Why Instagram AR Filter is The Future for Instagram Marketing
Instagram filters are a type of Augmented Reality (AR) application that allows Instagram users to augment their surroundings or interact with virtual objects in real-time. Since Instagram opened up for brands to use filters for marketing in 2019 August, it has gained the attention of many brands worldwide as an innovative way to engage their audiences without making them feel bored. If this is your first time reading about Instagram filters, fret not! Because it is still relatively new and so it is not too late for you on this hype train before it becomes the norm! So here are 7 reasons why Instagram AR filter marketing is the future for social media marketing!
1) The whole world is spending more time at home & on our phones
Covid-19 has changed the world in the way that it made working from home and shopping online a norm. Online digital marketing is therefore even more important for brands to remain relevant to social media users. According to Instagram, 1/3 of the most viewed Instagram stories are from brands and brands’ stories have an 85% completion rate. On top of that, brands that used interactive tools such as polling stickers increased the viewing of videos by 3 secs in 90% of its campaigns. Hence, being the latest interactive tool on Instagram, AR filters can help brands engage Instagrammers better by:
- Providing a new form of entertainment for their audiences that are stuck at home (brand examples).
- Promoting positive messages to help the community cope with lockdowns/travel restrictions
Instead of a 15 secs video that would be easily ignored, brands can leave a deeper impression on Instagrammers by having an interactive filter that they can enjoy.
2) Multiplying Effect On Shareability
No recommendation is more convincing than one coming from someone you know. Users of Instagram AR filters have a high tendency to share their stories with their friends when a filter is engaging and interactive enough. In return, their followers would be likely to use and share the filter since they first saw it from their friends’ stories. This cycle will go on to reach a wider audience than you can expect because of the interactive nature of Instagram filters.
Instagram filters, like a normal story post, can also be used as a sponsored story advertisement to the brand’s target audiences. However, because Instagram filters provide a more personal experience by focusing on the user, it can be more effective than asking a brand’s audiences to just simply promote its products/services; which, let’s be honest, is something not many would want to do.
3) Instagram Filter Promotes Users’ Generated Content
According to Hootsuite, consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view user-generated content as authentic as compared to content created by brands. Hence, having user-generated content for your brand will boost your brand’s credibility. Most brands use Instagram as their primary platform for user-generated content, such as reposting posts of their followers featuring their brands. This is still a great strategy to follow. However, it is not easy to get followers to generate content for a brand unless the brand engagement is already strong.
Instagram filters can be used to get a brand’s followers to generate content for themselves! (Provided the filters are what the followers want to use) Instagram also has a feature where brands can view a few selected stories of users’ using the brands’ filter in the past 24 hours! This is on top of those that use the filter and tag the brand’s handle on their stories.
After sharing these user-generated stories on the brand’s stories, brands can also save it as a highlight on their Instagram page for anyone that visits its Instagram page to view.
Thus, having user-generated content with Instagram filters can then boost the brand’s credibility while also engaging its followers with interactivity at the same time!
4) Available Trackable Metrics For A Brand’s Campaign
On top of what the metrics brands can see from sponsored stories or influencer marketing, Facebook also provides the following metrics which can be monitored via Facebook’s Spark AR Hub.
Spark AR Hub is an online platform where anyone with a Facebook account can log in and upload filters on either Instagram or Facebook.
5) Show Off the Brands’ Personality
Instagram filters can be used to show off a brand’s personality by creating effects that match the brand. For example, a brand targeting young adults can create a fun AR filter game to engage their audiences and a female-oriented brand can create a makeup filter to beautify its audiences.
6) Customisable
Instagram filters are fully customisable according to a brand’s marketing campaign. Whether it is a campaign tagline which a brand wishes to add, or using a brand’s mascot or branding colours, these are all possible in an AR filter. Provided that the brand engages an AR developer that has a wide range of capabilities to create all kinds of AR filters.
7) AR tracking is only going to get better
As of December 2020, Instagram AR is only able to track faces, planes, an image target and hand. However, it is a matter of time before features such as body, feet, hand gestures or even customised tracking will arrive on Instagram, giving brands even more options to interact with their followers (such as clothes and shoes virtual Tryon). Hence, it is important for brands to get familiar with AR now to have a head start before AR becomes a norm for advertising!
With the 7 reasons above, there is no doubt that AR will play a big role in the future of marketing. Since the early birds get the worms, it is better to start early in AR if that is something that interests you!
If you like this story and want to get future updates from SuperCampus, just hit the follow button at the top left corner!
