There’s a new town in town. It’s a fashion capital, a commercial hub, an artistic community, the hot new vacation destination, and a booming concert circuit. All at once. It’s the Metaverse.
Unlike the Web 2.0 precursors for communication and interaction — social media websites, video conferencing apps like Zoom — the metaverse is a World. It’s the opportunity to take online interaction out of grey online waiting rooms and into highly customisable and well-designed venues. It’s the way to meet people from all over the globe without leaving your room. To really meet them — to check out their style, approach them, strike up a conversation, play a game or go somewhere together, and make a connection. It’s the way to attend a concert or an art show being hosted in Chicago, when you’re in India on the other side of the world.
This is the future the metaverse promises. But after two years in the public consciousness, they’re not just empty guarantees. Metaverse events are taking of in a big way — for both businesses and consumers. Events like Metaverse Fashion Week, concerts by the biggest artists, NFT art shows and auctions are proving the value of this new digital space. They’re not limited by physical space or practicalities and so are bigger, crazier, and maybe even better. And they’re destroying the barriers of exclusivity and geography that make IRL events impossible for most attendees.
What’s Different About VR Events?
The focus of metaverse events is not to replicate real-life events. It’s to use this new medium to build a fresh language of connection — a visual, technological and architectural language. So how does this new world work?
Experience
Metaverse events are benefitting from their multimedia potentiality. Since the event is built on the internet, it’s simple to integrate branding, music, visual films, 3D graphics, image showcases, and public design and architecture elements.
Creating a true experience that is completely immersive, engaging, and interactive is not just easy, but expected.
Exclusivity
The metaverse is founded on the principles of democratic decentralisation — removing access and decisions from the hands of a powerful few and giving them to many. Although this means it’s easier and fairer to be involved in the Metaverse and its events, exclusivity is still possible for brands.
Meta-fashion becomes an easy way for users to differentiate themselves. This, and other NFT collectables allow the creation of like-minded communities that brands can connect with. Often, event passes etc. are rewarded to early adopters and holders of the brand’s NFTs. This allows brands to cultivate an image, community, and hype for their products.
Community
This new approach to exclusivity rewards involvement and engagement rather than simply net worth. This means easily accessible communities of extremely engaged leads that are willing to get in on the ground floor of projects, events, and new businesses.
For individuals, this offers a global social community that is active, welcoming, and growing. Community is an essential value in the metaverse, opposing the isolation growing in the real-world.
Lead Generation
The frustration of users and customers with being used for their data by web2.0 giants is obvious, and rising.
This is why web3.0 with its model that values tech transparency, data privacy, and decentralisation is winning trust and users. Brands must build communities and experiences that truly cater to their customers and win their business genuinely rather than through annoying targeted advertising. Ultimately, these events will become the primary mode of marketing, branding, community engagement, and lead generation for modern brands.
Making the Metaverse Work For You
So if the metaverse is the new mode of communication and online commerce, how does a brand adapt? Firstly, recognising the values of the space mentioned above, and the changing ‘way things are’ is essential to succeeding in the Metaverse. Here, the way a user is handled across the entire marketing funnel is completely transformed. One must focus on providing value to generate active consumers rather than targeted marketing to net passive consumers. Metaverse events are an excellent way to provide this value and convert users to sales-ready leads.
Here are a few types of metaverse events that can skyrocket a brand’s profile:
Live culture events: Concerts, Fashion shows etc.
These events provide a wealth of branding opportunities and the eyes of a highly engaged community. Repeated events raise a brand’s profile as being the place to be in the metaverse. To maximise conversion, it’s important to choose the right artist with the right community that meshes with your brand.
Hybrid events: Brand experiences, launches, workshops etc.
These events allow a brand or artist to introduce viewers to their products and creations in a highly controlled, customised environment. The entire space comes together to tell one story — that of a brand, artist, or theme. A mix of live attractions and online content ensures a highly personal experience for each user that they can control. This increases engagement and allows for natural and desirable product placement.
Online spaces
While not traditionally an ‘event’, metaverse spaces are cheap and accessible enough to allow brands to permanently or temporarily host spaces in the long-term. This more advanced, global, 24×7 “storefront” can maximise user engagement and help a brand create and maintain their all-important community.
These are just a few ways in which metaverse events can be a revolutionary tool for both brands and users. It’s time to create a symbiotic relationship between products and the people who love them. The metaverse is an ecosystem built to foster exactly these relationships. Embracing metaverse events can help turn viewers into sales, and customers into community.