It’s the year of the wearables. Smart watches. Fitness bands. Glassware. Your whole body could be armored in mobile gear that tracks everything from your location to number of steps.
With so much access to data, content marketers are looking for ways to use information gleaned from wearables for their next campaigns.
The Growing Popularity of Wearables
No single wearable device, such as Google Glass, the Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch or the Fitbit Flex wristband, has reached the ubiquity of smartphones or tablets yet. But interest is grow quickly, and more and more wearables are entering the market.
- Nearly half of Americans expressed interest in purchasing wearable tech in the near future, according to a Nielsen study.
- Deloitte’s group of technology, media and telecommunications experts predicts sales of smart glasses, watches and wristbands will reach 10 million units in 2014. Those sales will generate about $3 billion in revenue.
Opportunities for Content Marketing
Wearable technology is helping users make immediate decisions based on their current actions, surroundings and the data the devices record. Wearables are capable of sending and receiving text messages, using GPS, shooting video and photos, and counting calories.
The Content Marketing Association predicted content marketers could leverage those capabilities through augmented reality, geolocation and push notifications.
Augmented reality and geolocation technology could allow content marketers to push notifications based on a person’s surroundings. For example, they could push sales alerts when a person walks near a store or augment ticket sales on top of a billboard for a play or rock band poster a Google Glass Explorer spots. The Trulia for Google Glass app utilizes this technology to give Explorers notifications when they’re near a home that meets their predetermined search criteria, such as number of bedrooms and price range.