Geofencing: Bringing Context and Value to User Engagements

Geofencing can take many forms, and has been used extensively
by vehicle tracking systems and mobile resource managers
as early as 2001 to send out alerts when vehicles enter or leave
a particular geofenced location.

As reported by the SmartData Collective: After the web 2.0 revolution, the Internet is now poised to make its next big transition. Concepts like the Internet of Things (IoT) and M2M technology will connect the physical world with the online world, and as we find ourselves in this transitional phase, it is becoming more and more apparent that geofencing will also be a component of this next revolution.

Wikipedia defines a geo-fence as a “virtual perimeter for a real world geographic area”. But it’s core objective goes beyond defining a physical boundary; it provides businesses and marketers with the to deliver location-specific content and personalized information to a mobile user and a precise moment in time.

The meteoric success of Foursquare has inspired industry juggernauts like Facebook, Google and Twitter to deliver elaborate location-based services for their users. They intend to inject some social relevance and context into the geotagged information recorded within their massive platforms.

The impact of geofencing campaigns has already seen immensely positive marketing and lead gen results for many businesses, which have witnessed nearly a doubling of ad click-through-rates from timely and location driven offers. The prospect of serving the right user with the right information at the right time is the next big initiative for all businesses with an online presence and cannot be ignored.

So let us take an in-depth look into the 4 essential points every marketing manager and researcher should consider before jumping on the geofencing bandwagon:

Developing Engaging Content
Although geofencing can fetch you web traffic numbers you always dreamed of, the onus of retaining attention is still on you. Hence, the creativity and value in your content should be of the highest priority in order to ensure that the targeted users become active participants in your campaign.

Prioritizing Data Integration
The best way to capitalize on geofencing campaigns is to understand how to leverage the data aggregated from your users and identify further diverse demographics.

By charting down user feedback, historical consumption and user engagements across various stages of your marketing campaign, you can accordingly restructure your business model to appease all segments of your user base.

Address the Privacy Concerns of Users
Users have a legitimate concern when it comes to privacy issues, and since geofencing campaigns are reliant to a major extent on user permissions, it is critical for companies to tread carefully.

Marketers must recognize the compromise in user privacy as a privilege that must not be exploited by creating intrusive user permission protocols that users may be highly skeptical to opt for.

Drawing an Accurate Geofencing Perimeter
Before you start laying down strategies for your geofencing marketing campaigns, it is essential to identify the ideal coverage area for targeting. The dimensions of your geofencing perimeter are imperative in determining the number of customers you can draw to a particular location.

If marketers are able to follow these steps, then they’ll be able to fully take advantage of users who are in a particular location at a particular time. Ultimately, users can sign up for smartphone alerts from their favorite brands and receive instant alerts on events and offers they can check out at the nearest outlets at their convenience. This is the power of location data, geofencing and how we as businesses will draw context from the immensely growing number of data points available.