What Does the Metaverse Mean for Global Brands?

welocalize June 1, 2022

Imagine a digital universe bustling with billions of users across the globe, interacting through virtual reality spaces in real time.

For the average user, it means achieving a new level of immersion in gaming, entertainment, social networking, and shopping. For businesses, it’s a whole new world of possibilities for the customer experience.

With the metaverse just around the corner, businesses put forward ideas that capitalize on virtual reality one after another. This includes virtual product demos, Q&A sessions, consultations, and checkout experiences. To open up these ideas to the global audience, brands need to add AI-powered translation and localization to the equation.

In this post, we’ll talk about the ways businesses in certain industries can enter the metaverse and think about creating multilingual experiences.

But first, a brief introduction.

What Is the Metaverse?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the mind behind the metaverse, envisions it as the future of the internet.

The metaverse will consist of interconnected digital spaces in virtual reality, which enables experiences that wouldn’t be possible in the real world. To jump right in, users need to wear metaverse-ready virtual reality headsets, like the Oculus Quest and Valve Index.

Launching later in 2022, the metaverse is in a position to change the way online experiences are delivered forever.

How Brands Can Deliver Multilingual Experiences Across the Metaverse

The idea behind the metaverse is to make digital experiences as immersive and believable as possible.

Just like how most social media users interact in their native tongue, citizens of the metaverse are expected to do the same.

To improve customer experience and immersion, brands need to translate essential information into their audience’s native language. It can be anything from contracts and product documentation to patient information and various learning resources.

Many things come into play when brands are looking to enrich metaverse experiences – for example, creating multilingual data sets for AI-driven features. This impacts virtual assistants, chatbots, and search tools. All these options can be used to enhance metaverse experiences.

Here are some ways global brands can design immersive, multilingual experiences in the metaverse:

E-Commerce Brands

Global retailers can take advantage of the metaverse to present products in the best possible light and without requiring in-store visits.

Using a virtual space, customers would be able to inspect and interact with a 3D version of the product. At the same time, businesses can provide additional content, such as product specs, manuals, and even video tutorials.

Platforms like Obsess have already started helping brands build virtual experiences for the metaverse. Created environments can launch on the brand’s official website, making full use of first-party customer data.

Healthcare

The metaverse can revolutionize the healthcare industry in multiple ways.

A common example is the use of virtual reality to augment medical personnel training. Abbott, for instance, has been using virtual reality and augmented reality technologies for training in areas like cardiology and diagnostics.

With the metaverse, distance becomes a nonfactor when it comes to communication between healthcare professionals. This enables a new level of collaboration on surgeries, conferences, and more.

Lastly, the metaverse can usher in a new era in telemedicine and teleconsultations. Rather than driving to the nearest clinic, patients only need to wear their virtual reality headset and visit their physician’s metaverse space.

Education

Education is one of the industries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the world plunged into an era of online classes and modules.

Unfortunately, online classes pale in comparison to in-person classes in terms of student motivation and performance. That’s something the metaverse can change with immersive, virtual reality classrooms.

Apart from being able to interact with students in a 3D space, educators can also take advantage of virtual tools. They can use virtual blackboards, handouts, and presentations to bring the benefits of face-to-face classes to e-learning.

Companies like Metaverse School have already helped educational institutions use virtual reality to enhance online learning. The school features a lightweight and browser-based product, reducing the hardware and technical requirements for students to participate.

Automotive

In the automotive industry, businesses can use the metaverse across manufacturing and customer engagement.

Hyundai, for example, first used the “Metamobility” concept to allow specialists to complete tasks in manufacturing plants through virtual reality. The South Korean motor company also used virtual reality to allow users to test drive the M.Vision POP and M.Vision 2GO.

These applications set a precedent for other automotive companies on how the metaverse can impact their operations.

Build Rich Multilingual Experiences in the Metaverse

The metaverse is on the horizon, and brands are under pressure to become the industry innovators in this space.

Brands will do well to remember that even in the metaverse, not everyone speaks the same language or has the same cultural preferences. Content displayed in the real world or metaverse – still needs to resonate with global audiences. Especially as we live in a world that’s about to be even more connected ?

Contact us and find out more about the multilingual metaverse.