Affiliate marketing in the metaverse: benefits, programs, and strategies

Since its inception, the metaverse has gained rapid popularity among various user segments, becoming a platform with millions of potential customers waiting to be engaged. Transcending capabilities of traditional platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, the metaverse can improve brand awareness, engagement, targeting, and growth. This evolution can make the metaverse the perfect place to start running an affiliate marketing program.

With new metaverse platforms coming up occasionally, brands need to strategize for affiliate marketing within this space to win the creative rat race. This blog dives into how affiliate marketing works in the metaverse, its benefits, and the top affiliate programs.

What is metaverse affiliation?

As reported by Bloomberg, the metaverse is growing rapidly and is on track to become a market worth $800 billion by 2024. Though the metaverse is not widely seen as an affiliate marketing platform, several big brands like Adidas and Coca-Cola have realized the platform’s potential to build new marketing strategies.

Affiliate marketing refers to promoting your goods or services, generally on platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube, through a third party paid on a commission basis. However, a significant differentiator in metaverse-focused affiliate programs is that they are conducted in highly immersive virtual environments with better analytics and new payment channels. Brands investing in affiliate marketing in the metaverse are witnessing higher user engagement by giving their audiences a unique and enriching experience.

Here are a few benefits of metaverse affiliation:

• Increased brand awareness: The metaverse has garnered a broad user base comprising audiences globally. For instance, Fortnite and Minecraft have over 350 million and 141 million monthly active users, respectively. Brands can now increase awareness by holding virtual events, spaces, and experiences in the metaverse to attract and interact with audiences in an immersive way.

• Higher engagement: The metaverse offers a high-tech platform for brands to personalize recommendations based on user behavior and preferences, increasing engagement. Brands can also create interactive and gamified experiences to keep users engaged. For example, fashion brands in the metaverse can allow users to design and customize virtual clothes and even try products through augmented reality.

• Improved targeting: The metaverse is digital and easily traceable, helping brands narrow down on attractive audience segments by filtering the available data. This allows brands to develop meaningful relationships with customers and strategically target them, leading to better conversion rates.

• Growth potential: The metaverse is predicted to reach 700 million people globally by the decade's end, as the World Economic Forum reported. This virtual world could become the next iteration of the web. As the metaverse grows in popularity, so will the opportunities to execute lucrative marketing strategies.

How do affiliate programs in the metaverse work?

Before we hop on to how affiliate programs work in the metaverse, let’s understand how they traditionally work in the real world. Brands looking to increase web traffic or product sales outsource some of their marketing to ‘affiliates’ to promote their products and services. These affiliate marketers are paid commissions on a pro-rata basis for the sales or conversions they generate.

Coming to the metaverse, where everything is digital -  targeting, customer behavior, engagement, campaigns, and even payments become very different and unique to the platform.

Let’s discuss them in detail below:

• User experience: In the metaverse, brands can enhance the user experience by providing audiences with customized offerings based on their taste and movements. Being all digital and programmable, the cost comes down to a fraction compared to the real world.

• User behavior tracking: With the metaverse’s ability to track advanced user data, affiliates can keep tabs on the content audiences interact with and their preferences within the metaverse. These aspects can be leveraged while marketing products and increasing campaign performance.

• Creative marketing campaigns: With marketing becoming even more competitive, brands need new ideas to stand out. The metaverse gives brands a unique opportunity to be ultra-creative and target audiences uniquely. The creativity of campaigns is limitless and can range from interactive VR games, events, and augmented reality to branded virtual spaces.

• Virtual currency: Affiliates in the metaverse are rewarded differently depending on the platform they’re present on. Payments can be made in the metaverse platform’s native virtual currency, like SOMN in Somnium Space and SAND in The Sandbox.

Why are affiliate programs in the metaverse important?

Affiliate marketing in the metaverse must be a part of a brand’s marketing strategy. It is cost-effective and efficient in promoting a brand to large audiences. Here are several reasons which make an affiliate program necessary:

• Drive sales: Every brand aims for higher revenue and sales. Data availability in the metaverse helps affiliates offer personalized and targeted ads or content to drive conversions. This makes affiliate marketing in the metaverse an ideal way to promote products efficiently and gain a higher return on investment from the amount invested or commissioned.

• Expand reach: Affiliate programs can help businesses reach new audiences in the metaverse that they may not have been able to reach through traditional advertising channels. Affiliates can promote the brand's products or services to their specific audience, who are highly engaged users of the metaverse.

• Build relationships: Relationship building is one of the most crucial factors of the metaverse. Affiliate programs can help businesses build relationships with their potential clients and customers by offering incentives and support, further leading to trust-building and long-term benefits for both parties.

• Measure results: The fully virtual and traceable metaverse allows brands to optimize their marketing campaigns and build strategies based on their collected data. Affiliate marketers can track and measure their results in real-time.

Top 3 metaverse affiliate programs

Several affiliate programs fall under the umbrella of the metaverse. Marketplaces that allow brands to sell, buy or rent digital assets and items in the metaverse can be a good channel for affiliate campaigns. However, each platform’s features and capabilities vary, so choosing the right place to execute your strategy will depend on your goals, target audience, and reach.

LandVault: As one of the largest metaverse builders, LandVault provides a platform for buying and selling virtual real estate. Our ‘land concierge’ service allows individuals and companies to rent or buy digital property from a catalog of 100 premium locations across leading metaverse platforms. In addition, our platform helps virtual land owners earn income from properties with our monetization tool.

Decentraland Marketplace: Decentraland, a popular metaverse built on the Ethereum blockchain, has its own virtual marketplace. The Dentraland Marketplace allows users to buy, trade, or sell virtual assets such as land and clothes. Users can easily list, purchase and manage virtual assets through the platform’s dashboard. Decentraland also operates with its own digital currency, MANA, which facilitates transactions.

Somnium Space: Like the Decentraland Marketplace, Somnium Space is an Ethereum-based metaverse allowing users to buy, trade, or sell virtual assets such as land, clothes, art and other digital collectibles. Somnium Space has its own virtual economy that runs on its native cryptocurrency called SOMN. Apart from a desktop application, it even offers a mobile app with VR headset support, allowing affiliate programs to be more immersive.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing programs can flourish on the platform with the metaverse coming of age and nurturing a growing user base. These programs can boost brand awareness, garner higher engagement, and provide better analytics and potential for growth. Affiliate programs work differently in the metaverse as they are run with better user experience, behavioral tracking, creativity, and sometimes with virtual currencies. Brands and individuals have several platforms to execute their campaigns, like LandVault, Decentraland, and Somnium Space. While starting with affiliate marketing in the metaverse can be daunting, the evolving platform is perfect for experimenting with new strategies and finding what works best.

Are you looking to launch an affiliate marketing program for your brand in the metaverse? We’ll help you achieve your marketing goals, from brand awareness to product conversions, by building your idea and scaling it in the metaverse. Get in touch with us!