How can brands improve their communication with augmented reality?

December 17, 2022

4 Min Read

What is augmented reality?

Augmented reality is a new technology that permits to integrate virtual elements (2D/3D) in the real environment. In fact, AR, allows you to see some things from your phone or tablet. Be aware to not confound with VFX that integrate effect in a video already recorded. This new technology uses the camera of your smartphone or tablet to integrate elements directly before your record a video or take a picture.

There are different ways to use augmented reality today.

First, you can find augmented reality on applications and on the web. You can use it to see objects in 3D on Google or play a game with an application. It’s the case with Pokemon Go, which popularized augmented reality in society.

Secondly, you can find AR on social media under the format of filters. In fact, for a long time, social media have taken the gamble of betting on augmented reality to make better content. Augmented reality filters are used every day by millions of people on each social network and it is possible to brands to create their own filters.

Another way to use the new technology is to buy special glasses that integrate augmented reality to help the user with his work or his daily life. The glasses are still being optimized but you can already find them on the market. Of course, they are not perfect yet but they give a foretaste of what will be possible in the next years.

Which social media integrate branded filters?

Augmented reality filters have become flagship content for social networks. Indeed, these media have understood the importance and usefulness of AR to encourage users to create ever more original content.

By the way, you can find filters on every social media which propose photos or videos publication.

Instagram and Facebook

Therefore, Instagram and Facebook offer users the ability to add filters to take photos and videos. In their applications, augmented reality is very well developed and allows filter creators to make varied and optimized filters.

Snapchat

Snapchat is the social media that believes the most in the potential of augmented reality. Indeed, it is the only one that offers so many useful and powerful features integrating AR into its application. You can find, for example, a feature that allows you to try a product with AR and buy it directly thanks to a call to action on the Snapchat filter.

TikTok

Finally, TikTok was the last one to offer the possibility to make branded filters on its application. Indeed, for less than one year, the Chinese social network They have opened the door for brands to create non-advertising filters. So, now, brands can make their filter by themselves without contacting TikTok.

How can you create your filters?

To make an augmented reality filter on social media, you need to download special software to create a filter for each social media.

For Instagram and Facebook, the software is called “Meta Spark” and is free to download. Meta Spark allows you to create all Facebook and Instagram filters you want and offers some templates to help you in the creation process. You can also create a blank project to start a project from scratch. To use this software, you need to have some skills in augmented reality creation but you can find tutorials on the web to help you. Meta Spark has a coding side that permits you to code a filter with very special attributes.

Snapchat has also its own filter creation software called Lens Studio. As we said before, the firm directed by Evan Spiegel offers the best augmented reality experiences on its application. That’s why the software is a little bit more complicated to use than others. Like Meta Spark, you don’t have to know how to code to make a Snapchat filter but some specificities are required to know to create a good lens.

Finally, TikTok has also created its own software called Effect House which is the easiest to use on the market. However, there is a reason for its simplicity, the software is still new and does not offer as much functionality as other software. In fact, you can create multiple filter varieties with a lot of features but you will be blocked if you want to create a different feature in your TikTok filter.