How Does the Metaverse Impact the Entertainment Industry?

Since Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his company, the metaverse has been the internet’s favorite new buzzword. According to the Facebook founder, "...you can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content—you are in it. And you feel present with other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn’t necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage, like dancing, for example, or different types of fitness."

The metaverse is usually described as involving AR and VR technologies, a realistic simulation of our world where users can do all kinds of things. However, you can also have a metaverse without these technologies. At Tonic3, we believe that as long as you have a community of users collaborating on creating content, playing games, and taking part in all kinds of social activities—whether that’s socializing in a virtual space or going to a concert or virtual sports game—you have tapped into the idea of the metaverse.

Let’s take Instagram games as an example. No matter what product or service you offer, Instagram games can provide a different, more collaborative, and community-oriented approach to your stories. In addition to providing entertainment and motivation to the user, you will invite them to have a direct interaction with your brand from the moment they play the game.

Instagram Story Games

Did you know that Instagram Stories have evolved and now provide functions that promote customer interaction, humanize your brand, and provide real-time information on the results of your marketing strategies?

Users have been shown to react very positively to Instagram Stories and the 24-hour, active audiovisual format they’re in. That’s why the average brand posts Instagram Stories about nine times a month, or about twice a week. Meanwhile, the most active companies publish content at least fourteen times a month, or at least every two days. 

The results speak for themselves: Companies that use gamification experience an 8.5% change in annual revenue from year to year, while other companies only experience an annual change of 4.4%

Games are useful when it comes to acquiring, engaging, and retaining users, but can also be used to achieve MUCH MORE:

• Increase user engagement and influence user behavior.
• Reward in-game interactions with virtual items such as points, bonuses, or discounts.
• Generate immediate actions such as a purchases, data registration, or site visits.
• And many others!

With so many benefits, imagine what you could achieve if you included Instagram Stories games in your campaigns to promote your products!

The gaming part is particularly important, as it provides users with a sense of focus, without which the metaverse would just be boring. 

Enhanced sports games

With Metaverse we can also provide the entertainment industry the opportunity to design enhanced immersive experiences. Take sports, for example. Tomorrow, you could be able to watch a VR version of a game, so that you can hang out with your friends while watching it virtually, in the metaverse, but also move around the field and benefit from additional virtual content. Nowadays, when you watch sports on TV, you’re provided with replays in 3D, while the announcer moves around the space, explaining why that player did this, how it allowed another one to do that…

Soon, we may have that in the metaverse in real-time, and you’ll be able to move around the scene to look at it from every possible angle. But also to pick your camera to watch the game from the middle of the field, or through the eyes of your favorite player… This way, watching a game in the metaverse could become even cooler than watching it in person.

But how can you create a game for Instagram?

At Tonic3 we help companies customize their own game to bring entertaining and dynamic content to their followers.

1. Increase your website traffic

In case you are not sure on how to drive traffic to your website from your Instagram games, the truth is that it goes beyond putting a link to your page in the bio. Instagram Stories are a great way to get clicks and views! If you have more than 10,000 followers on Instagram or a business account, you can always use the powerful “swipe up” feature of the app to redirect users to your website with content that encourages people to swipe up.

Did you know that 59% of brands link Instagram stories to a purchase page on their website? Putting the right link plus a “call to action” leads the user to scroll up and follow the action you want.

2. Increase your followers

Doesn’t it happen to you that when you play you feel a challenge to overcome your opponent or win and you don’t stop until you reach it? The same thing your followers feel when starting the game to acquire a benefit such as discounts with your brand.

When users start playing they expect to be the best, so challenges can be generated between friends within Instagram stories, providing greater recognition of your brand.

Your followers will invite their friends to your Instagram Games campaign until it goes viral, which will generate a notable increase in followers on the social network and on your social media accounts, if you have them linked.

3. Increase your sales

With Instagram Games you can go further than offering a promotion of your product with a nice image.

Users who wish to obtain a product discount must overcome the challenges of the game and provide you with essential data that you can later use for your e-commerce or email marketing campaigns.

That means that you can make more personalized campaigns that increase your sales.

Also, if you use Instagram Story Games with tactics like contests, product giveaways, and offers, you’ll see that customers will want to purchase the product they fought so hard for in the game.

This is due to the fact that gamification incorporates fun and differential experience to the user, establishing an emotional connection with him beyond a simple brand awareness and leads him to make the purchase.

Take a look at our article on Immersive Experiences to learn more about digital solutions entertainment brands are aiming to.