Digital Marketing in the Nightclub Industry

Marketing plays an important role when it comes to attracting customers to a business. In the nightclub industry, traditional marketing revolves around radio plays, TV commercials, billboards, or flyer handouts. Each process not only requires a ton of money, but it also requires a great deal of time.

Now that we are in the digital age, the nightclub industry is able to become more productive and cost-effective by using Facebook and mobile applications as a digital marketing tool. For this blog post, we will take a quick look at how these 2 digital trends are simply revolutionizing how nightclubs are marketing their businesses today.

Social Media – Facebook

Nightclub businesses are turning to social media for its potential to access a much larger audience at no cost. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow businesses to keep their customers up-to-date on drink specials and special events that may occur on any given night. However, Facebook stands out among the social medias, as it allows the user to create a business page on a pervasive platform that is likely to be seen by others and shared with friends. Facebook also provides data on how much traffic a business page generates and allows the user to export the data on an excel sheet.

Mobile Applications

An interesting trend that is becoming prevalent among the nightclub industry is the use of mobile apps that are designed for convenience. Applications such as Bar Eye, Coaster, and TabbedOut allow bar owners to upload their business information on a digital platform, where customers could learn about drink specials and make secured purchases through mobile devices without waiting in long lines. These apps provide businesses with customer data and real-time customer reviews. As for the customers, all they have to do is open the application on a mobile device, make a selection from their favorite bar’s drink menu, purchase the item with a registered debit/credit card, and retrieve the item from the bar once they are notified that their purchase is ready.

Thoughts

Digital marketing is the key for any modern business to stay relevant in a technology driven world. If there are over 128 million Americansthat visit Facebook daily and each American spends around 3 hours a day gluedto their tablets and smartphones, it is imperative that the nightclub industry takes advantage of technology that paves the way for bar owners to be innovative in their marketing. By using social media and mobile phone apps to simplify the customer experience, businesses can now get their messages to viewers more effectively than they would through traditional marketing.

Images

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eSports' Plan to go Mainstream!

eSports, electronic sports, are continuing to grow drastically, as online streaming of national and international gaming events are increasing in viewers. Although online video game streaming is generating over 38 million viewers monthly, many still struggle to consider competitive gaming as a sport. For this blog post, we will take a look at how the “largest competitive gaming league and online multiplayer platform” company is working on a model to broadcast competitive gaming on a greater level.

Major League Gaming, the premier league for viewing competitive gaming competitions, announced that they would be working on a business model that is similar to ESPN’s SportsCenter TV show. Instead of only streaming live video game competitions online for millions of viewers around the world, they will also broadcast interviews and provide news coverages on what is going on in the competitive gaming community on a daily basis in an ESPN-like fashion.

According to an interview with MLG commentator Chris Puckett, plenty of coverage can be made on eSports. Similar to how ESPN covers topics on team roster changes, player issues, current/past events, and anything else that would impact the sport in general, eSports would have its own “SportsCenter” that would serve as a one-stop source for viewers to get the latest news on the fly. This content would not only be entertaining, but it would also engage the audience more into the world of eSports.

To distinguish itself from other low budget competitors that are attempting such programming, Chris Puckett states that these shows will be enhanced with professional graphics and the latest technology to give it that “SportsCenter” polish. Of course, careful planning and proper execution will determine the success of this business model that may be coming before its time.

Imagine eSports becoming mainstream within the next 10 years. Do you think that competitive gaming should finally be recognized as a professional sport? Watch the video below to learn more about eSports and decide for yourself!

Biometric Technology in the Cell Phone Industry

So, Apple had announced their new fingerprint technology on their new iPhone 5S that is supposed to revolutionize security in the cellphone industry. With their fingerprint recognition scanner, it would grant all users the ability to use their own unique fingerprint designs to lock and unlock their iPhones and to make quick purchases.

Similar technology is already being used in the Samsung Galaxy S4. The S4’s eye tracking system allows for the user to scroll through their browser, prevent the phone from falling into an idle state, and allow the user to pause and play videos with the use of only their eyes.

As amazing as these functions are, exactly how safe are these technologies when it comes to security?

In 2013, it is clear that biometric technology is developing as a new standard for how we operate things. As stated in the New York Times, “the use of biological markers like fingerprints, faces and irises to identify people are rapidly moving from science fiction to reality.” However, security measures are always a concern, especially when introducing something as permanent as one’s own body design.

The new buzz on the Internet is about a German hacker group that had already “successfully bypassed the biometric security of Apple’s TouchID” by creating a copy of the fingerprint. This was done by taking a high-resolution photograph of a fingerprint on a glass surface and recreating it, using either wood glue or liquid latex. Since people are likely to leave their fingerprints on everything that they touch, the German hacker group stated that “fingerprints should not be used to secure anything.” 

As for eye-tracking technology on handheld devices, its use as a dependable security measure has not been developed yet. However, it is already being used in high security areas. As for facial recognition technology, Homeland Security is already developing their own facial recognition system to pinpoint criminals in larger crowds. Although there are apps for handheld devices that function similarly, it is only a matter of time until someone figures out a way to bypass the system. 

The question lies on whether the cellphone industry is ready to use biometric technology as a security measure. What do you think about this? Click on the link below to read an article on biometric technology and decide for yourself!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/opinion/biometric-technology-takes-off.html?_r=2&