metaverse Affiliate marketing The Metaverse Trend: Opportunities for Affiliate Marketing

In 2020, along with the period of prosperity of affiliate marketing, metaverses appeared, which became one of the hottest topics in the field of technology. Like affiliate marketing, metaverses are currently one of the most important tools available to modern businesses. This cost-effective marketing method with a high return on investment allows you to conduct targeted campaigns. In less than ten years, affiliate marketing has transformed from a profitable sales channel available to only a few to an absolute marketing necessity. 

More than 80% of brands today use some form of affiliate marketing. Moreover, more than 40% of American brands consider affiliate marketing programs to be their main channel for attracting customers. Many companies, along with affiliate programs, also launch metaverses. Advertised by major brands such as Meta, it is expected to revolutionize the way we interact in the digital sphere and will have a major impact on both individuals and businesses. 

The metaverse promises to create new opportunities for businesses and affiliate marketers. Just as affiliate marketing has gone from an optional luxury to an absolute necessity for brand survival, the Metaverse is preparing for the same. Like affiliate marketing, the Metaverse is changing how people spend and earn money, as well as interact with the brands and companies around them.

Metaverse? What's That? 

Although the idea of the Metaverse has only recently been picked up by modern technology companies and entered the public sphere, the concept itself is quite old, dating back to the 1990s, when this idea appeared in works of science fiction. 

The metaverse is a virtual network of 3D worlds where people create avatars at will and interact within the community and the surrounding virtual world, just like in the real world. To many, metaverses are presented as an additional reality, that is, an exciting VR world. Typically, users access the Metaverse through virtual reality headsets, such as the Oculus VR headset. But users can access the Metaverse through their computer screens or from any device connected to the Internet.

The futuristic concept of metaverses is real nowadays, it is gaining momentum in popularity and is widely used in information spaces. If the Metaverse becomes as popular and widely used as companies like Meta hope, it will forever change the face and scale of the digital media landscape. Metaverses have become possible thanks to the excellent possibilities of combining currently popular technologies: virtual reality, augmented reality, and blockchain, and these are just some of them!

The Internet has made it possible to unite the whole world. Thanks to the Metaverse, people around the world can interact with each other and things around them using 3D-visualized worlds and simulations. Soon the Metaverse will turn into a single open platform where people around the world will be able to access it, much like the Internet. 

The question of the universal integration of the metaverses is a matter of time. Already there are excellent opportunities for affiliate marketers to use this wave of interest in their favor. 

Metaverse Is A Big Deal

Analysts predict the steady growth of the segment. By 2024, the market volume will be $800 billion, and by 2035, a capitalization of approximately $30 trillion is projected. Now is the time for brands to act and get into action while competition is still relatively low. 

Metaverses will allow brands to target their audience and develop meaningful relationships with their customers around the world, opening up entirely new revenue opportunities through never-before-achievable means in the process.  

Many well-known brands are quietly entering this niche, such as Disney, Nike, Puma, and Samsung. These corporations are already investing heavily in the Metaverse and are witnessing high user engagement in their brand in the Metaverse. Similarly, the same companies are cutting staff and creating new jobs every day, specifically focusing on the Metaverse. For example, Facebook (aka Meta) recently announced that it will create 10,000 jobs in Europe over the next 5 years to help build a Metaverse!

New Products And New Technologies

New phenomena lead to the popularization of new technologies:

• Oculus Rift - Virtual reality headsets and equipment are becoming increasingly popular, and brands such as Oculus Rift are attracting significant mainstream attention;
  
• Blockchain - metaverses created with the help of blockchain technologies are in great demand. Sensational Sandbox and Adidas collocations, as an example of the merger of retail business and crypto project; 
• NFT - authentication and confirmation of ownership of digital assets that can get real value. In the metaverse, you can easily become a stakeholder by just owning an NFT; 
• VPN and databases - you need huge storage that saves the content created in real-time every second. VPN and other services are necessary to create the security of personal data; 
• 3D design and Animation - companies offering their services in using software to create 3D models and environments for a realistic VR, AR, or MR experience;
• CBI is a computer brain, it's everything that allows users to interact with technology using only their brain activity. However, such an interface is still far from being fully developed.

Potential Demographics

By identifying and targeting specific demographic groups, any business can find its customer. New technologies and the metaverses themselves are very popular among Gen Z and other young demographic groups, they are the most important for the markets, and companies are fighting for their attention every day. Several studies have shown that the vast majority of Metaverse users are young people. Take Roblox for example. Recently, in their report, they shared important statistics: almost 55% of users of the popular Metaverse Roblox game are under 13 years old.

Metaverses open up unique opportunities for marketers and affiliates marketers to access the market of young and tech-savvy people, which would be much more difficult or even impossible to reach using traditional marketing channels

A New Kind Of Content

Metaverses will allow you to change the standard look and type of content that companies used to stimulate growth and attract traffic. Social media posts or blogs can be displaced by metaverses. It will no longer be limited to a modern 2D format with a small screen, but instead should be designed with full immersion in the 3D world in mind. The interaction will be the name of the game; content creators and marketers will need to come up with ways for their content to encourage and reward user engagement! Hence the already quite high popularity of blockchain metaverses, because they reward those who constantly use them. 

Instead of watching videos and clicking on links, users will be able to view products and respond to them in real time, and affiliate offers will be based in stores, offices, or retail outlets based on the Metaverse.

Opportunities For Affiliate Marketing In The Metaverse

It is important to understand that the paradigm shift will also affect the traditional understanding of how affiliate marketing works, which can be a challenge for many "oldies" in the game, but also a great opportunity to start for "young blood". You can be represented in the metaverse in various ways: as an avatar, a virtual world, or even a virtual office. The way affiliates in the metaverse receive their commissions may differ from traditional methods. Payment methods, including cryptocurrencies, NFT, and embedded currency systems created by virtual worlds in the metaverse, are likely to become new payment processes involved in the metaverse.

It is important to understand exactly how to advertise an affiliate campaign and how you plan to reach the target audience and maintain the interest of this audience will become one of the new tasks of this round of Internet development, but despite the difficulties, the possibilities after overcoming them will be limitless. 

Perhaps now is the right time to reach out to potential affiliates in the metaverse, as it is still in the early stages of growth and development, and the chances of your product being unique are higher. Future affiliates in the metaverse are no longer just webmasters, they can be owners of virtual offices or an avatar and work from a virtual reality social platform; this can affect affiliate marketing strategies and make you think about new innovative ways to reach an audience.

The ways of obtaining affiliate income due to their commission rates and commission payments may also change. Cryptocurrencies will be used everywhere, as well as native tokens of projects, but fiat currencies like the dollar and euro will not go anywhere. In the metaverse and depending on the payment method of the affiliate program, the conversion rate that affiliates receive will be the most important. 

Conversion rates can increase significantly depending on the project you are working with. If this is a project that is one of the first to offer innovative products, then the brand will have the advantage of being a pioneer, which you will be glad to see in the next five to ten years, since your retention level of your customers is likely to increase. Some innovative affiliate programs can bring you valuable affiliate links, and the types of affiliate programs are extensive and designed for a wide range of industries.

Products Or Services That Are Worth Looking At

Here is the list of products and services that can benefit from metaverse implementations:

BVR equipment

Currently, Oculus Rift offers an attractive affiliate program with a commission of 3% of headset sales. As more and more people take an interest in the Metaverse and want to experience it for themselves, becoming an affiliated partner of a virtual reality technology company can be a potentially lucrative choice.

For branches operating inside the Metaverse, VR equipment should still prove to be an effective product choice. People will always want something better and will look for something that will improve their experience in the Metaverse.

Fiverr and freelance exchanges 

Any metaverse should be filled with virtual reality objects, many can turn to freelance exchanges to make various accessories or avatars for them. Fiverr offers an affiliate program that will allow you to earn money from a new audience who wants to get into the trends of the metaverses. Marketers can negotiate a partnership with highly qualified freelancers and direct traffic to them while receiving both commissions from Fiverr and a percentage due to the partnership with them. Ideas can be for example: "Necessary attributes for the metaverse", leaving a link at the end to a specialist in 3D graphics. 

There is also a crypto analog of Fiverr, in the most popular metaverse SandBox, users can create attributes or avatars for the game itself. SandBox has an affiliate program.

Metaverse Affiliate Programs 

Many new projects offer affiliate programs. For example, in the Uhive metaverse, when you invite a user to join, you not only receive a commission. You will receive a share of all periodic income for any purchase made by this user during the whole year.

Any user you invite will follow your default space. The program is divided into two stages: 

• In the first stage, marketers invite a user to download and use Uhive, this user's account will be connected to your Uhive account for a whole year, and the commission for any transactions will be refunded to you in the amount of 25% of the purchase amount. 
  
• The second stage implies passive income from the interactions of invited users with the platform. On top of the first stage, if this user invites another user, you will receive a 2% share of any purchases they make in the system.

There are more and more similar offers every day. 

Crypto Exchanges 

If you are focusing on metaverses built on the blockchain, then you need crypto exchanges on which you can buy metaverse tokens. Coinbase, Binance, ByBit, etc. 

Binance

Binance, Inc. is the most popular crypto exchange in the world. Binance charges 40% to 50% of the user's trading expenses as a commission. However, this figure has been reduced to 20%. It is possible to raise the percentage by storing a native exchange token (BNB) in the amount of 500 coins, then the percentage increases to 40. If you offer someone to Binance, you will get a percentage of his trades for life. Referral fees have increased due to significant crypto events and specialized campaigns. Every month when your recommendations are active, you can receive a bonus.

Coinbase

Coinbase is one of the most popular cryptocurrency affiliate networks. For those who like such things, a referral scheme is also available. For every $100 that a recommended client puts, you get $10 in bitcoins as part of the referral program. It's best to join an affiliate network to get the most out of your marketing efforts. Within three months, you will receive 50% of the trading fees of your proposed client's thanks to the Coinbase affiliate program. A huge plus is an ability to receive payment immediately in PayPal or a foreign currency directly to a bank account through an affiliate program.

Metaverses on the blockchain offer an excellent opportunity to buy, for example, a building or an apartment to monetize it later. Metaverses on the blockchain offer a business model similar to the real world, for example, renting out a plot of land or renting out a room for various events. Many crypto enthusiasts want to buy real estate with decentralization and/or sandbox. They need to convert their currency into cryptocurrency, and you could promote finance as a way to do that, and it's a great way to make money as an affiliate.

Internet security 

With the introduction of metaverses, the need for personal data protection will increase. There will be new ways of hacking or identity theft, so people will look for ways to solve this problem. And one of the best ways is a VPN, which allows you to hide your internet address so that people can't just log in and steal your information. There are quite a few affiliate programs of VPN companies, such as NordVPN or TunnelBear. 

A Few Tips On How To Succeed In The Metaverse Niche 

Here is few tips how to get a head start in metaverse niche:

1. You can start searching for affiliates from platforms where virtual worlds, games, and cryptocurrencies are discussed. It is important to target people who actively create these platforms or content for them to exchange affiliate links. Twitch or Telegram is great for this, for example, there are about 1.5 million partners on Twitch at the moment, this platform is especially good because it has a reputation for streaming platforms focused on games! When looking for affiliates in the metaverse, it may help to explore some of the most popular and affordable affiliate programs that are currently available in the metaverse and contact them. We have already discussed Sandbox or Uhive, but VR Sync, GameStop (electronics), VR cover, and, of course, Amazon branches may also be suitable. These are just a few affiliate programs available on the platform.
2. Use social networks: Telegram and Twitter have very vibrant crypto communities, as well as other niches related to virtual reality.
3. To create an attractive offer, it is necessary to study new technologies, for example, NFT. If you want to increase the number of user purchases and attract a crowd that hangs out in the metaverse with their buddies, then permanent tokens or NFT will suit you. Over time, there are even more affordable ways to use non-fungible tokens for digital marketing. For example, a brand using your affiliate link may offer branded limited edition products that partners can use or wear on their avatars on metaverse platforms.
4. NFTs give partners a double incentive to work hard to promote your brand since NFTs are digital creative assets that they can later trade with profit if your product becomes popular and they grow in price, and you can earn even more because of royalty. 

Pitfalls

Obviously, there's always the dark side of it:

1. Any product has a wave of hype and a wave of revaluation to the actual value. The first and raw meta-links on the blockchain are undergoing a significant correction stage. The largest number of daily users in the Decentraland crypto metaverse was 675 people, while their competitor The Sandbox had 4503. These are peak values, and, for example, on October 7, the DAU of the first was 38 people, and the second — was 522. At the same time, the capitalization of each company exceeds a billion dollars. And it is not known whether they will remain in the information field at all and whether they will bring money again.
2. Identity theft, and much worse theft of finances. A large number of scam projects use the hype wave to steal finances from ordinary users.
3. Volatility and instability of the industry, because many large institutions simply cannot enter the metaverse, and sometimes put a spoke in the wheels. 

Recap 

The future is happening before our eyes. All futuristic ideas from the 80-90s are already on the Internet and are waiting only for their users. Metaverses will make significant changes in the behavior and preferences of ordinary buyers. Companies and affiliate marketers need to be prepared for these changes if they want to take full advantage of the opportunities available in this new virtual world!

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