Some brands are using digital displays to create a customer experience that enables everyday shoppers to have their photo taken in-store and then displayed on screen with a short message for all to see. One great example is American Eagle Outfitters.

At its flagship retail store in Times Square, American Eagle is offering customers their "15 seconds of fame" by displaying customer pictures on huge LED screens facing Times Square.

Since Times Square is a New York landmark with a multitude of advertisements competing for attention, the idea here is to attract customers, tourists and New Yorkers and get them into the American Eagle flagship store.

This kind of personalized brand experience offers unique opportunities for social commerce. As web strategist Jeremiah Owyang writes,

Expect stores to ask you to “Connect using Facebook Connect” to your mobile device as you step in the store. By doing so, you can receive customized recommendations on your phone and on digital displays. Expect that your friends that have been here, will digitally indicate which clothes are right for you. Expect digital displays to recommend what’s best for you based on what your friends ‘like’ [e.g. how Levi's is doing it] then spread to in store.

Since shopping is a communal experience anyway, giving consumers the option to have their photo displayed in-store and possibly shared with their network of friends online can make that brand experience much more personalized for consumers and their social network. Tying it to location-based and mobile services offers brands the ability to "capture" consumers' attention when they are nearby; this makes the brand experience much more relevant and can be offered in conjunction with mobile coupons or limited-time discounts for mobile customers as additional incentive to visit in-store.

In-store digital displays become more than just another product branding tool when customers are invited to participate. And while the "hey, look at me" side of it is also appealing for many, smart brands know that customers like to share their brand preferences and do so online all the time. Why not offer them one more channel, in store and at the moment of purchase, to do so? By leveraging social commerce, digital displays can offer a richer, and more personalized in-store shopping experience.

As Owyang predicts, it's only a matter of time before brands can then link that in-store experience to the social tools consumers already use. It's one more way brands can leverage in-store activities and social media to extend reach and recognition across all channels.