Suddenly, relating to a target audience isn’t through ads (text, image, or video). It’s becoming part of a customer’s world and presenting a brand or business as a real being they can interact with in a natural way. Facebook is demonstrating this in Horizon by deploying staff^[8] who will act as guides or hosts in public spaces. Facebook is suddenly changing the customer service experience from submitting a request to being able to virtually walk up and talk to a Facebook employee.

A Place To Play

One of the features of Horizon is playing games like mini golf, escape rooms, paint balloon, or a battlefield with a hybrid sword. Facebook wants Horizon to be collaborative and interactive. This gives brands a chance to get in on the action. Who wouldn’t want to see Wendy’s vs Burger King in a virtual paint ball fight – the winning team gets a free burger. 

Building Virtual Worlds

Part of Horizon is world-building. Marketing in virtual reality takes a different approach in this new evolving space. Companies could build their own world for users to explore, hiding Easter Eggs (hidden items places in movies or games) for explorers to find leading to discount codes or free items. Companies could harness the excitement that Ready Player One brought to VR by building a world where one lucky winner could rule it for a day.  

Creating a world for a brand within Horizon or branded virtual objects that Horizon users can reuse in their own designs are one way to take part in this new, social world. Instead of shooting a commercial in real life (which may be impacted due to the pandemic) brands could shoot one in Horizon, using real platform users as extras. The commercial (and making of it) could be livestreamed to Facebook and shared across platforms. 

Is This Part Of The Future Of Social Media Marketing?

Collaboration, gameplay, and world-building are all tools marketers need to get familiar with. Social presence in spatial computing will only get more advanced, especially as companies like Facebook ease the barrier to entry. Liam McKill, a Horizon beta world-builde^[9]r said, “My biggest piece of advice for new creators in Horizon is to experiment constantly. You are in a world that can’t be broken and is still relatively unexplored;”