If you make decisions for a local small business, such as a local chiropractor or accountant or sports bar, then you may not yet have an idea of how to use the new web3 technology for your business. Most of the web3 topics are focused in investing/trading/speculating, big brands with national exposure, or other topics which aren’t relevant to just getting more customers, patients, or clients in your city and from nearby towns.
This article is just a short overview of how web3 technology (as of the summer 2024) now can start to generate new local customers and/or solve problems which are otherwise difficult or expensive to solve. First, let’s cover just a few of the topics of what web3 technology is available to a local business owner:
NFTs (non-fungible tokens)
POAPs (proof of attendance protocol NFTs)
AI (some of this is web3)
Decentralized content writing, such as Mirror.xyz
Virtual real estate (aka “digital land” or “digital real estate”)
Augmented Reality (in some circumstances)
Decentralized finance
Tokenized businesses and other real world assets (RWA’s)
Metaverse lands and other digital assets like digital wearables, digital collectibles, and more
Other gamification aspects to make your local business more compelling, especially a more traditionally-considered “boring business”
Web3 top-level domains (TLDs) and second-level domains (SLDs)
3D objects uploaded into a metaverse or augmented reality platform
This topic is covered more on this page:
This video shows an example of a local convention center holding a virtual trade show. A “real world problem” which this solves is the ability to extend the benefits of a trade show long after the conference/expo/event has concluded. People who missed out on the trade show can interact with vendors; and vendors who weren’t able to connect with otherwise-motivated prospective customers increase the odds of increasing business in case the people at the trade show booth didn’t connect with the prospective customers.
Even though this is for a trade show, the concept can be expanded into a local business environment. For example if the local chamber of commerce wants to increase membership + the members want to increase awareness of their businesses to other members & non-members, then something like the above video can be created as a “Chamber approved” web3 venue which would allow members to have their content at each “booth”.
The other benefit, as compared to just listing all members on a common web page or directory, is that the local business Chamber member is welcome to join the metaverse venue and interact directly with anyone else who happens to be in that metaverse at the time. This allows for interactivity, which static web pages/directories (which most Chambers only have) can’t replicate. Many metaverse platforms do not require any extra technology such as headsets or glasses, and most can work just on desktop or laptop computers. Some also allow people to access even on mobile devices.
If you are the kind of person who says, “I don’t care about fake trade shows and metaverses and the such. All I care about is MY land and how it relates to ACTUAL places on Earth, such as my office or store,” then no problem! There are some metaverse platforms which are based around Earth and actual latitude/longitude locations. Here is a video of what is coming soon for just one of the roughly 12 (at the time of this post) Earth-based metaverses:
You also may say, “I don’t care about any of those things. My only concern for marketing is increasing my local search engine rankings. If I can rank at the top of the search engines for ‘my business category + CITY’ then I won’t have to worry about anything related to web3.” If this is you then no problem at all!
Of the roughly 12 platforms, at least 4 of them have local SEO rank-boosting potential. This article just begins to touch on this potential:
You also can, or soon will be able to, use web3 technology to overcome local business owner “headaches” such as:
Getting access to capital and/or other financing
Expanding into new towns
Creating a program to reward loyal customers/clients/patients
Reducing the risk of your shared content getting your account suspended or eliminated, such as what many business owners experienced in the post-2020 environment
Making their “boring” businesses more exciting, especially to a younger audience which doesn’t trust print advertising, flyers, mailers, and other local marketing methods trusted by an older generation
Over time you will see more web3 at the local level. Feel free to connect if you wish to discuss this in more detail. Thank you.