So, what’s next for the metaverse? What initially arrived as the great revolution in digital communication and seemed to be radically changing our lives doesn’t seem to be taking off. The change in strategy by Facebook’s parent company (Meta), which has stopped prioritizing the development of parallel worlds, has raised alarms and made many brands question whether the strategy in mixed realities has a future.
At APPLE TREE, we asked Julio Fernández Sanguino, Director of the Digital Department at the Madrid office, during an interview on our NEW THINKING podcast about the future of the metaverse and other trends in digital communication. According to the head of APPLE TREE’s digital strategy in the capital, the future of the metaverse is unquestionable: “The future, in one way or another, will go through the metaverse. We don’t know yet if it will be Facebook’s (META), but logically, they have to try to lead.
At the moment, many brands are still considering whether or not to enter the metaverse and what their strategy should be in this environment. These are the keys that Julio has given us: “We always recommend that any bet made should be based on learning. What brands have to do is test in all environments. We know perfectly well from experience that being an early adopter, being the first company to do something, generates immediate returns, not only in terms of notoriety but also allows you to set the guidelines and trends of what will happen. So you have to experiment and take the plunge, but knowing that there is a great risk,” adds Fernández Sanguino.
INFLUENCERS WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY A KEY ROLE IN BRAND STRATEGIES
According to IAB Spain’s Social Media Study 2022, 1 in 2 people follow an influencer on social media. And the trend among brands is that they will continue to be essential to connect with consumers, says Julio in the podcast: “Influencers will continue to play a fundamental role, and I dare say even more important one. It is clear that influencers have to be seen within the context of a brand’s digital presence and are people with a prescriptive capacity. Still, brands must understand the playing field, what it means when an influencer makes a post, how their potential customer consumes it, and what they are doing afterwards. That is why it is essential to understand both the rules of the game and the analytics when it comes to making decisions.
