Mumbai: The internet is constantly evolving and has become more interactive. Soon, we will be able to experience it as a network of real-time virtual worlds. The metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual environment that allows your digital avatar to live, play, work, and socialise. It is a self-contained digital counterpart to the real world where you are engaged in your surroundings and experience and have access to various places, events, and activities while sitting in your living room.

This next-generation version of the virtual space is a powerful tool. It offers excellent comfort, accessibility, interactions, and brand promotion opportunities, with user-generated content (UGC) playing an essential part in the form of text, images, audio, and videos. It will be a crucial building component for the metaverse in the coming years, providing uniqueness, credibility, and scalability.

Brands and creators have acknowledged the first-mover advantage and are capitalising on consumer interest. As mega brands begin to leverage the metaverse, another trend that can stand to benefit is the realm of influencer marketing.

Metaverse and influencer marketing

Influencer marketing as a social media marketing tool emphasises product endorsements and recommendations from experienced influencers with a substantial social following. These influencers are highly regarded by their audience, and their product recommendations serve as social validation for brands' prospective customers.

Social media platforms have dramatically boosted the number of niche influencers and viewership in recent years. These creators have begun to engage with their audiences in new ways to widen the influencer-audience engagement time. They are eager to leverage the metaverse as a space to connect with a larger audience and provide a better consumer experience. Numerous opportunities exist for creators to collaborate and create engaging and multi-dimensional content to bond with their audience in the metaverse.

Growth in virtual circles

Social media platforms have significantly increased the number of influencers who interact with their audience. However, these interactions are frequently constrained to certain platform features.

Metaverse can make the experience seamless and convenient for everyone. Creators can host virtual meetups and organise livestream sessions, fan fests, and other activities. Through metaverse, they can connect directly with their audiences' digital avatars on the platform, garnering better engagement.

Immersive influencer marketing

The innovative use of technologies such as AR and VR expands the possibilities for generating immersive and engaging content while allowing creators to enter into new dimensions like the metaverse. For example, influencers in the music industry can stage virtual performances in the metaverse to attract viewers from all over the world, crossing all geographical boundaries.

Similarly, artists can create and sell 3D art to display in virtual homes; fashion influencers can introduce their digital merchandise that their audience can purchase; and travel influencers can go on virtual world tours with their fans, making the experience more thrilling.

The growing number of influencers has helped brands reach various demographics and engage with existing and potential consumers. Influencers can be present in more than one virtual space in the metaverse, which amplifies their reach. Brands can leverage this benefit to optimise their marketing strategies and interact with larger consumer segments.

The future of influencer marketing

Although celebrity influencers have pioneered influencer campaigns, micro influencers’ growth has expanded and will continue to strengthen business opportunities. Brands can easily connect with their consumers by leveraging a network of smaller influencers rather than investing in one or two big influencers.

In addition, social media has witnessed an increase in AI influencers across sectors. Interestingly, brands have started creating virtual influencers, aka meta-influencers. This strategy enables brands to have ambassadors who can interact with consumers.

In the coming years, AI influencers will coexist with their human counterparts in the metaverse, with brands having the power to control how they communicate their message and narrative.

Way forward

The metaverse is set to bring about profound changes in how we all live. It will alter our interaction with the physical world, from perception to content creation. There is an enormous potential for all creators to harness technology to create outstanding content in the metaverse and thrive in their domains. Content creators will play a critical role in the development of the metaverse, which will be pivotal to their success in the long term.

The author of this article is AnyTag India Lead Shuchi Sethi.