First Wednesdays are monthly events, where Culture Republic’s Partner network come together to learn about best practice, discover new technologies and share ideas. This May we discussed augmented reality (AR), how it works and how arts organisations can use it to better connect with their audiences and increase engagement. Trevor Jones and David Oxley, developers of the AR platform Creativmuse, led the session.

Augmented reality is a technology that layers digital content, such as sound, video or 3D animation, onto real-world surroundings. It can be a powerful tool for engaging potential audiences as it creates interactive experiences and helps organisations stand out from the crowd. Trevor explained that:

“The arts and cultural sectors must digitalise and invest in new technologies as this will enable the organisations and creative individuals to stay relevant and to continue to reach their audiences in the future. Technology such as augmented reality can be an inexpensive but extremely powerful tool to engage and increase your audience.”

Trevor and David came prepared with some great examples of AR in action as they highlighted how arts organisations can use the technology to connect with their clients. For example, Museum of London’s Streetmuseum app is a simple and effective use of augmented reality that takes the museum experience beyond the museum walls, helping to boost engagement levels. The app recognises a user’s location and then overlays a historic image onto the camera view. Users can also tap on the image for historical facts and additional information on the picture. What’s more, AR provides valuable audience insights as it allows you to track where, when and how users are engaging with your content.

Here are Trevor and David’s five top tips for creating an effective AR campaign:

1. Walk users through the process of activating your digital content. Make sure your instructions are simple and clear. Explain what users need to do and highlight the benefits of doing so. Making the process as easy as possible will enhance customer experience, and encourage users to return to your digital content.
2. Include a strong call to action. Augmented reality works best when you encourage users to do something. This might be booking tickets to a show, sending a tweet or entering a competition. Not only will this drive better results, it will also help you measure the success of your campaign.
3. Invest in content. Using AR for the sake of it will appear gimmicky. It’s important that you create value for your users. Think beyond the ‘wow’ factor and develop relevant content that will resonate with your audiences.
4. Refresh content regularly. No one wants to see the same thing over and over. Updating your content often will create fresh, of-the-moment AR experiences for your users.
5. Promote campaign on multiple channels. If you’ve invested time and money in an AR campaign you want to let people know about it! Share it on Facebook and Twitter, post about it on your website and talk about it in your newsletter.

The First Wednesday series continues in June – keep an eye on our events page for details. Follow us on Twitter @Culture_Public and join in the conversation with the hashtag #1stWed. You can also find our speakers on Twitter @Creativtek.