Technology meets social: Augmented reality on social media

Augmented Reality has been a buzz word ever since Google Glass made a debut and you saw everyday static objects around you coming to life.

Brands such as Nat Geo which used AR techniques to let people pose with dinosaurs or Mahindra which used AR to introduce a prowling cheetah at its XUV launch are pushing technology to the next level to create wining brand experiences.

AR techniques can add a lot of flavours to your run of the mill social campaigns. Here are 5 ways AR can be woven into your social media play:

Integrated Story Telling Augmented reality blurs the line between the real and digital world. So not just your laptop screen your newspaper, billboard, OOO installation can all become a part of your social campaign. All you need is a smartphone which connects all these media

Bring Real Life examples into digital world Augmented Reality lets you turn anything into props. We are working on a project where we have used vegetables as props in our story. So you can rethink your social campaign beyond the native digital elements.

Let the audience participate: AR makes it possible for the audience to participate in your story. There is this great example from Skype where using interactive webcams, they let Facebook users sing along with their favourite stars.

Create Mult-Dimensional Brand Experience: Augmented reality adds layers of dimensions to the 2D digital space. A history professor in Europe has used augmented reality to recreate history using combinations of visual 3D walk throughs, smell and sound associated with medieval Europe. All this can then be woven into a social campaign creating a 360 degree brand experience.

Bring in Novelty: In my opinion, we are reaching a tipping point with the regular stuff on social media. Hashtag contests, fantasy leagues, etc have all been done to death. Augmented Reality adds a very interesting dimension to the realm of possibilities. Thats why I think more brands will try it out in the coming days.