Social VR: How To Get Started

 Virtual Newsflash! Social VR combines the personalization of social media and brings us into an immersive virtual space. Wow!  It’s a powerful marketing media to launch your brand to new dimensions in content, storytelling and communications

While most virtual reality (VR)  has been centered around gaming and events, something new is emerging. Social VR is "people-centric quality time," focused on people in virtual reality creating meaningful relationships with each other. Social VR focuses more on allowing people in virtual reality worlds to merely connect with each other. It will create a large shift for how businesses interact with each other and their clients.

Throw on your VR headset and step out of your comfort space. We are about to take you through our short and sweet business guide to the two social VR platforms worth diving into: AltspaceVR and Facebook Spaces.

Virtual reality is the next big craze hitting social marketing, and AltspaceVR and Facebook Spaces are leading the charge. With all this new technology and the rapidly changing pace it evolves, it can be hard to figure out where to start and even why.

Don’t stress, we’ve got you with this guide. You’ll learn a little about each Social VR platform basics, how to set them up, and then what you can do on each. Let’s dive in…

Facebook Spaces Social VR Guide

According to Facebook, “Facebook Spaces is a VR app lets you hang out with friends and family in a fun, interactive, immersive and virtual environment, as if you were in the same room regardless of where you are.”

1. Download The App: first step is logging onto your VR headset and downloading the Facebook Spaces app and taking an in depth tutorial, Facebook Spaces can be a little difficult to get your bearings and it’s important to practice, practice, practice.
2. Create Your Avatar: here comes the fun, you get to create your own avatar! It can look just like you, or a totally original design. The options are endless and it’s best to create one which best expresses your brand, it can even show emotion. Once you see your dock, just tap “appearance” and edit away
3. Personalize Your Space: Facebook Spaces then sets you up with your own personal space. You will go into your space and see your control dock with tons of options for customization. You can deck it out however you want. This means you can draw 3D pictures, you can add 360 degree photos, check out your timeline, and more. 

What Your Business Can Do In Facebook Spaces

• Create Content For Sharing: Facebook Spaces allows the user to draw, doodle, paint and even snap photos. This content can repurposed for blog photos, Instagram posts, Facebook posts, email signatures, anything you can think of.
  

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  Social VR Pro Tip: On National Video Game Day, Social VR Pro Navah Berg, went live to talk about the history and evolution of gaming. A creative and immersive way to showcase content.
  
• Have A Meeting: Team meetings from anywhere. Facebook allows you to invite up to 3 friends in your space. This allows for greater flexibility if your team is remote, and gives a new edge for presenting information and connecting businesses.
• Hold Events: Invite clients into your space and deck it out for the holidays to say thank you for your business. Create a mixer for new employees to meet each other in a unique way.
• Walk Clients Through Real Life Changes: Imagine presenting clients a 3D audit, or giving them a 360 degree view of their new social media photos. Selling furniture? Show the client what it will look like before they buy it. Selling trips? Give them a taste of the sun and sand by transporting them to a beach.
• Go Live and Record Videos: You can do this on your Facebook profile or Group. More here.
• VR to IRL:  place a video Messenger call between VR and IRL, so that one caller is human and the other is an avatar. A true example of asymmetric social VR.
• Facebook Spaces Help: More here straight from the Facebook Spaces source.

Want to join in on the fun? Click here to join the Facebook Spaces Group! 

AltSpaceVR Social VR Guide

AltSpaceVR is a powerful Social VR network. It allows like-minded people to connect and link up in a variety of different rooms which can be customized to fit the group's brand and identity. In terms of your business, your options are endless for what you can build and create. Here is how you can get started:

1. Download The App/Tutorial: We can’t stress this enough, virtual reality can be confusing your first few go arounds, so we recommend you don’t skip out on the tutorials. In fact, don’t be afraid to do it a few times to really get the hang of it. Just like Facebook Spaces, AltSpace VR has an app you can download from the “apps” page of your headset.
2. Create Your Avatar: AltspaceVR let’s you create a personalized avatar by turning left or right on the home screen and picking “customize”, you can even turn your alter ego into a robot. With tons of different color combinations, feel free to get a little creative.  
3. Explore The Rooms: A unique aspect of AltspaceVR is it let’s users create “rooms.” These rooms can be forests, houses, boardrooms, anything you can dream you can create. We urge you to explore rooms which match your brand and maybe even build your own.

What Your Business Can Do In AltSpaceVR

• Create A Room: Create a room for anything, and we mean anything. Have an important meeting? Build a boardroom complete with desks and chairs. Want something more laid back? Create a house or coffee shop where you can meet potential clients. You can even create a forest or waterfall to allow employees a little time to destress without leaving the office.  Find your portal here.

• Have A Meeting: AltSpaceVR allows more flexibility than Facebook Spaces for how many people can gather in a room, in fact you can have an unlimited number of people in a room. Conduct meetings with clients or with your own team from anywhere.

• Build Something: With unlimited opportunities to create, AltSpaceVR lets you build anything your brand needs to get ahead of the competition. Build unique and custom rooms for each of your clients which fit their individual needs.

• Teach A Class/Training: Does your business offer training? Teach people all over the world by creating a room and holding classes. AltSpaceVR offers yoga and meditation classes, so the possibilities for what you can teach are endless. You can even hold team training to make sure everyone in your business is on the same page, even if they aren’t in the same part of the world.

Want to begin building your community? Click here to join the Altspace VR Group! 

Now you have all the tools you need to become a social VR guru, no matter what virtual reality platform you use. Remember you are only limited by your own creativity. Social VR is rapidly expanding and breaking new barriers, and now you can help lead the charge.

Image Credits

first image taken by author, October 2018