Web3 is a collective evolution of the brand, artist, and audience experiences. Web3 is interesting enough to draw attention but intimidating enough to put many initiatives on hold before they even begin, especially for brands with other strategies, executions, and KPIs to worry about. Those who leave minimal room for experimenting with a largely unproven capability that has the potential to alter the brand-audience relationship.

What is Metaverse

Storytelling is the key link between a brand and its audience, whether you’re talking with consumers, partners, or the general public. Another rubric to assist brands in comprehending Web3 and create an informed position to develop and deliver practical ideas with high impact in this fascinating new arena, similar to the framework for Value Creation in the Metaverse.

While brands test the waters with tiny experiments, those with a well-thought-out plan, even if it evolves over time, will be able to analyze those experiments and adjust their strategy accordingly. Cryptopunks and other early Web3 projects were experiments in digital ownership, and these early pioneers had a notion and intended to put it to the test. Star Atlas, a more modern initiative, told a story, had an appealing landing page with a roadmap, and focused on community building.

Similar comparisons can be drawn with the development of social media in the past. Most businesses did not consider a social media strategy when Six Degrees began in 1997 or when Friendster launched a few years later. Blogs were among the earliest entry points for companies, prompting a need to create new connections between brand content and target audiences.

In the early 2000s, brands were compelled to think of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Myspace as tools for connecting with their audience, and search engine optimization became a focus for marketing teams. Most marketing executives had or were exploring a social media strategy at this stage.

“While Web3 is distinct from social media, brand leaders are at a similar crossroads. The most challenging part for businesses is taking a stand on something that is being created in real-time by the entire community. “As brands learn from early initiatives, designers and engineers figure out how to bring it all together, Web3 will evolve,” stated Jeremy Gilbertson, Metaverse Methodologist, consultant, and strategist at InfiniteWorld.

Latest piece on #DAOs for @NFTPlazas … https://t.co/ZMMD8I7x0y

— Jeremy Gilbertson (@jeremygilby) April 25, 2022

A Web3 Manifesto is a living document that describes a company’s engagement with this new technology. It will:

• capture your audience’s technological familiarity and experience
• Describe how your existing assets relate to Web3.
• investigate the future of interconnected experiences
• create a clear vision of success
• consider creating or purchasing instances in the Metaverse,
• and develop a business-oriented technology philosophy
• The outcomes include a forward-thinking brainstorming approach based on divergent thinking and a decision matrix and prioritization strategy for execution.

What Does The Metaverse Mean For Your Business?

The first step in exploring Web3’s possibilities is to form a flexible, interdisciplinary internal team. One of the requirements for membership is the capacity to think outside of the box while remaining focused on the business. It’s tempting to delegate leadership to the strategy or innovation teams, but marketing, product, and technology can all contribute. “While there are different interpretations of the Metaverse,” Gilbertson noted, “an essential definition is the one produced by your team.” Blanket definitions can be useful as a starting point, but it’s not as simple as copying and pasting.”

Some businesses begin with mission statements, which form the foundation of their brand’s ethos. Because the success of any instance of the Metaverse that a brand generates is dependent on the audience engaging with it, the audience of that brand can be essential stakeholders in developing this definition. The good news is that most well-developed marketing departments have a strong understanding of their target audience, which may be used in this research. This definition serves as a foundation for all Metaverse discussions. Following the definition of the Metaverse, the team should investigate which instances are most compelling and aligned with their objectives.

Purchase or construct

The transfer of ownership from the platform to the creator is one of Web3’s canons. Instead of supplying intellectual property to platforms, you are now the platform. You can take control of your Metaverse instance by creating your own experiences or purchasing the ability from existing instances.

“I’ve been recommending a strategy that combines both. Launch pop-up experiences in sites like Decentraland or The Sandbox while building your own instance. “Unless you have a very devoted group waiting for your next product, you should meet the users where they are,” Gilbertson added.

If your business is based on personal experiences, starting by creating your own environment may make sense. But what does that imply? It’s a digital presence that brings your products and community online. Consider the first Web3 project of the Atlanta Braves. It establishes a virtual meeting spot for things linked to the Atlanta Braves and opens the door to a gamified environment where fans can play as players. It also transfers asset ownership to the brand.

Product-driven brands may not choose to invest in creating a virtual environment. In these scenarios, brands could investigate instances within existing worlds like Decentraland, The Sandbox, and Somnium Space. While many of them currently resemble Web2 spaces with virtual world capabilities, they cater to a Web3 clientele. Warner Music Group worked with

Fluency of Audience

Onboarding new users are one of the most difficult aspects of adoption. Even with the Coinbase NFT marketplace launch, the bulk of non-Web3 native brand audiences lacks a wallet. “Does your target audience understand Web3?” Are they Web3-interested or Web3-averse?” Gilbertson inquired. “It could be a mix of the three.” Brands may design tactics that correlate with their audience’s Web3 fluency and legitimately serve as an onboarding ramp through their activations if they grasp this.”

Why not incorporate an educational lens into your efforts instead of approaching Web3? Consider how you may use traditional channels to connect with them while also educating them about security and how to prevent phishing scams. “Building incentives into your experiences to onboard your audience onto Web3 is one of my favorite ideas.” Consider starting with a single NFT freebie that grows in functionality as the audience becomes more engaged with Web3. “A wallet might be the initial stage in the trip, and once accomplished, the brand unlocks restricted experiences as a reward,” Gilbertson added.

Also, read – The Metaverse Glossary You Need To Memorize

Visualize Your Success

What is the goal of having a Web3 presence? To get it correctly requires a lot of thought. Profit is a motivator for some. If so, is it a new product or an extension of an existing line of business? Others see a chance to broaden their audience, strengthen their existing relationships, or even reach out to a brand new audience. In either case, the brand should define the business objectives of a Web3 presence.

Habitats is an immersive architecture project created by SHoP Architects. While Habitats will have an NFT collection, SHoP Architects will convert Habitats into a wider research and development initiative using their digitally native experience. SHoP Architects will allow Habitats NFT holders to participate in the team’s research and gain access to bespoke experiences such as 3D printing files. Habitats have a Web3 team and collaborate with COBA Labs, a Web3 development firm.

Team @MetaPropNYC was out in full force last night in Brooklyn to celebrate @NFT_NYC with some of our friends from this fantastic community. Kudos to the teams at JDS Development and Shop Architects for a beautiful restoration. Thanks to @s_afiaziz for the invitation. pic.twitter.com/2A3p2vscXW

— Zachary Aarons (calendly,calendly) (@ZacharyAarons) November 4, 2021

“With Web3 being constructed in real-time by everyone,” Gilbertson added, “it can be difficult to tell where it’s going.” Creative teams can be free to create ground-breaking experiences related to that notion of success by explicitly describing the desired outcome in simple words with quantitative facts. Brands can be secure in investing resources to such an emerging phenomenon by being explicit on internal language.”

Evolution of Brand Identity

Logos, audio identities, websites, 3D models of objects, pictures, and video content are among the digital assets that brands manage. They also interact with their customers through retail experiences and events. You must be a Web3 participant to participate in Web3.

While interoperability is a long-term objective for the community, it will take time, but the potential is enormous. “Imagine a digital warehouse where brand assets are stored as NFTs with specific ownership and rights and may be accessed by different Metaverse instances. “What if the assets themselves had the intrinsic power to reformat themselves based on the intended instance?” Gilbertson speculated. Capturing and transferring current asset catalogs to Web3 will simplify Metaverse activations while truly extending brand presence into this new domain.

Philosophy of Technology

A brand’s technology philosophy will determine the means of connecting to Web3’s technological infrastructure. For example, suppose one group in the business comes up with a concept that serves their department’s goals but necessitates a technology that is difficult to incorporate into the company’s broader technological stack. In that case, it may never see the light of day. “A high-level examination for types of blockchains, levels of interoperability and decentralization, user security, and environmental effect is a wonderful place to start,” Gilbertson added.

While some ideas will be attractive enough to justify allocating resources to address these challenges, others will be abandoned before they become compelling due to a lack of alignment with the company’s current technological capabilities.

Taking Concepts to Reality

Achieving real, meaningful Web3 experiences requires balancing limits between creativity and strategy alignment. Once the ideas have been recorded, switching from divergent to convergent thinking to determine which concepts serve the strategy objectively is a good idea.

A product manager should find and elevate the best functionality to exceed your audience’s expectations. Brenden Coleman, the Premier Lacrosse League’s Head of Product and Senior Strategy Director, is a pioneer in the Web3 space. “Web3 introduces an exponential amount of new use cases and exponential paths to pursue,” Coleman explains. Understanding the brand’s targeted results is critical. These serve as the brand’s north star, allowing you to place checkpoints to ensure you’re on the proper track.”

Like any new technology, not all applications unlock hidden value or address a problem. When other businesses make movements, it’s tempting to get caught up in a rush. “Simply put, if the solution offers incremental value or creates more difficulty, it is unlikely to be embraced,” Coleman continues.

Coleman uses known frameworks to evaluate new product concepts, particularly those that deal with effect and effort. According to Coleman, the impact increases value or benefit to the end-user or business. The effort is the time and effort required to build, promote, and monetize that capability. “Web3 upsets that equilibrium due to the new ownership dynamic,” Coleman said, “shifting the prioritization pendulum dramatically towards customer value.” “The magnitude of the impact made for the end-user is now more closely matched with the business’s performance.” Because of the friction involved in onboarding a new user, Web3 solutions come with an implied amount of effort. The ideal situation for a brand is for the end-user to be unaware that they are engaging with Web3.”

Because not all teams have the technical capabilities to take a plan from ideation through implementation and iteration, many organizations will find success partnering with vendors who specialize in what they need to implement and execute. Make sure your company collaborates with a reliable partner.