SOCIAL AR | MIND-BLOWING SOCIAL MEDIA FILTERS

WHAT IS SOCIAL AR?

Social AR refers to augmented reality experiences created for TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. Social AR uses the tools built into these social platforms to engage users with AR experiences.

Why do I need Social AR?

First off, you need to know that there are a few primary approaches to creating an AR experience:

Create an experience for existing social applications such as TikTok, or Snapchat (Social AR)
Create a web-based AR experience (Web AR)
Create an application-based AR experience (App AR)

(Our augmented reality agency provides more specialized options for those who need a Kiosk setup – to see more information click here) Creating Social AR experiences can differentiate your brand by engaging with potential customers on their favorite social platforms. Social AR offers a broad, existing userbase that is already familiar with AR experiences. These experiences (also commonly referred to as filters) are hyper-engaging, especially for younger audiences. As long as the social platform is installed, the Social AR experience can be accessed almost instantly! As a result of the low-friction and massive userbase provided by social platforms, these experiences often spread like wildfire and go viral.

If you want to assess your detailed project needs consider a free discovery consultation from our AR Agency based in Montreal.

Examples of Social AR

Social AR provides more limited features for users to play with than Web AR or App AR. This being said, Social AR is still very capable of creating engaging and unique experiences. Let’s take a look at some examples and use-cases of Social AR.

Artys AR Filter (Instagram & Facebook)

UprealDigital created an augmented reality app called Artys, and we needed an engaging way to drive more downloads.

We set out to leverage the power of Social AR by creating an AR filter for Instagram and Facebook. The filter we created uses face-tracking technology to apply a bright green mask to users. This mask featured our logo, designed to capture the viewers’ attention.

Learn more about our extensive work on Artys here.

Saks Fifth Avenue AR Filter (Instagram)

Saks’ Instagram filter virtually allows users to try on luxury clothing. Users can take photos or videos of themselves wearing Saks clothes in any environment and share them with their followers.

This engaging campaign drives sales by showing you, and your followers what you’d look like in Saks’ luxury clothing.

The social nature of this filter, paired with the accessibility Instagram provides prompts other users to try it out!

Kia’s Branded Hashtag Challenge (TikTok)

Kia set out to create a simple engaging challenge paired with a TikTok filter. With this filter, branded effects can be triggered using hand gestures. After each gesture, users were encouraged to show off their best dance moves.

This endeavor went viral garnering over 1.2Bn views and achieved an impressive engagement rate of 13.7%!

Kia’s use of Social AR created massive awareness of the company’s newly released Kia Rio X Style.

Advantages and disadvantages of Social AR

Now that you’ve had some time to think about the use cases of Social AR, let’s take a look at the reasons why (and why not) to use Social AR. Here’s a table that lays out the differences between Social AR, App AR, and Web AR.

	Features	Performance	Accessibility
Social AR	Limited	Average	High (Accessible on specific socials media platforms)
App AR	Most advanced	Excellent	Limited (Requires a download)
Web AR	Advanced	Average	Very high (Accessible in any modern browsers)

Advantages

Wide user base familiar with Social AR

As most people use social media, Social AR offers a wide and engaged userbase. Avid users of social media have probably encountered AR at some point in their journey and most users will already be familiar with augmented reality to some extent.

This familiarity means you can spend less time educating them about the experience and more time educating them about your brand!

Low friction

Social AR leverages existing technology on social platforms and does not require users to download a new application. Social AR’s no-download approach alongside an educated userbase results in little to no friction for end-users.

This low friction approach can create amazing results. As seen in the example of Kia’s Branded Hashtag Challenge, they achieved a 13.7% engagement rate with 1.2Bn views.

Virality

Social AR’s most unique advantage is the viral potential these experiences offer. With billions of users in aggregate across supported social platforms, Social AR offers a unique opportunity.

On Social AR, the right combination of elements within an AR experience can result in a viral sensation.

Disadvantages

Limited features

Unfortunately, Social AR presents some technical limitations compared to other platforms such as Web AR, or App AR. Social AR leverages pre-existing technology built into popular social platforms. These platforms (Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram) decide which features developers can leverage.

Depending on the complexity of your application, Social AR might not be the optimal approach. For more technically complex projects, check out other options such as Web AR or App AR.

If you’re still unsure whether or not Social AR is best for your project, feel free to book a call with one of our AR agency consultants. We’ll give you qualified feedback and advice on which platform to use for your next AR project.

What do we use to build Social AR?

For Social AR, we use the following tools:

SparkAR

Spark AR Studio is a platform that enables our developers to create augmented reality effects for mobile cameras on Facebook and Instagram.

Effect house

Effect House provides tools to developers and designers that empower them to create interesting and engaging effects used for TikTok filters.

SnapCamera

Using SnapCamera along with Lens Studio our team can rapidly craft powerful interactive experiences for Snapchat and SnapCamera.

Conclusion

Creating Social AR experiences lets you benefit from the wide, engaged userbase at the cost of a limited feature set. Depending on the complexity of your project this can be a great platform to build on. Don’t forget that even if Social AR isn’t ideal for your primary project, it can also be leveraged to drive traffic to your primary AR application. If it’s become clear that the disadvantages of Social AR make it sub-optimal for your project, please check out our articles on App AR and Web AR to see if these options are right for you.

If you’re still not sure whether or not Social AR is right for your project, feel free to book a call with one of our AR agency consultants. We’ll give you qualified feedback and advice on which platform to use for your next AR campaign.