LOCATION-BASED MOBILE ADVERTISING 101
You’re scrolling through Facebook at your favorite restaurant in town when you see an ad for the ice cream shop down the street. Do you think it’s just a coincidence? Think again. This is something marketers call location-based mobile advertising, or hypertargeting.
Today we are reaching a whole new level of wireless penetration where nearly a third of the world’s population owns a smartphone, according to Statista. And because nearly 80% social media users are using mobile apps (that encourage users to enable location services and geotag posts) to scroll through their feeds, this makes it easier for marketers to know who is doing what, where and when.
What is it?
Location-based mobile advertising reaches people in designated key areas from a geographic location. Using latitude and longitude coordinates, a device can be targeted from mobile apps and browsers when a user has its location services turned on. Marketers can use location-based targeting either in real time or historically, meaning they can target people who are currently at a specified location or people who have visited that location in the past.
How is it used?
According to an industry expert, location-based advertising is most effective when the geographic target range is somewhere between 500 meters and 5 kilometers. For example, a restaurant in a beach town might target beach-goers within a 3 mile radius in effort to entice them to come eat at their location.
Another common practice for location-based mobile advertising is to target like-minded individuals who attend specific events. Someone who attended Pilgrimage Music Festival in Franklin, TN might also be interested in attending Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, AL. Knowing this, an advertiser for Hangout has the ability to target every mobile device that was pinged at Pilgrimage.
This strategy can also be utilized to conquest local competition. Car dealers can target prospective customers who are visiting their nearby competitors with a special offer or discount in order to persuade them to visit their own car lot.
Location-based mobile advertising is all about knowing where your target audience is geographically while crafting and delivering a relevant message to them at the right time. Leveraging such technology can boost your location’s exposure level and ultimately add your bottom line significantly.
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