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What is a Facebook Beacon? And What Does it Do?

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Ok, Ok, I know.

 

What about the privacy? Is Facebook invading more of my privacy. Something that many Facebook users talk about whilst using the monster social media platform.

 

But really, what is a Facebook Beacon and what does it do? Should your business be using it, and how will it help my business.

 

facebook_beacons
Facebook Beacons to Help Local Businesses Online

 

Well, first being an expert online marketer, I always jump at the chance for any new technology to help my clients better engage their fans, users, brand ambassadors, and customers to keep their customer retention in place and better advertise to these profitable advocates.

 

The first thing we need to keep in mind, that the “Facebook Bluetooth Beacon” is no more intrusive to your privacy that you having your Maps and GPS or Data Network turned on. In fact if you are using mobile data and you are signed into Facebook (most people are by default because they never actually sign out on mobile) then the beacon will give a slight nudge to the app user that is located in the proximity of the beacon.

 

Ideally this is great for a “keeping community” and really encouraging sharing on both client side, as well as service provider side.  The technology functions and resembles closely almost to what a small business mobile app would provide in the way of promotional communication to a fan or user. However there is both upsides and downsides to this technically for the business.

 

Let’s showcase:

 

The Facebook Beacon would enable the native Facebook mobile app to act as a personal mobile app, and for technically non-savvy businesses would be at an advantage to able to harness this communication method for “Free” (currently but Facebook mentions to not necessarily being Free forever in the fine print.) at the moment.

 

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Terms of Service at the moment for the Facebook Bluetooth Beacons

 

 

 

– Upon when the Beacon becomes popular enough, most likely Facebook will charge for the use of this or an enhanced Paid Push Notification model to communicate any messages. But if you have a real mobile app for your small business, it’s a much better deal to have your own mobile and much more customize-able in the long run since you have and own the branding power, as opposed to adhering to “Facebook’s Terms of Service”

 

– Enhances active Facebook ad campaigns for events, since it can connect directly will all unified attendees. Great for engagement, but yet again, only for Facebook and if you are an avid Facebook ad user.

 

 

The bottom line:

 

Is Getting a Facebook Beacon Worth it for My Business?

 

The short answer is yes. I mean, any way you slice it, millions of your current and potential customers are on Facebook, and the more personable you get, the better it will be for your expert online marketing campaigns.

 

However, the one thing that I always tell everyone, is that you do not ever want to put all the eggs into the one proverbial marketing basket. So it your business has been offered the ability for a Facebook Beacon, then be sure to make it just a small piece of your local online marketing arsenal.

David has been business building both online and off since the age of 18. He currently finds himself consulting about online marketing and branding for businesses of all sizes. A fan of everything nerd, he’s an advocate for healthy eating and living and enjoys mentoring people looking to grow their business as well as themselves.

David Scarpitta is a Los Angeles based online marketing guru and business developer for both online businesses and offline brick and mortar, B2B and B2C products and services.

A founding member of Get Found Marketing, you can contact him directly at any time for whatever is on your mind.

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