Welcome to a new blog series here at SWBR called Buzzword Breakdown.
If you haven’t heard about the latest buzzword yet – here is a breakdown of what geofencing is.
What is geofencing?
By definition, geofencing is creating a virtual boundary around a geographic area. This boundary, known as a geofence, can be paired with a software application to trigger various pre-programmed actions using GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi, or cellular data.
How does geofencing work?
Once a device is captured after entering the geofence, it is recorded into a pool of users. We then target that pool of users with digital ads, social media ads, or in-app ads, depending on the campaign. Keep in mind that individuals’ phones must have their location services turned on while they are in a specific location to be tagged.
These digital boundaries can be built around a specific place of interest, whether that be your physical location, your competitor’s location or a conference center. The opportunities are endless.
How do you use geofencing?
Geofencing is ideal for mobile campaigns. You can target specific locations for desktop campaigns but since geofencing uses GPS data, it’s more effective on mobile devices.
A great use of geofencing is event targeting. One of our previous clients Christie Medical tasked us with building campaigns to geofence three conference shows they were attending. The three conferences were in different cities: Boston, Cleveland, and Washington D.C. Each conference had different date ranges and being able to turn geo-fences on or off at any given time was a great advantage.
The first location was a conference in Boston and we geotargeted a two-mile radius around the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. This captured users attending the conference and while they were at their hotels within the radius. The campaign targeted users on their mobile devices with Facebook ads. The ads highlighted the booth number and helped drive additional foot traffic to the client’s booth inside the convention center.
Is geofencing right for your business?
Geofencing has some great advantages, depending on your campaign needs. Geofencing drives increased mobile performance/traffic and additional mobile reach. You can target event locations during a specific date and time ranges.
Get in touch with SWBR and we can discuss your campaign’s needs, goals and objectives. We put together custom campaigns specific to each client.
