What Does Web 3.0 Mean for Content Marketers?

Metaverse, Web3, Web 3.0, whatever you want to call it, is a buzzword that marketers and organisations are staring at and wondering what they need to do next. Fatigued by Crypto, NFTs, VR, AR and remote, it would be easy to bury your head trying to keep up with Google’s latest update or figure out why your Facebook adverts aren’t doing as well as they used to.

But really, this is the point where we need to start planning for Web 3.0’s anticipated impacts, and indeed the elements of an imagined Web 3.0 that are already with us. 

Defining Web 3.0

Hang on, what even is Web 3.0? Well, it’s the next generation of the internet, following on from, you guessed it, 1.0 and 2.0.

1.0 was all about how users found information. We created pages, mostly made of words, and our friends at the search engines stacked them in the right order.

2.0 was all about how users experienced information. We started watching more videos online, we asked search engines questions, and we even spoke to them directly via Alexa and Siri. The pages we landed on weren’t words, but entire experiences, leaving us feeling more informed or fulfilled, even if we didn’t actually read very much when we were there.

So what will Web 3.0 do for us?

Web 3.0 is all about how we can be creative with the information presented to us. We aren’t just consuming content, but creating it ourselves. We can collaborate directly with brands or other creators. And we can interact with the people we buy from or invest our time in much easier too. Unlike 1.0 and 2.0, we can directly impact the content we see, remix it, pay homage to it, or do it better ourselves elsewhere.

It’s also about decentralising data ownership and internet controls. With a higher reliance on blockchain technology and cloud computing, we’ll move away from the ‘central server’ model (e.g., searching absolutely everything we want through Google first) to the point where we interact with the content we ultimately end up visiting directly.

And without that central choke point, the censored Tweets, monopolised data capture and limited payment options become a thing of the past.

What does that mean for marketers?

It means you need to start seeing your content as organic, flexible and ultimately less eternal. If visitors to your site want to mould and shape whatever you do to fit them and their needs, your content needs to let them do it. Let’s explain that one.

Crypto Crime Club is like many other NFT vendors out there: there’s a collection of digital tokens available for purchase, there’s a framework to buy them, but there’s also a complex story and plenty of interactivity that drives engagement. 

This is a niche example, but imagine if a high street retailer put a similar amount of thought into their online store, and you have an example of what Web 3.0 could look like.

If your website or online store is left with a few images, a buy button and that’s about it, and your competitors are busy giving their customers their own virtual world to explore, interact with and ultimately buy from, then you have an excellent reason to start thinking about Web 3.0.

So what do I do now?

It’s really time to think about how your product or service lives in a digital world. If you sell a digital product or service, then the step up is much easier with a touch of storytelling and a progression that allows users to customise their experience to suit them.

For physical products, it’s time to consider how you’re found, and what your customers do when they want to visit your digital store before your physical one. This is where the big investment lies, and you may need some highly creative ideas to bring whatever it is you do to life in a digital-only setting.

This could include remixing, collabing or even NFT-izing your product – with the help of recognised brands or people in that space.

Or it could be ensuring there is more content than ever before about your product. Get over the digital commitment speed-bumps by answering every question you can think of, getting video of every angle and being an honest storyteller. You can’t just post a handful of photos in a gallery and wait for the clicks anymore!

Don’t forget to check our into the Metaverse blog post, packed with everything you need to know about the future of online.