The Impact of Google Glass on Digital Marketing

The way individuals interact online is consistently changing — especially with the release of the Google Glass. On April 15, Google announced a one-day event where anyone who was willing to pay $1,500 could purchase the newest Google Glass. If you haven’t heard yet, Glass is a wearable computer that’s worn like glasses, but has advanced digital features, including an optical head display, voice command interaction, as well as a bone conduction audio transducer that allows users to hear audio. Through my company, foresold, I had the opportunity to experiment with how Google Glass would work in a digital marketing environment.

While Google Glass doesn’t have all the advanced features that could replace your current smartphone or tablet, it does give consumers the ability to communicate with the digital world hands-free. And regardless of its current limited features, Google is sure to consistently make future technological advancements — meaning this new online digital device has a good chance of reaching a lot more consumers in the near future.

Because Google Glass has strong potential in how individuals will interact with the online digital world, businesses should consider how it could impact the digital online marketing scene.

The following are just a few conceptual ideas on how businesses can use the device themselves for digital online marketing, as well as how they can potentially market to owners of Google Glass.

Third-party marketing applications

Just think about how third-party applications are already used today to help businesses market to smartphone and tablet owners — then you can probably see how Google Glass could be utilized as well. There are already major players in this game, such as Groupon.com, which has developed applications for mobile devices where consumers can look up coupon deals within their local area. This can be a foreseeable application for users of Google Glass in the near future.

Also, with a digital camera integrated into Google Glass, third-party applications could come out where owners of Google Glass could scan barcodes and find price comparisons that businesses could use for giving the lowest discount possible. These are just a couple of features used by smartphones and tablets today that could be extended to Google Glass.

Sharing through social media marketing

This feature would be something that businesses could utilize with Google Glass. The device already has features that allow users to interact on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, businesses could use Google Glass to quickly share and market to their social networks.

Live video sharing

Another way businesses can use Google Glass is through live video sharing. Businesses could potentially use it to interact with their customers by streaming live events that are easily recorded through Google Glass. This would allow one person to both record and talk at the same time by using the hands-free features of Google Glass.

The Future of Glass

Above are just a few conceptual ideas of how Google Glass could impact the digital marketing world. Because the cost of Google Glass will probably go down considerably in the future, along with the technological advances this device will foresee, there’s a strong chance that this new compact digital computer will have an even bigger impact on how we interact in the online digital marketing world. Broadcast journalism is also set to be affected by Google Glass in a few ways. Read more about that on MediaShift. The future potential rests in Google’s hands.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Google Glass. Do you think it will have a significant effect on digital marketing? Feel free to vote on this poll.

Josh Elizetxe is a serial entrepreneur and a speak on digital media. Josh is the current President of Foresold, a leading independent digital agency.