Across The Metaverse
Discussions of the Metaverse have been filling the blogs and newsletters in recent months, in most cases heralding (or decrying) the yet-another uber-geek scam to divorce us from reality. But most of us have, in fact, been living in a sort of “metaverse” for years -- it is just another term for the migration of our work, entertainment, socializing, and shopping to the online world. With the advent of crypo-currencies and NFTs, even our physical assets are moving out of the material world.
The increasing pace of our relocation into digital realms means that the metaverse is no longer part of our lives: it is our lives, and our social and commercial interactions must now be as real and honest as, well, reality.
This paradigm shift is changing the game for everyone running a business or building a brand. Online shoppers are now less-interested in slick fantasy or clever artifice: they look to their platforms for advice and reassurance on which to make informed purchasing decisions. Viewers want access to verifiable information, and to be exposed to the real-life experiences of people like them using a product or service. Retailers and service providers must now create content that engages the mind as well as captures the eye, or risk being, literally, lost in the cloud.
Instagram seems to be capturing the zeitgeist with the restructuring of feed algorithms and page formats. Just like in the “real world”, the eyes of the viewer crave motion and stimulation, and are drawn to short-form videos. But unlike the “snackable video”, the ten-second TikTok clips designed to be enjoyed and then move on to the next, promotional or educational videos cannot be effective as standalone pieces. Each video must be a part of a larger narrative, like a paragraph is part of a story. And like a good story, each video must flow seamlessly into the next, carrying the viewer along a voyage of discovery.
If creating this type of content sounds difficult and daunting, that's probably because it is. Crafting a compelling narrative requires extensive experience as well as innate talent. A high level of technical skill is also essential. To be fully engaging and informative, Instagram content must be replicated in various forms across other platforms. Individual videos can be stitched together with commentary for YouTube; product and other details posted in written form on traditional web pages; teaser gifs distributed on Twitter or Telegram.
The web is littered with the abandoned pages and posts of DIAY (Do It All Yourself) entrepreneurs who put so much effort into creating online content that they neglected the actual business they were trying to promote. Unlocking the keys to the metaverse requires finding and utilizing the right people for each job.
For more information on creating and publishing content that will demand attention in the online world, contactus@wndsustainablemarketing.com.