Influencer Marketing In The Times of The Metaverse

As marketers, over the last couple of years, we’ve all either included an ‘Influencer Marketing’ component as part of our overall 360 marketing campaigns or watched, discussed or critiqued one done by other brands and agencies. Last year saw a host of metaverses sprouting and spreading like wildfire. 

Metaverse: The Next Frontier Or A Passing Fad

Predicting how metaverses will grow and evolve over the next couple of years is a task best left to the soothsayers. But, let’s admit it, these virtual platforms offer an immersive environment that’s unlike any other. 
Here are a few that stand out on account of their user experience and gameplay: 

Decentraland: 

Image Source: https://decentraland.org/blog/announcements/the-in-world-builder-is-now-...

This one’s been making the headlines with a number of luxury and other global brands investing in this platform and buying ‘virtual land to offer a branded experience to fans.

Sandbox:

Image Source:https://medium.com/sandbox-game/the-evolution-of-the-sandbox-762f0023349

The OG metaverses of the Web 3.0 era, Sandbox has partnered with major celebrities & musicians including Snoop Dogg, DeadMau5, popular brands and IPs such as Adidas, The Smurfs, The Walking Dead, etc, to offer users a ‘play-to-earn’ opportunity by creating immersive experiences and exciting challenges. 
 

Upland:

Image Source: https://upland.me

An NFT-based metaverse that’s geo-spatially mapped to real world locations, Upland offers players the opportunity to own virtual properties in popular locations including Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. 
Built on top of a Google Map based interface, this game allows players to buy properties by ‘minting’ them using the in-game currency and resell them on the secondary market for a profit. Additionally, players can build constructions which are layered on top of the properties they own and participate in challenges such as treasure hunts, own cars and create racetracks for drag racing, collect different types of NFTs including the American football league players’ legits, etc. 

Influencer Marketing X Metaverse 
If you’re wondering how influencer marketing would work in concert with metaverses, well, you’ll be surprised. Each of the metaverses mentioned above have their own legions of fans - popularly referred to as the ‘Community’, with members strategizing, brainstorming ideas and making deals via in-game chat or on the official brand channels on Telegram and Discord. 
 

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiQ6DP_HbUPump6QspmknPg/join/join

These communities have led to the emergence of a new set of experts aka Influencers or Content Creators, who offer advice, share ideas and engage with the community members, either through their YouTube channel or on other social media platforms. 
Many of these content creators partner with 3rd party brands or service providers within the game and promote their offerings via the content they create. Some of the popular content creators go as far as to create unique game-in-game content, where they either give away an NFT or a unique aspect of the game to their fans, who compete and complete certain challenges. 

In Conclusion:

One can safely say that the strength of these Metaverses can be judged by not only the number of players and partnerships they have with third party brands, but also by the strength of their community and how engaged they are. 
While most of these Metaverses are still in the initial stages, the next couple of years will see a number of new ones emerging, while many others will probably either shut down or get acquired or merged by the bigger players. 

         ---- The article is authored by Yorick Pinto, Creative Director, BC Web Wise