The Metaverse is a digital reality popular with gamers and Web3 enthusiasts. For businesses, building a presence in a metaverse means attracting potential customers’ attention, creating a unique experience and establishing a more forward-looking digital presence. Virtual reality isn’t just for gaming anymore! Businesses have begun recognizing how immersive and user-driven virtual experiences can reach customers in ways unlike ever before. A metaverse is a virtual space that replicates the real world. It feels natural and has enormous potential. Establishing a brand in a metaverse is an opportunity to boost innovation and explore new options in an exciting virtual space. Digital replicas of the real world aren’t new. The video game Second Life was launched in 2003, complete with a digital currency (Linden), avatars, buildings, and all. The word “metaverse” wasn’t widely used back then; however, even though it has been around since 1992 (it was first used in a science fiction novel entitled Snow Crash. Now, the concept of a bustling virtual reality is gaining traction. Technology, hardware and software have all gotten better. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs that didn’t exist in the 90s or 2000s have helped the space explode. Most notably, Facebook’s rebrand to “Meta” brought significant attention to the metaverse. Growing from what was solely meant for gamers to garnering a whopping 81 million users and projected market value of $758.6 billion  market value by 2026, according to the Globe Newswire ,the metaverse can be regarded as the future of immersive content. Even though many would argue that the metaverse is still in its early stages and would be too soon to predict how businesses can leverage the emerging industry, the existing features are enough for companies to key into this technology of the future. How can businesses leverage the metaverse? There are multiple ways businesses can leverage the metaverse including building a digital twin of their real-world storefronts and participating in or sponsoring virtual events, etc. It might be games, competitions etc,. that allow users to participate and, most importantly, have a way to benefit from the game’s valuables that would serve as an incentive in real life. An example is Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn with over 3 million active users in 2022. JP Morgan recently launched a lounge and virtual bank in the metaverse. Businesses can easily create a metaverse-themed restaurant or an online store where people can order digital clothing for their avatars. Believe it or not, many people have no issue spending money on digital accessories for their avatars. Users in the metaverse want their avatar to reflect who they are, which means they are willing to fork over time and money to create the life of their dreams in virtual reality. Companies and establishments can partner with already popular metaverse platforms like Decentraland and Sandbox, where they can offer their services or products as NFTs. They can also join Horizonworld or AltspaceVR, both of which are available on the Meta Quest 2. The idea behind virtual reality is to have a complete life; therefore, bringing real-life services and selling them through the virtual world is a unique approach to leveraging the metaverse. (In the game Second Life mentioned above, some avatars had jobs in their virtual reality. If you can’t picture it, imagine this scenario: two people in a long-distance relationship in real life meet in the metaverse to go on a date. They go to a virtual restaurant and order food. In that restaurant are other people (represented by avatars) who “work” as servers and are paid by the virtual restaurant owner. They could also visit a virtual ski lodge, romantic lake, or historic town and buy virtual flowers, jewelry, and other items. The metaverse blows the doors open to a new digital economy. Companies can also go as far as selling shares as NFTs or tokens native to their companies. This idea where users can easily invest in a company just like they already do with the game tokens. As stated earlier, participating through creation of gadgets and tools targeted at the metaverse is another way of exploring the potential of metaverse by businesses.  You can create in an existing metaverse instead of building a new metaverse (although global companies such Accenture have already leaped). Another opportunity for businesses is fulfilling the need for state-of-the-art equipment to access the metaverse by creating gadgets that improve the user experience, from specially designed gaming setups (think straps to make headsets more comfortable) to in real life “VR Bars” where people can eat, drink and play, or  creating  avatar’s action figures etc. . Every business does not need to view the metaverse from a creator’s perspective, an auxiliary perspective is also great. Building a company around the metaverse concept by producing products aiding greater user experience is an excellent approach to leveraging the industry. Leveraging Metaverse through Cryptocurrency Businesses must be willing to explore the unending possibilities of the crypto industry alongside metaverse to create spectacular offerings for users. A virtual reality marketplace where people would love to transact but would love to remain anonymous is another unique possibility that can be explored with the metaverse. Cryptocurrency grew exponentially because people loved the idea of something they had control over regarding decentralization and, most importantly, anonymity in transactions, unlike conventional banking. Conclusion At present, metaverse or virtual reality remains a niched industry appealing to only a fraction of the populace, primarily gamers. Thus, any innovation which would thrive in this emerging sector should be gaming friendly and acceptable. Understanding the true potential of the metaverse .remains the only viable way to leverage the opportunities inherent in this future technology The world leaders of the Metaverse industry like Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and Decentraland are all game and cryptocurrency themed, thus showing who the present consumers or target audience of the metaverse are. This article was first published here.

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