Data Doctors: What is Google Beacons?



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What will Google Beacons do for your business and why were you sent? Ken Colburn of Data Doctors has the answer.

Q: Why did Google send me a tag and what will it do for my business?

A: Beacon technology designed to help the retail sector has been around since 2013, but it has just become more commonplace.

This can do a lot of things, but the most common use case is to convey information to the visitors of your physical location, whether it is an offer or a proposal. a route to a specific area of ​​your business.

Why did Google send me one?

Any company that has used Google's advertising platform with activated location extensions will likely have received one of these small devices as part of Google's Beacon project.

It's a small, battery-powered device, not much bigger than a disposable lighter, which uses new Bluetooth Smart technology (BLE – Bluetooth Low Energy) to transmit signals at a limited distance of a few meters.

Unlike traditional Bluetooth, there is no need to "pair" devices to communicate and it is a unidirectional transmission of the tag to smartphones.

Use case

In its initial form, the tags were focused on sending offers and discounts to nearby phones, but they could do much more than that.

If, for example, you spend a lot of money on Google Adwords (now called Google Ads) for a specific product, you can track very accurate conversions using tags.

By placing a tag in the product display area, you can see how many people have come to this area and viewed your ad online through their phone.

Tags can not follow user-specific information because they simply transmit a signal that the phone needs to be configured to accept. The ability to cross reference with the tag on the Google Ad Tracking Platform is provided by the phone itself.

Apps designed to interact with tags are another way to build growing relationships with customers as developers use the tools provided by Google.

You can also transmit a message with a specific URL that will lead to specific information at the user's location, so that it is highly contextual.

Tags can also monitor the amount of variable traffic on your site to track the usual hours of your Google listing.

Control of 'Nearby' settings

If you want to control whether an Android device is receiving messages from a beacon or want to see what has been previously sent to your device, you can do this in the Nearby menu in the "Google" settings of your device.

If your Android device receives a proximity notification, it will appear as a silent notification that can only be seen when you check your notifications.

Android or iPhone users who have installed an app running with tags can receive push notifications even if the app is not open. If this happens, you will need to access the settings of this application to control these notifications.

Turning off Bluetooth will prevent Android and iOS devices from getting any type of tag notification.


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