Why Brands Should Invest in a Metaverse Strategy Now

While it may not be on your agenda today, most likely, you have given the Metaverse some thought in the past few months - what does it mean for advertisers? And more importantly, should I do something about it right now?

Early investments produce early results

The Metaverse has certainly gotten marketers' wheels turning, while trying to decipher what it means, how consumers will interact with brands once there, and what the optimal timeline and level of investment should be.

In the social media sphere, change has always been a constant, so yet another vision of how people will interact with each other is hardly new. In fact, it is rare that we get this much runway to plan our approach to the ever-changing customer behavior. Although your customers might not spend time in the metaverse today, the pace of change is accelerating and the time to start planning your approach and process is now. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of adapting early to the Metaverse.

1. First come, first served

The obvious benefit of investing in the metaverse today is the novelty value and hype around the word itself. Positioning your brand as a frontrunner will give you an immediate innovative edge.

So while the investment in the metaverse might materialize in the coming years, the investment in taking immediate steps and making them public has a lot of meta level value - pun intended 😉.

Just as in adopting new social platforms, consumers reward the brands that fearlessly invest in new technology and innovation.

2. Consumers are your best friend

Second, the consumers that are already engaging with brands in the Metaverse, are most definitely early adopters and as such opinion leaders in their communities. Involving consumers in building your Metaverse presence can be an invaluable help for two reasons:

1. Authenticity. Consumers know what they like and what works. After all, they are the ones defining the rules and conventions of this new way of communication.
2. Iteration. As you interact with a small group of early adopters you are able to polish a lot of the rough edges and friction that your brand interaction might still experience in this new environment.

Capitalizing on the early adopters and taking them on board for your Metaverse journey now will save you money and resources later in both internal processes as well as expensive customer insight studies.

3. The case for advertising

Naturally, we all want to understand how advertising in the Metaverse will work. But quite frankly, the answer to that doesn’t exist yet. We do know, however, that it will require some upfront investments from brands, for example transforming  2D creatives to 3D format. There are companies that help brands  automate the  process and preparing for the creative production requirements now will save a lot of time and money in the future. Knowing how to produce creatives in different formats will enable you to launch fast when the time comes. As in most cases, strategy is key to success.

At Smartly.io, we have also seen that the winning brands invest in testing and iterating concepts and formats early on. They reap the benefits faster and are able to improve their ROI beyond what their competitors do. Let me give you an example: a new social ad format is available only in one country. Advertisers trying out the format experience issues with campaign setup and might encounter challenges in seeing fast results. But, when the format eventually is finalized and launched globally, those brands that tackled these challenges early are able to adopt immediately and scale their campaigns right away.

Lapping competitors in speed and innovation is surely on the roadmap of any successful brand. The Metaverse offers every single brand a chance to do that right now. Learn how Smartly.io can help you elevate to your social advertising strategy, consider requesting a demo.

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