If Your B2B Company Isn’t Thinking About the Metaverse, It’s Time to Start

When you think of the term “metaverse,” what comes to mind?

The next big thing? An expensive overreach for a social networking giant? A promising proposition with an uncertain future? Or do you not think much of anything at all?

In terms of how the metaverse will impact your B2B company, only the last response is wrong. NFTs, personal avatars, and virtual spaces may not be among your interests now, but these technologies are moving forward with the expectation that a platform or interoperable standards will unify them. When that moment arrives, these advances will feel like business as usual for a sizable segment of your audience.

As your customers move toward the metaverse in the months and years ahead, your business needs to be ready to follow. Remember that Generation Z has spent their entire lives immersed in the norms of gaming and digital environments, and they now make up more than 25% of the workforce. More and more, this population will be the B2B decision-makers your business needs to attract in order to be successful.

What Does Metaverse Actually Mean?

Metaverse refers to more than a single branded platform. Even if the company once known as Facebook reaches its goals of launching its immersive virtual world, there’s no guarantee it will become the tool everyone adopts.

First coined in a science fiction novel more than 30 years ago, metaverse refers to interactive digital environments. Home to virtual storefronts with employee avatars conducting transactions using cryptocurrency, the metaverse will allow people to create, share, and explore digital experiences.

Though the future of the metaverse has yet to be determined, its evolution is already in progress. The technology is often associated with full virtual reality (VR) environments or partially computer-generated augmented reality (AR) to enhance real-world experiences. But neither are required for someone to access the current metaverse. Users can currently access metaverse spaces through desktop machines, game consoles, and even mobile devices.

Gaming platforms Roblox and Fortnite qualify as two examples of the modern metaverse, and both have tens of millions of users. As these worlds have grown, brands have started paying attention.

Why Your B2B Company Can’t Ignore the Metaverse

The metaverse wasn’t exclusively designed as a space to conduct business — but neither was social media. However, as Millennials and Gen X users flocked to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, brands and B2B firms quickly followed to connect with prospects.

Similarly, ecommerce and B2C companies have been among the first to explore the possibilities of the metaverse. Walmart is using Roblox as a testing ground for two metaverse experiences. In high-end retail, Gucci opened a virtual store in The Sandbox, a digital real estate platform.

As the technology evolves, the B2C sector will continue to explore opportunities to connect with consumers in virtual environments. In the B2B space, industry-leaders like Salesforce and Microsoft have already started investing in the potential of the metaverse.

Gen Z has spent their lives immersed in gaming and digital environments, and they now make up more than 25% of the workforce.

How the Pandemic Accelerated B2B Opportunities in the Metaverse

For now, most B2B engagements are built on a face-to-face interaction between your company and your customer. However, the past few turbulent years have shown how quickly the definition of “face to face” has evolved.

Forced to conduct business under demands for social distancing during the pandemic, your company adopted remote approaches to stay in business. Tools like Zoom, Facetime, and Mural that were once edge-case technology rapidly became standard practices.

Even as the worst of the pandemic appears to be behind us, virtual product demos, webinars, and conference calls are still as common as their in-person counterparts. With in-person meetings no longer necessary, remote experiences within the metaverse no longer seem so hard to imagine.

As one B2B industry-watcher said, “We should be conducting experiments right now to become intimate with what’s possible today. The B2B community has a big voice and we should use it to help shape the metaverse we want.”

The Metaverse Presents Clear Opportunities for B2B Marketers

Forbes outlined a number of ways the metaverse could transform how B2B companies like yours do business. Here are 4 worth exploring:

1. Immersive product experiences

The B2B technology space is driven by solutions and workflows that are notoriously complex. Instead of relying on video or graphics to illustrate how your offerings work, the metaverse enables you to offer interactive demonstrations. Creating a vivid immersive experience that communicates your value proposition can be a difference-maker in a sales presentation.

2. Personalized customer experiences from any location

Zoom allowed businesses to close the gap with customers around the world while drastically reducing travel expenses. The metaverse takes this a step further, presenting opportunities to host virtual meetings with the potential for more interactivity and personalization. Instead of viewing static charts demonstrating your product’s performance, you can deliver immersive simulations.

3. Enhanced virtual events and trade shows

In 2020, 12 million Travis Scott fans watched the rapper virtually perform in the game Fortnite. As the pandemic exposed the limited ability of video to replicate the experiences of conferences and industry gatherings, the metaverse offers possibilities to create an immersive, 3D trade show “floor” where your business can demonstrate its offerings to prospects.

4. Customer communities

Businesses like yours once depended on the community-building possibilities of in-person connection. Similarly, your customers will gain the opportunity to remain in contact with your brand and one another in the metaverse. Rather than relying solely on social or email channels to nurture customer relationships, the metaverse offers a new way to serve your audience.

The Uncertainty of the Metaverse Holds the Key to Its Promise

The future of the metaverse has yet to be fully defined. The technology simply hasn’t solidified to a point where your B2B can suddenly neglect its website and go all-in on the metaverse. However, the time is now for your company to experiment and consider what’s possible.

Your marketing has always depended on the combination of meeting the right person with the right message at the right moment. Though the metaverse is still in its infancy, it offers new avenues to explore in this age-old approach. Instead of viewing the technology with indifference or even suspicion, you should be excited to connect with your prospects in a whole new way.