10 Purposes of Using AR Effects in Social Media Marketing
Every action you take needs a reason. It’s rather obvious that this rule should also apply to your marketing strategy. Many times, though, marketers create content without any specific goal in mind. But, in the case of new technologies like Augmented Reality, the problem is just the opposite: agencies and brands often don’t see any point in introducing new ways to engage their audiences or don’t know how AR effects can be used to serve their campaign’s purposes.
Thus, here are 10 purposes of using AR effects in your digital campaign, so you don’t have to wonder anymore:
1. Reach
If you have an Instagram account then you’ve probably seen more than one AR effect used in a story. Some of them reached billions of impressions by being shared by celebrities, and their creators gained thousands of followers. Of course, it’s much harder to make branded AR effect go viral, but it’s not impossible for it to gain some level of popularity organically, especially when the campaign is well-thought-out and not heavily branded.
Instagram AR effects from @bdimitrov & @arnopartissimo
2. Brand awareness
We all know how hard it is to reach new potential clients, regardless of the industry we’re in. AR presents itself as an opportunity for our brand to stand out from the crowd. How? By personalizing the experience with the brand. One of the latest and most popular Coca-Cola’s Instagram AR effects gave their followers an opportunity to virtually meet and take a picture with the polar bear, their beloved mascot. The ability to create content which the users can relate to and thus can expand the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognise a brand (which is the definition of brand awareness) is the main strength of social media AR marketing.
Instagram AR effect from @cocacolapolska
3. Engagement
Another great feature of AR is that it can keep the recipient engaged for more than a few seconds. The first step of engagement is when you see the video of someone you know using the AR effect. It resembles other traditional marketing mediums, but the person you see can be your friend, which is not possible for banners or other promotional videos. Here comes the next step of engagement which can’t be compared with any other digital medium: using the AR effect yourself. First of all, it takes over the user’s attention completely. What’s more, it can keep it as long as the user has fun with it, either trying to record a great video and send it to his/her friends or get a high score in the AR game. She or he interacts with the brand or the product usually for more than 10 seconds – and in this case, there is no place for banner blindness phenomenon, one of the main problems of traditional digital marketing.
Instagram AR effect from @lenatemnikovaofficial
4. Ultimate user-generated content
Mobile marketing has not seen a tool as perfect for creating UGC as AR inside a smartphone’s camera. It gives the brand’s fans an unprecedented opportunity to create personalized yet themed content and share it immediately with their friends and co-fans. A photo of a person in luxurious, virtual sunglasses, a video of someone singing the newest song of his favourite artist while looking like him – these are only two of many examples of the content which can be generated and shared by users with the use of AR effect.
Instagram AR effect from @selenagomez
5. Contests
AR effects enabling user-generated content and AR games, which usually use your head or mouth as a controller, are those AR effects that can be used to organize fresh and innovative contests. They can be set up with the use of Instagram Stories, Facebook comments or – which often proves most effective – Messenger Chatbot.
Facebook AR effect from Samsung
6. Product launch
AR takes the presentation of the product to the next level. It allows the users to see how it will look like in the real environment and watch it from every side. It’s also possible to show valuable information about the product in an innovative way, eg. specs of the new smartphone floating around it.
Facebook AR effects from Nike and Dolce Gusto
7. TV premiere
Filters and masks put on a face with the use of the front camera are the most popular AR effects. Naturally, it creates a perfect opportunity for TV, movies and gaming industries to help fans of their productions impersonate their favourite characters or enter into their world using AR portals.
Snapchat Lens from HBO’s Westworld & Facebook AR effect from Stranger Things
8. Celebration & fan support
Anniversaries and milestones are a perfect occasion for trying something new in marketing. What’s more, AR effect which is well-suited for an occasion can help followers share their joy or support their team on social media in a fun way.
Instagram AR effect from @redbull
9. Charity action
If your brand is engaged in doing good, don’t hesitate to boost the reach of your charity work by creating an AR effect and give your followers a platform to express their need to help others!
Instagram AR effect from @fundacjawosp
10. Sales boost
AR effects, despite their limited functionalities which are meant to make them light and available to everyone, are also used to actively support sales. Basically, there are two ways in which you can use AR to do it:
As a tool. AR effects are already used for trying on sunglasses or makeup. There are also ways to quickly redirect their users to the online shop to buy what they’ve just tried on. Another way to boost sales is to take advantage of 3D models that can present the product in reality and in this way encourage the purchase.
As an entertaining benefit. Thanks to the fact that every AR effect has its own link, some brands decide to put QR codes on their packaging or use target tracking to activate AR effects by clients who bought their product. This is a great way to add a special, fun bonus or give the customer a chance to participate in the AR contest and win a prize.
Instagram AR effects from @cocacolapolska & @starbucks
Thanks for reading! We hope it’ll help you with implementing AR in your campaign. If you have any questions or your own ideas of why it is worth to use AR in marketing, feel free to contact us!