Beacons are small Bluetooth transmitters that can provide location-based information and triggers. This document analyzes social media conversations about beacons from January 2014 to February 2015. It finds that most discussions focus on beacon's marketing potential, with over half of conversations positive. Retail is the most discussed use case. Influencers are clustered around corporations, marketing, and technology. The analysis provides insight into beacon applications, topics of discussion, influential users, and how conversations are structured.

1. BEACONS: ‘the cookies for the real world’
MARKETING TRENDS OBSERVATORY

2. BEACONS
¿What are beacons?
The beacons are small gadgets that incorporate a transmitter
feeded by a battery. They are connected to smartphones, via
Bluetooth, through specific apps. As we will see in the
following pages, this technology has already been made a
reality and has multiple applications.
These devices are connected through the Bluetooth signal, do
not need internet connection nor GPS, so they allow
geolocalization in closed spaces without mobile coverage.
Besides, the geolocalization they offer within their range (70
meters) is more accurate and of higher quality than their
technological competitors.
19% of mentions
we found in the social
media define the
term “beacon”
Image:www.estimote.com
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3. BEACONS
36% of
conversations
consider beacons as a
trend that will shape
the future of
marketing
¿What are beacons?
Image:www.estimote.com
Have you ever heard somebody talking about beacons? We have
analized how Internet users talk about this new technology in
the Social Media. First of all, it is important to take into account
that individuals talk about it as a future trend for marketing
purposes.
Is it a hype, a trend or a fad? Will beacons be implemented in the
points of sale? What other possibilites do they offer? Only time
will tell, though we have some clues that can guide us.
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4. BEACONS
A rising trend…
0
2.000
4.000
6.000
8.000
10.000
12.000
14.000
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 2 4 6
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
2014 2015
Pilot program in the San Francisco airport to guide, using
beacons, those who suffer sight impairment
Controversy about the installation of beacons
in the Manhattan public phone boxes
Guide of the 49ers stadium through beacons
New update of Bluetooth (4.2) is announced
Facebook tests beacons
Mentions Tendency
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5. BEACONS
Conversations which take place
in two ecosystems…
 The conversation about beacons
revolves around marketing topics. In
this ecosystem, this technology is
understood as a new trend that has a
great potential and can be used as a
bridge between the online and offline
worlds. It is considered, among others,
as ‘The Future of Shopping’ or ‘the most
important retail technology since mobile
credit-cardreaders’.
 Another kind of conversations, less
common but also relevant, are those
produced in ecosystems specialized in
technology. In these spaces, developers
talk about the advantadges and
disadvantadges of beacons. They
mention specifications, doubts or
technical problems.
66,5%
28,9%
4,6%
MARKETING
TECHNOLOGY
OTHERS
- 5 -

6. BEACONS
57,4%
positive
conversations
37,2% neutral
conversations
5,4% negative
conversations
And most of them are admirers…
We assessed a representative
sample of conversations about
beacons, taking place in the whole
world from January 2014 to
February 2015
What is evident is that
marketers talk, and a lot,
about this new technique. And
almost always in positive
terms.
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7. BEACONS
Subjects summary
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Future Trend
Experiences
Beacons sellers promotions
Definition
Data confidentiality, transparency
Associated statistics
Developers technical comments
Events
Cross-channel strategies
Incentives given to consumers to use beacons
Beacons vs other nearables
Beacons penetration
Intimidation
Economic data
Social Media that use beacons
Fight against showrooming
Use through smartwatch
Positive Neutral Negative
Summary of subjects
analyzed and explained
- 7 -

8. BEACONS
Specific applications
The Social Media talk about the following practical
applications…
- 8 -
46,5%
34,1%
29,9%
29,1%
23,6%
15,8%
15,6%
12,1%
9,9%
8,7%
5,9%
4,8%
4,4%
3,2%
2,6%
2,4%
1,8%
1,0%
1,0%
0,8%
0,8%
0,8%
0,6%
0,6%
0,4%
0,4%
0,2%
Discount advises
Contents to specific targets
Consumer behaviour
Guides for visitors
Handless payments
Information about products
Internet of things
Airport information
Interact with elements
Loyalty points
Information about shops
Consumer interaction
Consumer reviews
Purchase gamification
Click-and-collect service
Find lost objects
Grocery list redaction
Pinpoint the salesperson
Satisfaction surveys
Recipes
Automobiles
Players statistics
Money withdrawal
Clock in/clock out sheets
Acces control
Devolutions
Geofencing

9. BEACONS
Discount advises The retailer advises the consumer about discounts or coupons.
Contents to specific targets The retailer sends ads or contents to the user.
Consumer behaviour Gathering of informationabout the consumer behaviour inside the shop.
Guides for visitors Maps that show the visitor how to move inside a building.
Handless payments Trade operations through the Bluetooth signal.
Information about products Information about certain products displayed when the consumer is near them.
Internet of things Applications that connect, through Bluetooth, the Smartphone with different objects.
Airport information Airport usage. It allows to check-in, gives information about doors, delays...
Interact with elements Similar to the QR code, beacons allow to interact with elements (paintings, sculptures…).
Loyalty points The retailer offers loyalty points in exchange for the consumer use of the application.
Information about shops Users receive information about the closest retailers.
Consumer interaction The consumer receives greeting messages when he or she is placed in the geofenced área.
Consumer reviews The user, trough the Bluetooth application, has acces or can create product reviews.
Purchase gamification The purchase experience becomes a game. It includes contests.
Concrete Applications
Applications description
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10. BEACONS
Click-and-collect service
The retailer prepares the product bought online by the consumer when he or she enters in the
geofenced area.
Find lost objects It allows to pinpoint those objects that have a beacon installed.
Grocery list redaction The consumer can create a list of the products he or she wants to buy.
Pinpoint the salesperson The client can know where to find the salesperson in a certain retail area
Satisfaction surveys The retailer sends satisfactionsurveys to the consumer.
Recipes The applications suggests cooking recipes to the consumer.
Automobiles Geofenced billboards addressed to the drivers, parking spaces location…
Players statistics In sport events, the visitor can receive statistic information about the players.
Money withdrawal The user can withdraw money from an ATM through the Bluetooth signal of beacons.
Clock in/clock out sheets It allows to know when a worker enters/leaves the working place.
Acces control It allows to know where long queues are created, which areas are more congested…
Devolutions It allows to make a product devolution very fast.
Geofencing
Using a billboard, transmission of a customized ad sent when the consumer enters a geofenced
area.
Concrete Applications
Applications description
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11. BEACONS
Beacons: beyond retail
71%
22%
17%
14%
11%
7%
5%
4%
4%
3%
2%
8%
Retail
Airports
Sports stadium
Museums
Restaurants
Events
Hotels
Department stores
Shopping malls
Banks
Automobiles
Others
This graphic shows, according to the
comments found in the Social Media,
different establishments where
beacons can be installed.
It is not only retailers that can
benefit from beacon technology
Imagen:www.estimote.com
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12. CONVERSATION AND
INFLUENCE MAP

13. BEACONS
Profile 2Profile 1
Conversation and influence
maps
 Once studied the content of the conversations, we have analyzed the structure of the
networks. Through this analysis we got to know those users who stand out in the
conversation (influencers) and the different ecosystems that appear in the network
(clusters). This analysis allows us to know much better the social ties underlying the
conversations.
 The analysis is based on Twitter. Why Twitter? Because its users spread mass media
messages and, at the same time, these mass media spread the contents created by
individual users. Twitter therefore works as a channel through which small message seeds
naturally emerge as social trends. In so doing, those small seeds become trees.
 To produce the conversation and influence maps we analyzed the different interactions
among users. In this way, the users naturally generate conversation ecosystems. In each
of them we pinpoint the leaders (influencers), i.e. those users who have been quoted in
most conversations.
Cluster and main
influencer
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Talks to

14. BEACONS
Conversation and influence map
@estimote
@gimbal
@kontakt_io
@mediapost
@mobilemktrdaily
@mcommercedaily
@ibeaconsblog
@businessinsider @techcrunch
@venturebeat @gigaom
@nytimes @marketingland
@siecledigital @wsjd
@jdnebusiness
@sai @phunware
@bi_advertisement
@mashable
@thedrum
@econsultancy
@harvardbiz
@locationinsider
@usamp
@adobemktgcloud
@thenextweb
@emarketer
@mubaloo
@verge
@marketinguk
@wsj
@puromarketing
@glimwormit
CORPORATIVE GROUPS
MARKETING
TECHNOLOGY
BOTS CLUSTERS (SPAM)
NOT ANALYZED

15. BEACONS
@bof
+ 114 · UK
Influencers by country
@sai
+ 1.130
New York
@harvardbiz
+ 317
Massachusetts
@techcrunch
+ 246
California
@Dusanwriter
+135 · Canada
@thedrum
+ 139 · UK
@locationinsider
+ 57 · Germany
@freddewachter
+ 63 · Belgium
@glimwormit
+ 54 · Netherlands
@esti_wojtek
+ 92 · Poland
@innoquant
+ 58 · Spain
@lemondefr
+ 174 · France
@pollyran
+ 101 · UK
@puromarketing
+ 48 · Spain
@PlotProjects
+ 32 · Netherlands
@itpocket
+ 39 · Belgium
@easymobilad
+ 84 · France
@beacongalaxy
+ 82 · France
@tadajewski
+ 36 · Polond
@hotsuite
+ 57 · Canada
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@raypoynter
+ 14 · UK
@michellebruno
+15 · Utah

16. METHODOLOGIC ANNEX

17. BEACONS
Methodology
Technical details
340.823 mentionsTOTAL OF MENTIONSANALYZED
900 mentionsCODIFIED SAMPLE
Stratified random sample by date and media (aggregators, Blogs, Facebook, Forums, News media,
Twitter and other platforms)
SAMPLE DETAILS
Any language written in the latin alphabetMONITORIZEDLANGUAGES
Manual coding, based on a pre-established codebook. 6 different variables have been coded:
sentiment, ecosystem, subject, concrete applications, kind of retail and size of the company.
CODING
Aggregators, Blogs, Facebook, Forums, News media, Twitter and other platformsANALYZED MEDIA
From 1st January 2014 to 14th February 2015MONITORIZEDPERIOD
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
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18. ABOUT US…
AT EMPIRICA INFLUENTIALS& RESEARCHWE COMBINE
MARKET RESEARCHTECHNIQUESAND SOCIAL MEDIA
INTELLIGENCE.
WE BRING TOGETHEREXPERIENCE,KNOWLEDGE,NEW
TECHNOLOGIESAND QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE
METHODOLOGIES.
www.empiricaonline.com
@Empirica_IR
Xavier Guiteras: +34 931 875 084
xavier.guiteras@empiricaonline.com
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