WHAT IS THE BLOG ABOUT?
- MERAKI IS THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF NETWORK DEVICES
- MERAKI WIFI AP & FACEBOOK LOGIN
- MERAKI WIFI AP SPLASH PAGE FOR BANKING TRANSFER
Meraki MX AP, Facebook login, Splash Page
Cisco Meraki’s network portfolio supports both small and large businesses with many features that not only excite network administrators. Meraki MX APs can also please marketers, facility managers, and operational managers, if there is a need for it. In the case of businesses operating on a business basis, there is no question whether, for example, it makes sense to take advantage of the marketing functions of a network device.
Among the many extra functions, the blog will discuss two extremely effective uses in the HORECA area. In both cases, only one or, depending on the available spaces, a couple of Meraki MX WiFI APs are needed to create the solution. In other respects, Meraki is the Swiss army knife of network devices, yet its pricing is modest according to its knowledge. In addition, unlike the “buy and take” philosophy of the cheaper Far Eastern manufacturers, Meraki provides continuous, automatic updates for its devices, which is not only a great offer from the point of view of cyber protection, but the American manufacturer equips its products with more and more functionality from time to time.
MERAKI WIFI LOGIN VIA FACEBOOK
The Facebook login feature is not new, but it is worth reviving because of its positive impact on marketing. Obviously, we live in a time when everyone has a mobile subscription with huge gigabytes of data traffic, few people log in to public WiFi due to the reduction of data traffic. It’s not about that either, but it has many advantages for both parties.
What is WiFi Facebook login?
Through the cooperation between Meraki and Facebook, they have created a public WiFi usage method through which the Facebook user can log in to the local network. The solution allows businesses to use their Facebook page as the home page during WiFi login.
What are the benefits of an integrated login platform?
If we quickly skip the official marketing mantras, that it provides an enhanced user experience for the customer and tangible benefits for the host, there are still plenty of benefits left:
- Guests can easily check in – A truly seamless user experience.
- Guests can get detailed information about the place, the menu, daily or weekly offers, see other people’s opinions, etc. – This is, by definition, up to the venue of hospitality as to what about and what kind of information it provides to guests.
- Guests can give geolocation data to their friends, share photos of sumptuous food specialties or the interior of the venue, or like the place, etc. – It also depends on the hospitality, whether it is worth posting anything about the place or liking it, but if so, it is more likely that they will. Especially if this involves a “discount, gift”.
- Thanks to the Facebook activity and reactions of the guests, the host can achieve greater visibility, in addition, visiting the Facebook page itself can increase engagement, return and attract others, meaning it may raise the number of the guests.
- The advantages inherent in the social network do not even need to be continued, local marketers know that, but the sharing of anonymous data generated during logins can definitely be classified as a situational advantage for the business. These demographics can help hospitality redesign or improve the interior and menu, change the style of music, or in optimization of services, and last but not least in the creation of social advertisements and offers.
- And the real value appears when, thanks to the login, the guest follows the place, and then the venue bombards satisfied followers with irresistible offers by the hard work of marketing.
PAYMENT VIA WIFI
Another big marketing pitch for Meraki is that it supports credit card billing and payment through splash pages like Cloud4Wi, Cloudifi, Eleven Wireless, Purple, SOCIFI and Splash Access. By definition, the service can be an advantage in places where labor utilization is at its maximum, or where they simply want to provide guests with a new comfort service.
But what is a Splash page?
Splash page, as known as captive portal is a kind of laning page that users receive in their browser before logging in. The term may seem foreign even to a large percentage of marketers, but they are probably already familiar with the use of a captive portal. In the world of WiFi, the captive portal is a launch screen, through which the user can access the Internet provided by the local WiFi.
In the case of catering units, this can be a filter through which, at the first connection, the customer’s data required for payment is requested. They then make the users accept the various terms of use, thereby preparing the terms for payment transactions. In addition, the data collected, for example, can be forwarded to Mailchimp via Splash Access or simply stored as a CSV file.
Apart from the payment option itself, these portals can open doors in terms of data collection that marketing specialists could only dream of before the use of smartphones. Since these are landing pages where the WiFi network operator can advertise various promotions and coupons in exchange for information. Nevertheless, it is also a special form of marketing, because online and physical marketing come together at this point, since the guest can receive the incentive to buy and consume at both levels. It is also called the landing page of the physical site.
Well, the question may arise as to whether these operations and transactions are safe, since it is still only public WiFi. And the answer is, of course, safe, if the hosts make it secured. As we wrote at the beginning of the blog, Meraki is the Swiss army knife of network devices. On the one hand, it’s part of the Cisco Secure portfolio, and a cloud-managed solution, which also supports the security of the device to the maximum. On the other hand, Cisco Secure has a DNS-layer-based security cloud through which all “critical doors” can be closed. As a secure web gateway, the Cisco Umbrella service protects the network, devices and users from being compromised. Because of this, any transaction can take place in a completely secure environment.
EXTRAS
This is exactly why the security services of Meraki and Cisco require licensing. Unlike low-end devices, where zero security is the strategy, Cisco provides a high level of cyber protection for its devices, with which the Zero Trust security approach can be implemented on the one hand.
We have already written about it, check this out here:
Cisco Umbrella: https://syswind.hu/en/2022/02/04/what-does-ciscos-umbrella-protect/
