5 Interactive Content Ideas for the Metaverse: The Marketing Edit

Ever since Zuckerberg announced the Metaverse, the world has been waiting for its launch in 2023 with bated breath. In fact, Statista predicts that by 2023, this platform will have reached a market value of $678.8 billion.

With that said, what does this new AR/VR dimension spell out for businesses? It is a given that Facebook is still one of the most popular channels to reach targeted audiences through content marketing, but what opportunities and roadblocks does Metaverse bring with it?

Through this blog, you will be able to navigate the content marketing conundrums in the context of the Metaverse.

Table of Contents

• What is the Metaverse?
• Content in the Metaverse
• Top 5 Interactive Content Ideas for the Metaverse

1. Reinventing Personalized Content
2. Content Customizability
3. Democratization of Content
4. Collaboration through Content
5. Community-Driven Content

• Content Formats in the Metaverse
• Wrapping Up

The Metaverse is a virtual space for people to come together and interact with each other by way of augmented reality and shared virtual experiences. The term ‘metaverse’, was actually coined by a famous science fiction writer, Neal Stephenson, back in 1992 (in his book Snow Crash).

If you remember the movie named ‘Ready Player One’, you can draw an analogy from the 3-dimensional virtual space created in that movie for video game players to come together in virtual reality to play.

Similar to that concept, the Metaverse lets people share their own 3D virtual spaces with others and interact with AI-based objects and content within a virtual space. It is like a virtual dimension of the real world.

Since the Metaverse offers a three-dimensional experience of the virtual world, content marketers will need to up their game in this dimension to appeal to their target audience.

Marketers need to devise content strategies that don’t just focus on static media but also incorporate interactive content that is dynamic and responds to a user’s virtual space in a relevant manner.

To do this, marketing strategies in the Metaverse will take into consideration the following aspects. 

• Augmented reality
• Virtual reality
• Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other digital equivalents of the real world
• AI objects

Content marketers need to reimagine how they view their content in the Metaverse and devise marketing strategies centered around interactivity. The experience of Interacting with content in virtual reality would be entirely different from what it is at present.

The Metaverse is a different marketing space with its own unique elements. As such, the content that works online today, may not be as effective for marketing in the Metaverse.

Listed below are 5 top types of interactive content that give marketers a chance to woo tech-savvy audiences.

While the demand for personalized content is already on the rise, the Metaverse is all set to make it sky-rocket. 

The Metaverse gives individuals the ability to create a virtual-self or persona.This virtual individual exists in a space that is filled with the individualized experiences and elements. 

Businesses will now have to understand their customers at a more detailed level. The way they present their content must now resonate with this individualized space that users will interact with while in the Metaverse.

Giving your target audience personalized content is only the tip of the iceberg for content marketing in the Metaverse. The customers need to be in more control of how this personalized content behaves and how they want to interact with it.

To achieve this, businesses will need to give users control over content customizations. 

For example, customizable virtual avatars are trending today because users like to apply their own preferences to this virtual equivalent of themselves. In turn, businesses get to understand user preferences and create targeted marketing campaigns.

Privacy is a sensitive matter in the circles of the internet, and Metaverse is no exception. Content will largely be democratized in the Metaverse, given that user metadata will always be available to businesses.

This situation calls for businesses to take a sensible approach to content marketing and give the users some control over what they want to share with a business and what they want to keep private.

The Metaverse is based on creating shared experiences – on creating virtual environments where people and brands interact with each other. To amplify brand outreach, businesses can effectively explore partner channels and associations for content marketing that deliver mutual benefits.

For the customers, this is a win because they would get to know about new products and services. For the partner brands, it is a win because of the outreach they get by riding the wave together.

Think of community-driven content as an expansion of user-specific personalization. Community-driven content addresses the preferences of an entire community as opposed to that of a single customer.

For example, if a community supports a social cause for homeless children, a business could curate customized content that is driven by the preferences and needs of this particular cohort.

This helps businesses broadcast their message to a lot of people at once while staying relevant.

While the Metaverse isn’t here yet, companies are trying to prepare themselves with the right assets and tools to launch their content marketing campaigns as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

That being so, the following content formats may be used effectively to leverage marketing efforts in the Metaverse. 

• 3D videos can help merge the flexibility of augmented reality, virtual reality and good content. However, since  3D videos by default may not be interactive, they will need to be reinvented as well. 
• Blog posts, articles, magazines, eBooks, etc., would still be around but will need to become more immersive. For example, the content they contain needs to be responsive, interactive, and designed specifically for VR.
• Virtual 3D models and graphics can be leveraged to pack a bang in your content marketing strategy.
• Graphic design too would need to use VR and AR in the Metaverse. VR and AR provide immense possibilities for highly realistic advertising, and graphics can make a great impact if done well.
• Infographics must become 3-dimensional and interactive to be relevant in Metaverse and attract more readers.
• One can also run wild with their creativity and design a completely novel VR content experience for users. Productizing this content can also become a way to monetize it.

The Metaverse may appear daunting at first, but the truth is that it is packed with new opportunities for businesses to reach their target audiences. 

This is a good time for businesses to prepare themselves for the Metaverse. Equip yourself with  a cloud-based digital publishing platform such as KITABOO, to create digital-focused interactive content that can help make the most of your Metaverse opportunities.

To know more, write to us at KITABOO@hurix.com.