iMediaWorksConnect by @iMediaMichelle

What Foursquare Could Be When It Grows Up

With over a million users and growing, Foursquare has quickly become one of the new darlings of the social media stage.  The allure of mayorship and offbeat merit badges initially provided user stickiness; however for some consumers those novelties may be wearing thin (several valid reasons listed here in a recent post by friend and industry colleague, Jeff Hilimire).  Local businesses and larger brands such as Starbucks have jumped on board hoping to build greater one-to-one connection with its user base.  But, are leader boards and status-driven coupons incentives enough to sustain or even scale location-based social networking and truly impact customer inspiration, acquisition and loyalty long-term?

Given the continued adoption of smart phones and other mobile devices, maturing geo-location and augmented reality capabilities and the dawn of 4G, I think location-based social networking and subsequent location-based marketing are inevitable.  In today’s social web, entertainment may get you noticed, but its proven utility that sticks.  Thus, Foursquare needs to raise their utility game in order to succeed with both consumers and brands in the coming year:

3 Ways to Create Stickier Users

1. More Insider Tips – Since moving to Chicago, Foursquare has become an even richer discovery tool for me, beyond just keeping up with old and new friends.  It’s nice to see where people are going, but it’s even better to understand why they go and in some cases keep coming back.  Having that extra insight, from a local’s perspective is a real treasure to an out-of-towner or newbie on the local scene.  Currently, the inside tips are hit and miss for the locations that I’ve checked into or seen others visit.  Giveback is so important – I’d like to see a quality inside tip submission required for users attaining mayor status.

2. More Meaningful Badges – You never know which check-in will unlock a new Foursquare badge.  While the surprise of a new badge can be fun, that too starts to fade quickly without purpose and deeper meaning.  I think there are some great opportunities to evolve this feature within location-based networking and achieve more of a two-way street between the user and the location such as:

• unlocking a new set of privileges and experiences that non-badge earners do not have access to (how can I move up in the Foursquare world?)
• collecting and applying a collection of badges towards a bigger ticket reward
• earning multiple affinity-based badges along a particular area of interest (culinary, wine, theatre, etc)
• enabling the location to earn specific badges too based on the numbers, types, time of day, day of week users check-in and the inside tips they leave (Yelpitize or Zagatize the locations so to speak)

3. More Filtering Options – As the amount of check-ins and tips grow, users will require more options for searching and sorting out locations beyond a general or favorite list of places and friends nearby or other cities choices today.  How about being able to find places nearby that are pet-friendly, an entrepreneur zone or good for 1-2 person meetings?  Give me the ability to filter places and/or friends by category, user rating or badges.

3 Ways to Create Stickier Brands

1. Richer User Profiles – In order to provide even more contextually relevant content and rewards, brand must know more about the users than what Foursquare currently requires.  More meaningful badges will help, but also acquire info on the users through graduated use (after a certain number of badges achieved, offer to show other hidden or previously undisclosed locations).  Of course, the user would always retain the option to keep details of their profile information hidden from public display.

2.  White Label Application – Location-based platforms offer a rich environment for loyalty member program activation.  Some programs could be offered within the larger public location-based space and others could take place in private versions that only members of specific loyalty programs can access.  This allows the brand to create more visibility and personality within a closed, protected environment.

3. Talk Back Live – Currently, Foursquare users can shout out to their friends and locations through check-in, but brands do not have a reciprocal way of talking back to their fan base except through special offers.  One way to address this would be for Foursquare to send an auto Direct Message (DM) notification to the location’s Twitter or Facebook persona of users who check-in and check-out, leave comments, etc.  This would give brands a means to say thank you, ask questions and interact with the person who just patronized their business.  It would be the breadcrumb for the brand to follow-up and invite the user to begin a dialogue and ultimately a relationship.

Foursquare and its other location based networks offer unique opportunities to improve and enhance brand and customer relationships. Time will tell whether those relationships take place here, or within larger community platforms like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.  Guess we’ll have to keep checking in to find out J

RESEARCH: The Social Media Habits of the Fortune 500

We’re on the verge of 2010.  A decade ago the World Wide Web was starting to catch on within our society and soon after brand marketers claimed they “just needed a website”.  The rules of Web 1.0 boasted by self-proclaimed experts were straight forward and simple – “build it and they will come”.  Well, for those of us who were rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty with global content management systems and complex e-commerce integrations, that mantra quickly proved to be false.  Websites needed dynamic content and specific calls to action.  They also required intuitive search to drive traffic and smart interactive design and editorial programming to attract users and keep them engaged on sites.

Now ten years later, social media is on a similar rise, with most brands “just needing a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter Account”, believing their fans “will just come”.  But instead of a single digital domain that brands absolutely control, the Web has evolved into a multi-dimensional conversation with scores of voices and influence that brands no longer dictate.  The digital world is now run by everyday individuals, many of whom not only have access to, but actually have a direct hand in creating the innovative tools and rich content that are shaping the Integrated Social Web.  Hmmm…I’m starting to hear those familiar Twilight Zone sounds, are you?

Social media is the next frontier brands are aspiring to master and master it they should.  We are already starting to see that good social media habits matter in 21^st century marketing along several areas:

• Customer Satisfaction - consumers are increasingly using social channels such as Blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to express their satisfaction levels with specific brands and seek problem resolution. (Airlines in particular are learning this; some are excelling and others are learning lessons the hard way)
• Cost Savings - consumers freely share tips, best practices and other product and service how-tos with one another, helping to reduce strain on customer call centers as well as resources needed to create and maintain self-help content
• Direct Sales - consumers are proactively seeking out new channels within social to research, shop and purchase discounted goods and services. (Dell has demonstrated the power of social shopping with sales through its Dell Direct Twitter Account)
• Revenue Generation - unique social campaigns that become viral are sparking branded searches that help drive users to a brand's social as well as Web sales channels
• Brand Love - as social media increasingly becomes part of the mainstream, more consumers are relying on a brand's participation within social media to serve as a benchmark for its personal credibility and immediate relevancy (see my previous post, JCrew, Whoops: Your Personal Shopper is Socially MIA)
  

Earlier this summer, I became increasingly curious about how large brands are utilizing the Social Web and the audiences they attract through their key channels.  Were there thriving communities or desolate graveyards in the F500 social landscape?  Were F500 brands and their agencies learning anything, or just repeating the same patterns from Web 1.0?  To answer these and hundreds of other questions, I began an independent study on the Social Media Habits of the Fortune 500.  My research examines eight social media habit dimensions, within eight key social media channels, across sixteen industry segments.  Some interesting highlights so far on the F500:

• Over 6 million people are engaging F500 brands in key social media channels
• LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the most prevalent channels amongst F500 brands
• YouTube, iPhone applications and Podcasts are the most heavily used to promote product usage and sales
• Over one third of F500 key social media channels have been inactive for over six months
• Facebook Fan Pages drive 77% of the Fortune 500 audience within their key social media channels
• Photos and blogs are primary channel sources for brand mentions for 59% of the F500
• Facebook Groups are the largest source of negative branding for F500 brands
• Only 18% of the F500 are integrating their key social media channels
  

You can view more of my initial summary observations via my SlideShare Presentation.  Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing additional snippets of the benchmark data, along with my and industry peer’s analyses on the implications for brands on their road to social.  Stay tuned for upcoming segments on specific industries, channels and habit best practices – as always, your comments and questions are welcome.  For my readers, a little poll to kick off the discussion – which industry, do you expect to have the “best” social media habits and why?  Please tag your posts/tweets with #getsocial.

Episode 7: Mobile: The Next Digital Frontier

To date, this series has focused on understanding how consumers and brands are adopting and evolving their communications with one another through various digital channels.  So far, we’ve covered ones that would be considered primarily “social media” channels.  In parallel, mobile platforms and their capabilities have come a long way and are now the central communications point for most consumers.  I think we’re at an inflection point for both the social real-time web to explode via mobile, so on yesterday’s podcast, I asked Steen Anderson, from the mobile agency 5th Finger, to share some of his perspectives on how these two worlds are converging and steps brand marketers should be taking to plan their moves in this next digital frontier.

In our conversation, Steen and I discussed a number of growth stats about mobile usage, noting that utility still slightly edges out entertainment.  In the top usage categories were: accessing mobile “directories” ranks at the top with consumers, followed by movies, entertainment, social networking and news.  Interestingly, North America is leading much of the mobile web usage due to the introduction and quick adoption of the iPhone and other smartphones.  While their penetration remains only a small portion of the overall population, Steen predicts that more and more consumers will make the transition to these more powerful mobile devices, especially as carriers like Sprint improve communication speed with the dawn of 4G networks.

So, what do these coming changes offer brands who are seeking opportunities to tap into the real-time mobile web?  According to Pew Internet Life, Twitter users are considered highly mobile, with 82% owning a mobile phone an using to send text messages.  While Twitter is quickly becoming a fantastic way to engage with consumers, Steen cautions that the targeting capabilities have yet to fully mature.  Facebook is much more of a near-term opportunity for brand marketers to target and reach specific demographics via mobile ad solutions now being offered. 

Towards the end of our discussion, Steen brought up the concept of “mobile loyalty programs”, which I think will be heavily influenced by the culture of social networking (especially if you’re a frequent traveler).  Brands, should prepare their engines for warp speed – the journey begins now.

You can listen to the full podcast episode here. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MichelleBatten_iMediaWorks

The first part of this series will wrap up next week with my guest, Reuben Steiger, CEO of Millions of Us, to discuss, “Virtual Worlds: Build It, But Will They Come?” – please join us live for the conversation at 2pm (EDT).