The Metaverse provides a substitute for real-life social collaboration. It enables people to cooperate with one another in captivating 3-dimensional virtual worlds. However, it is still newer and emerging so we can’t neglect its potential to interrupt our daily lives. One of the significant examples of this approach is the growing trend of virtual influencers.
Meanwhile, fictional characters on social media are presenting a wider prospect. Various brands have now collaborated with virtual influencers and some of them have created their own. This trend is supposedly expanding more this year with experiments from brands in the metaverse. There are significant differences between virtual and real influencers.
Social Media Platform’s Accounts Without a Real Person
However, people are now experiencing and interacting with both in a similar way. Most people are collaborating with Zach King, Addison Rae, and Kendall Jenner. They established a digital connection or relationship between the creator and the audience. But the audiences actually and indirectly collaborate with influencers and their created content.
This approach is understandable but we must consider that they are real people. Keep in mind that most people on social media platforms are interacting and collaborating with accounts without a real person. These types of accounts are more often considered meme accounts such as @MyTherapistSays and @FuckJerry on Instagram. These accounts have obtained millions of potential followers.
Various Brands are Experimenting with Virtual Influencers
One way of seeking a virtual influencer is the development in growth of meme accounts. However, there is a difference when you add a face, tone, and POV. It isn’t surprising that brands are now experimenting with virtual influencers to bind their consumers. They can create avatars with attractive features and characteristics using computer-generated images.
However, Instagram-related activities are linked to human influencers to reach similar audiences. Human influencers collaborate with virtual influencers and enable brands to sustain entire control over the messaging. They can create processes from conception to execution process. Marketers have the potential to establish trust in significant possible ways.
The Existence of Virtual Influencers is Hard to Recognize
For instance, a digital celebrity and Roblox creator Kai simultaneously performed in 7 different virtual concert venues. The authenticity and their recommendations have boosted the increase of social media influencers. Moreover, the world of virtual influencers involves computer-generated appearances. Some key influencers include Lil Miquela with 3 million and Lu do Magalu with 6 million followers on Instagram.
However, the presence of virtual influencers is hard to recognize from their real-life class in some cases. Gartner predicted that around 30% of the influencer marketing budget is expected to be dedicated to virtual influencers by 2025. The interesting phenomenon is that these influencers aren’t real people. Various brands are creating false appearances for years used for marketing purposes.
MetaHuman Creator to Create Virtual People
Meanwhile, the actual change is the creation of humans and the power of the software used to create them. It is called an “uncanny valley” that typically recognizes artificial creation using real elements. Various virtual influencers are intentionally designed as non-human such as Lil Miquela. These types of influencers are very hard to recognize anything except for real people.
There are many virtual entities online owing much to the work of North Carolina-based Company Epic Games. The online game company is the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine. It has become an industry standard for high-res 3D animation for TV gaming and film industries. The company is using its tool Meta-Human Creator for industrial design, manufacturing, and creating virtual people.
