How the Metaverse Could Reshape Businesses

The metaverse is coming, and it's going to change the way you do business.

The internet has been around for decades, but we're still only scratching the surface of what it can do for us. The next step in this evolution is the metaverse and web 3.0, a digital universe where people can live, work, and play.

The metaverse is not just a place where users can meet and interact—it's also an opportunity for businesses to grow their reach and gain access to new markets around the globe. With these benefits come certain challenges that must be overcome before your company can start taking advantage of them.

Businesses are starting to discover the many benefits that the metaverse provides, and you should be, too!

In this blog post, we'll talk about what the metaverse is, what it means for your business, and how you can prepare yourself for when all its features roll out.

What is the Metaverse?

The metaverse is a decentralized platform that allows users to create their own digital identities on the internet while also giving them the ability to interact with others in a fully immersive virtual environment. This makes it possible for people from all over the world to connect with each other without being limited by physical boundaries.

Successful iterations usable by the masses today include VRChat and Fortnite. These are video games, whose level of success with offering a virtual world to a massive user base is a great example of what the metaverse is.

It is a combination of the physical and digital worlds where we can interact with each other and our environment in new ways. This technology could be used for everything from gaming to education, shopping, and business collaboration. 

The Metaverse is not just the future; it's happening right now. From augmented reality to virtual reality (VR), the metaverse is starting to make its way into many aspects of our lives.

When Can We Expect To See It?

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta (previously Facebook), predicts that the metaverse's primary capabilities will take five to ten years to become ubiquitous. 

However, parts of the metaverse exist now. Even if they aren't available to everyone, ultra-fast internet connections, virtual reality headgear, and permanent, always-on online worlds are already available.

Basically, the metaverse is here and it already exists, albeit accessed mostly by gamers and immersive cyberspace developers. Facebook, now Meta, aims to create its own metaverse experience directed at a broader audience group who use the internet for social media.

Global Brands Engaging the Metaverse

The metaverse is a new, immersive medium that has been gaining traction in recent years. It's not virtual reality or mixed reality, but rather an extension of the internet that allows people to engage with brands in ways they never could before.

Immersive concerts, beyond just live streaming, have already taken place in the metaverse. Nike patented virtual goods, McDonald's' virtual burgers, and Walmart are preparing for their metaverse entry.

In addition, many brands are using the metaverse as an opportunity for increased customer engagement. For example, Coca-Cola began experimenting with the metaverse when it established its first NFT and teamed up with Decentraland in 2021. They introduced their game-inspired virtual fizzy pop drink in the metaverse in April 2022, a year before it hit grocery shelves in the real world.

The metaverse provides many new opportunities for brands looking to engage with consumers in innovative ways—and it's only getting better!

Engaging in the metaverse using your brand can also start like these big entities. Start by figuring out what your brand can offer to users in the metaverse. Start thinking of it as another dimension of life, and start transforming your products and services into the virtual realm.

Intellectual property protection is being standardized by the highly criticized NFTs (non-fungible tokens), but the blockchain technology behind them is a promising start.

This means you don’t have to be overly skeptical about intellectual property security, and instead focus on a game plan for when more of the physical world goes into the metaverse.

This is important for business because it provides a way for companies to engage with their customers more effectively than ever before. By allowing customers to interact with products virtually before they even buy them, businesses can provide a more complete picture of what they're offering and give potential customers more information about what they'll get out of their purchase.

Your Brand in a Virtual World

Look into how brands have entered the metaverse of gaming platforms recently. Learn from them and create a strategy for your own business.

The sooner you embrace the future that the metaverse offers to businesses and consumers alike, the sooner you’ll become one of the earliest entrants in this new playing field.

The metaverse is in its growth phase, and the criticism is rich. There was also a time when YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms were criticized as being a waste of time, but they’ve now become a stable and coveted revenue stream for a lot of individuals and businesses.

Preparing your business to be in the metaverse as early as now can help you establish and gain early-entrant benefits like a tight community of supporters who will grow with your brand in and out of the metaverse in the future.

Life In The Metaverse

Akin to one of its earliest iterations, Second Life, the future of the metaverse opens up a whole new world for users that almost seems like a whole new life. Here’s what it can be like in the Facebook metaverse.

Horizon Worlds

Through its purchase of Oculus in 2014, Meta announced the Horizon projects they’re developing for the virtual reality they’re creating.

Horizon Worlds is a platform where users can visit virtual spaces created by others to play games, socialize, and participate in various immersive experiences.

It’s now available to users age 18 and up in the US and Canada. Access is through the Quest 2 VR headset and requires a Facebook account. With Meta owning this virtual reality space, it’s likely that this will be the company’s main metaverse platform for its users.

Horizon Workrooms is Meta’s virtual reality space that caters to audiences looking for a metaverse space for work and collaboration.

A sneak peek of Workrooms was shown at the Facebook Connect 2021 event. More of it was demonstrated to the public in subsequent interviews conducted by Meta.

It’s also already available to the same audience as Horizon Worlds and is being used by Meta’s teams to connect and collaborate remotely.

Horizon Venues is the Horizon family’s platform that is targeted for massive events like virtual concerts and gaming events. The app is still in development and in beta early access.

Eventually, Meta aims to provide a seamless experience by fusing the three apps together. Together with their plan to make technology more accessible, this could truly change the way people connect with each other.

Life in the Facebook metaverse can become one of the biggest online worlds in the future where creators can monetize their talent, and communities can build amazing experiences together.

AR and VR Integrations

More VR and AR integrations are definitely to be expected in the metaverse in the future. Niantic’s Pokemon Go has become one of the most popular augmented reality games since its release.

Ready Player One, a movie based on a fictional and futuristic metaverse, also used augmented reality in its promotion campaign.

For a more practical example of augmented reality in our daily lives, IKEA offers the IKEA Place app, which previews a product's measurement and overall fit in your space through your mobile phone.

Lowe’s also introduced the Holoroom How To, a virtual reality experience where the company helps people learn more about DIY skills.

The future holds much for the metaverse as it expands within itself and out to mainstream consumption. These AR and VR integrations by big companies are great examples of businesses adapting to new technologies at an early stage.

Social Experiences Reimagined

Outside of gaming and marketing campaigns, the metaverse also offers a futuristic way of connecting with others. Much like how Meta has Horizon Worlds, other metaverses offer virtual spaces for socialization.

There are lobbies in games that can be used by both VR users and PC users to talk to each other.

Roblox is another popular gaming platform where creators build all kinds of worlds for users. Using a VR headset makes the experience more immersive.

There are in-game spaces built for hanging out with friends and meeting new ones in some of today’s world-building games.

Meta’s move aims to make this immersive socialization experience mainstream and accessible to non-gamers and for productivity purposes.

Today’s metaverse developers foresee a future where casual virtual venues are just as available as cafes, and more events like concerts and even TED Talks are held in the metaverse.

Making Purchases

Most “worlds” come with purchases. This is most common for gamers who encounter in-game purchases for items ultimately paid with real currency traded for in-game tokens or currency.

The future of the metaverse holds the same promise for businesses and consumers alike. Purchasing items in the metaverse and for the metaverse is already possible, and it only looks like it will expand into other digital spaces.

Current iterations of metaverse transactions mixing with real-life include Gucci’s partnership with Superplastic to produce designer NFTs paired with handcrafted Italian ceramic sculptures. 

Nike and Adidas have also made well-received announcements with their future release of NFT sneakers.

How Can Your Business Use the Metaverse

The metaverse opens up near-infinite possibilities for businesses that will participate in the future. 

As exemplified by Gucci’s creation of Vault and the patenting of other massive entities in preparation for migrating into the metaverse, there’s more than enough potential for businesses to start participating in metaverse projects.

If you're wondering how your business can get involved with this exciting new opportunity, here are four ways to get started:

Utilize Remote Work and Hybrid Teams

I'm a business owner, and I've been using remote work and hybrid teams for years. It's the best way to get things done—and it's so simple! Here's how you can use the metaverse to make remote work and hybrid teams even better:

1. Use it for collaboration by building virtual meeting rooms where all of your employees can meet, regardless of where they are in the world.

2. Use it for training by giving your employees access to virtual training courses that will help them improve their skills and make them more valuable to your company.

3. Use it as a place where you can share all kinds of information with your employees—from product updates to human resources information, everything can be shared through the metaverse so that everyone knows what's going on at all times!

Create a New Virtual Experience

The metaverse allows businesses to create new virtual experiences for their customers. This can include anything from an interactive game to a virtual shopping trip. 

For example, you can use VR technology as part of your marketing strategy.

If you have a physical store, you can create an online store that allows customers to browse through images of your products and purchase them from anywhere in the world. The possibilities are endless! You can create an interactive experience where users can see inside your store without ever stepping foot in it.

You could also create an immersive experience that teaches users about your company's culture and values through immersive storytelling. This kind of experience will help users get invested in your brand and make them more likely to buy from you when they do need something from your store!

Whatever you decide to do, it's sure to be an exciting experience for both you and your customers.

Host Events That Are Live in the Real World—and the Virtual One

Hosting events in the metaverse allows you to show off your brand in a fun way that doesn't require much overhead or cost for attendees.

You can also use this as an opportunity to engage directly with potential customers during webinars and events like trade shows or conventions, where there are lots of people interested in getting involved with what you're doing!

The metaverse is still new, but it's growing rapidly and becoming more mainstream every day. Hosting events that are live in both worlds gives you a chance to be ahead of the curve on this trend and take advantage of its potential before everyone else does!

Bring People Together—Virtually

Connecting with customers online is great, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction. The metaverse makes it possible for customers and clients to meet up virtually, allowing them to have real conversations and learn more about each other's businesses or interests.

If you have employees or freelancers that aren't local, they can use their avatars in the metaverse to meet up with each other and discuss projects or ideas. This is especially useful if one employee needs another person's help on something; they can just hop into their avatar's office and get things done!

This will encourage more engagement and allow both parties to build relationships that could lead to sales down the road!

VR Training for Employees

This is an excellent approach to training employees without having them travel or wasting money on exorbitant travel charges!

All you'll need is a headset and some training materials, and you'll be able to educate new or existing staff without the need for outside assistance!

This can be especially useful when employees need to practice unfamiliar procedures, such as operating machinery, flying an airplane or other vehicle, or handling dangerous materials.

This also makes it much simpler for everyone because they won't have to take time off work or pay for travel expenses, which will save everyone money in the long run, resulting in greater profit for your organization overall, which is always good news, right?

Host Online Games or Contests

If you're trying to attract younger customers, consider creating an avatar game or contest where they can win prizes like gift cards or coupons for your store.

The metaverse gives you access to all the tools you need to make this happen.

You can choose from several different types of games, such as first person shooters, adventure games, horror games, and more. There are also many different types of contests that you can run on the metaverse platform. For example, trivia contests and scavenger hunts are popular among users because they are interactive and fun!

The best part about hosting a game or contest on the metaverse platform is that it's completely free!

The Role of NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, and Blockchain in the Metaverse

Metaverse conversations almost always include mentions of blockchain, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, or a combination of all three.

Here’s a quick rundown on their relationship and why you should pay attention.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies used to trade online today. Compared to NFTs, cryptocurrencies are fungible, meaning one sum can be exchanged for another of equal value.

Really, cryptocurrency can be easily described as digital money. The difference is that physical currencies are regulated by banks and governments, while cryptocurrencies are not.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are digital pieces of information unique to the digital and sometimes physical asset that they are attached to.

Its non-fungibility means replication is virtually impossible. A pair of authentic digital sneakers can be replicated but will have two different NFTs indicating separate records of authenticity and ownership for each pair.

This concept or practice is currently being applied to most items in the metaverse today.

The purchase of one digital art NFT using cryptocurrency will forever be recorded on the blockchain once it is accomplished. The public has a record of who owns what and the value of that property.

The first Tweet ever has been sold as an NFT for $2.9 million and is now owned by Bridge Oracle CEO Sina Estavi. 

Ownership via NFTs is possible because of blockchain technology.

When the first tweet is once again sold, the transfer of ownership will be recorded on the global blockchain.

Blockchain Technology and the Metaverse

 Both cryptocurrencies and NFTs use blockchain technology to keep records of transactions and maintain authenticity and security.

 A blockchain is a digital ledger or a virtual record of transactions on the internet. Blockchain technology is used in trading NFTs and cryptocurrencies around the world. The uniqueness of blockchain technology is that it uses a publicly distributed virtual record or ledger of all the transactions.

 Being decentralized, blockchain technology becomes more secure as there’s more than one institution holding records of transactions. Decentralization means that publicly distributed ledgers can be used to check for accuracy in transactions and hold parties accountable.

This is what happens all over the world when people use cryptocurrencies and trade NFTs.

Blockchain, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies do not only apply to collectibles. One day, common goods and services will have NFTs as more businesses step into the metaverse.

Today, people already use cryptocurrencies for making online transactions, while NFTs are used to sell art and high-end goods. Blockchain technology is also being used in million-dollar real estate transactions in the metaverse.

The Metaverse and Virtual Assistants: What Will Change?

Facebook’s metaverse could become a great way to help hybrid teams with virtual assistants come together and collaborate more seamlessly. It’s also a great opportunity for marketing virtual assistants to exercise their creativity in innovating digital experiences and products for the future.

Perhaps a collaboration between video editing virtual assistants and content creation virtual assistants could be key to starting out in developing 3D, AR, or VR experiences in the near future.

Moreover, experience development and world creation could give rise to a new wave of virtual assistants who specialize in metaverse workplace management or metaverse content creation.

There’s also the chance of a whole new industry rising from within the collective, immersive digital space of the future.

Bottomline

Far beyond the metaverse, the future holds so much for everyone. With information on one of the most prominent paths the world may take in the near future, it could be very wise for everyone to stay updated on metaverse developments.

Keeping a consistent effort in metaverse business development could mean staying two to three steps ahead of the competition for companies today. One of the major strategies I always advocate for doing this is building a team of talented and skilled people (in-house and virtual), who are ready to lead you and your company into new milestones.

Hiring an eCommerce virtual assistant to focus on blockchain transactions or develop immersive experiences could be one way of doing so.

Video editing and content creation virtual assistants could also provide the extra help needed by your team to keep the gears moving for when the metaverse becomes mainstream.

A marketing virtual assistant can also work on researching and developing opportunities for your business to enter the metaverse.

A team of virtual assistants could become your company’s way to successfully entering the metaverse with a low impact on your finances. Don’t be afraid of what’s happening in the economy right now. Despite high inflation and a low-performing market, it’ll be good to invest into the future in cost-effective ways. Hiring virtual assistants to help you strategize your entrance into the metaverse will pay off dividends for your business. 

If you're interested in learning more about my thoughts on virtual assistants and the metaverse, feel free to contact me on my website, or DM me! 

 If you enjoyed this article and found it helpful, please support me by subscribing to my LinkedIn newsletter! I will be posting every other week on business growth topics.

See you in the metaverse!