Last week Sachin wrote a post on Location-based social networks and building a community online. In his post Sachin asked “should you, as a digital marketer, jump into creating campaigns for location-based social networks?”
According to Sachin, “the reality is that these social networks aren’t particularly popular in developed countries yet and they are pretty much unknown in developing countries (we’re looking at 3 million users which is still a very low number). Unfortunately, it still feels that we haven’t managed to effortlessly integrate locations into the way we use the internet.”
I asked my Twitter friends to see what they have to say about Foursquare:
Blogger Tayla Goldberg wrote a post on how she experiences Foursquare. For Tayla “it is one big tourism map really”.
“Could really see this taking off with tourists in a big way, why buy a huge out-of-date map, when you have it all at the click of a button?”
Okay, so it benefits tourists… What about the marketers?
“From a marketing perspective I think this is an amazing tool, you can monitor who is ‘Mayor’ of your establishment, and reward them for using your services the most, because really its all free promotion for your brand.”
Digital diva, Robyn Silverstone also wrote a post on the Foursquare special offers saying its “creating incentives to drive customers to your business”.
Foursquare users are keen and optimistic. Now, what about the other side of the coin? What are the brands saying about Foursquare?
I asked Williams Hunt General Motors dealer what they think about using Foursquare as a brand and this is what they had to say:
“Foursquare is a pretty cool way to create awareness of our company, location and important contacts. Great to promote loyalty & it’s mobile”
So, Yes or No?
I would have to agree with Sachin and say that there is potential for something big to happen with location-based marketing but we simply aren’t there yet. However, there’s nothing wrong with being the early bird and catching that worm!
Check out these interesting links on Foursquare:
- So we grew 3400% last year… | blog.foursquare.com
- Foursquare Is Growing Quickly — But Still Not Mainstream
Read more posts by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg
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Never used it and not planning on either..
Hey Chris,
Yes, I get that. I’ll admit that I use it for the sake of trying it out but thus far, I’ve not found any reason or purpose for it in the real world. It’s quite useless to me at this stage but perhaps in future location-based social networking will become more advanced and play a bigger role in our daily lives.
Hey,
I realise that there are SM campaigns that can be worked around it and some have proven really successful, but I don’t feel it’s the ultimate solution for location based social networking, something bigger and better will come, that offers more value. With the huge push towards location based networking, we’ll see a change soon I reckon – at the moment 4sq is positioned well, because it doesn’t have much unique competition.
Whatcha think?
Definitely! We will have to wait and see what value location based social networking will offer us in the near future.
I was at Canal Walk yesterday looking for a specific item and realized that it would be so helpful to be able to log onto Foursquare or some other location based mobile tool and search for an item through a directory of all the shops in the area..
e.g. Search: Blackberry 8900 cover and have a list come up with shops stocking it at present.
Now that would be brilliant!
Ye, a few years ago, a friend and I talked a lot about creating a intranet type system at shopping centres, which allowed users to connect to and search. I think it could have (or still does) huge potential because everyone’s in a rush these days and everyone has a mobile device.
Let’s see, 2011’s guna be a big one!
It sure is! Technology, and more so mobile technology, is evolving, improving and fulfilling the consumer’s needs at a rapid pace. Soon enough we will no longer need to run through each and every shop looking for what we want but rather, know exactly where to get it.
As a shopping enthusiast myself, I simply cannot wait for this type of location based mobile technology!
Now, my question is quite simple – will this progression of technology be a good thing? Do you not enjoy walking around shops browsing? Or, would you “argue” that you can still do that, but if you’re in a rush, the technology will be useful. That said, would we not just become lazy and then years down the line realise we’ve missed many experiences we used to enjoy
Personally, I think it’s one of those wait and see things. To be frank, right now the only reason we’d use Foursquare or any location-based network for a client would be to leverage the ‘talkability’ of using a new technology. Seeing real benefit or value from a building community p.o.v. is unlikely.
That said, I think location tracking is an idea waiting to happen – it needs a) mass adoption and b) brands to leverage it in a way that’s creative, not irritating, genuinely valuable and relevantly targeted.
@Chris I’d work on developing your ’shopping intranet’ idea and patent it very quickly. Integrate it with 4sq and other LBS’ and you could be on to something. Imagine walking into Canal Walk and being able to search by in-stock/out-of-stock for products. Or going to a busy restaurant and being able to reserve your seat through a LBS. Easier said than done I guess but I’m still very interested in unlocking the marketing potential of 4sq, FB places etc
@Fred – Concur on your statements and thoughts.
@Russ – It’s a cool idea indeed, I just don’t have the time to actually move forwards with it to be honest; come to think of it, I don’t even have the time to get someone else running on it under me. Hmmm, perhaps something to ponder over the weekend when I should be relaxing
And the impact? I am not too worried about that. Taking myself as an example, I do not always go to a shopping mall with a specific product in mind but rather go to browse and buy things that attract my attention.
I think the beauty of it is that consumers, most of the time, do not know what they want. Brands tell us what we are suppose to ‘want’.
So, inevitable you have two types of consumers – product specific and experience specific. I don’t think this will change.
With regards to us becoming more lazy… we’re already lazy!
Imagine you walk into the center, locate a machine, place credit card in, enter items you want, credit card is charged, items are prepared for collecting at the various shops!
I love shopping, but HATE malls, so I vote +1 to the first paragraph
Haha, if technology gets cooler like that, it’ll be cheaper to hire a PA, because everything will take them half as long! That way I won’t have to go to malls AT ALL
That’s where e-commerce sites come in! But people ( okay, okay, WOMEN) will still go to malls for the experience… i.e. cinema, coffee shops and window shopping.
But a mobile app that’ll guide your shopping trip so you don’t have to run around frustrated, looking for a big white hat (me yesterday
) will be so very welcome!
Ag ya, you ladies always seem to have lots of free time whilst us gents work hard *runs and hides*
Yeh, jokes aside, I’m sure we’ll see movements in this direction very soon. Places like the Waterfront could do really well because of the foreigners and the devices they use, all it’ll need now is a group buying or cost aggregator built in and we’ll get the cheapest deals each time, without even having to search!
Rewarding loyalty isn’t new I suppose, and at it’s core that’s what 4sq (and services alike) is. This is only the start of what is to become the digitization of an old concept.
A well balanced article Yolandi. Keep it up.
@LouisJvR – Ye, I think 4sq including the “competitive” and “rewarding” side was a very wise move as it pulls in a huge number of people for just those reason. I do agree, it’s a somewhat old concept, hopefully it’ll be taken further and we’ll all be able to benefit from it
@Chris technology is just amazing and the opportunities are endless
@Louis Thanks Louis! Rewarding loyalty idea: Foursquare allows you to become a ‘Mayor’ of a venue, like World Wide Creative.. yes, that’s me.. now incentivising ‘Mayors’ would be a perfect campaign to grow your community on 4sq. A ‘Mayor’ is a person who checks into a specific venue more often than most, e.i. your most loyal customer on 4sq.
I think I’ll try this out and see if it works. [Watch this Space]