing customer experiences ever.
Last but not least. . .
Domain-based Strategies and Rebranding
Facebook rebranded to Meta, Oculus VR sets are now rebranded as MetaQuest. This is not out of nothing. Rebranding helps! Facebook rebranded itself to Meta to present the metaverse they believe in, to gain more visibility in the metaverse, and to be found on the search engines. Keywords matter! Having said that, If you are launching a new product, design and center it around the metaverse so that it fits into the new brave 3D world. If it is an existing one, but already ventured into the metaverse, try rebranding!
Conclusion
Remember, Metaverse is still not the mainstream, but it brings with it a huge potential to become one. It is already transcending pre-set definitions and breaking free of many conventional modes of marketing. This is the time for brands to act and for marketers to utilize this huge scope of marketing that metaverse promises. They can rethink their brand narratives, restrategize their optimization efforts only to make them more powerful, and reiterate their brand value but in a “metaverse” way — that is truly immersive, impactful and impressive to remember and relish!
