Beacon and proximity data - superheroes of social media marketing

Austerity of social media marketing seems to be diminishing with time worn use of existing tactics, especially in offline beats such as retail. Application of technology and micro data, to the prevailing tactical concepts can take social marketing to the next level of triumph. We analyse if proximity data synergised with beacons can lead the way for it?

Installing beacon technology is a lot cheaper than hopping on the 'Internet of Things' bandwagon. Additionally, when proximity data is aligned with beacons, achieving the business objective is well within sight.

A combination of proximity data and beacons, can re-carve the face of social media marketing; here is how.

Intra-active social media network

Picture this; you entered an event on the scale of NH7 Weekender. An ad hoc social network greets you. Once you create a profile on the network, you are quickly connected to the friends from your network. Beacon uses proximity data to  get live updates on which sessions are good or which stall has the best food and interact with organisers of the event. CRM – through and through.

UK based Mavrik Media uses proximity data, gamification and virtual currency to create pop-up social networks for events and venues. For iCON Prague Expo, the agency utilized Kontakt.io beacons; 66% of attendees exchanged contacts using the app and 50% filled in their social profile.

Mike Puxley, Co-Founder, Mavrik Media

"Beacon-triggered  'proximity data' has the potential to fundamentally disrupt the way businesses think about social media marketing in the physical environment. Social media marketers will develop complex, highly segmented strategies for the physical space, similar to those already developed for social media," explained Mike Puxley, Co-Founder, Mavrik Media.

Non-interruptive marketing

Proximity data through beacon offers macro information of a consumer’s choices – for instance who went to the food court and which consumer opted for the sale in the supermarket. When this data is compared to the consumer’s personalised social data such as their likes, comments, shares and check – ins, brands can know what exactly they will like from the food court. Customised offers can then be routed their way accordingly.

Nishad Ramachandran, Senior Vice President Digital Experience, Hansa Cequity

“Present social media currency does not allow us to measure RoI in real time, thus making it very difficult to align proximity data with social media. However, the same can be used to creating customer profiles and then targeting through social,” expressed Nishad Ramachandran, Senior Vice President Digital Experience, Hansa Cequity.

Ramachandran, points out that proximity data offers specs that, brands’ CRM teams can almost never gather, thus giving their social marketing strategy an edge.

Pull marketing

The more you pull, more they push; no we’re not talking about boyfriends. Push notifications can be turned into pull marketing by understanding what the consumers do when they're offline, completing the circle of communication.

Instead of a message requesting their feedback, customers could give their thoughts through comments or tweets while leaving the beacon space.

Eric Feunekes, VP of Growth Marketing, Hotspot Merchant Solutions (Canada)

"iBeacons are like the "Login with Facebook" feature, if developers can create something of enough value for users, users will happily hand over their information," said Eric Feunekes, VP of Growth Marketing, Hotspot Merchant Solutions (Canada). "However, the developer, or company behind it, can't just access their customer's location data without providing something useful in return."

Upping the content marketing ante

Contextual and timely content delivery is the latest check post for social platforms race. With Facebook vying to tie up with publications such as Mashables, BuzzFeed and Times – they need an extremely relevant content dissemination mechanism.

Imagine, you’re tagging along with a friend to a supermarket and venture in the gaming section (while browsing social networks) as your companion trips the trial room. You get articles on latest game releases on top of your news feeds. Right push at the right time.

According to BI Intelligence, there will be around 4.5 million active beacons by the end of 2018, with 3.5 million of these in use by retailers. When the functionality of social media currencies is added to proximity data, business and marketing solutions take a new turn.