A review of using Foursquare and Gowalla for marketing
Earlier this year I wrote about my experience of using Foursquare. We also posted a summary of 5 Foursquare campaigns to inspire you and Dan has a useful infographic on the popularity of the mobile checkin - which is at the core of these tools.
I'm now sharing the business opportunities of two similar location based marketing tools; Foursquare and Gowalla.
For me, location-based marketing tools are ideal if you’re a venue or destination for eating out. Perfect for tourist locations. They’re not really suited for general businesses and they are also a bit of a game.
Designed as geo-social networking tools and a form of online loyalty card, users access Foursquare and Gowalla from their smartphone and when they arrive at a specific destination, they 'check in'. Foursquare has made it harder to check in unless you’re…
While we're hearing a lot about mobile apps this year, it's rare to hear about the potential of the more primitive text message, but now integrating with location and mobile apps.
So, I thought I'd share this case study from the O2 UK network service More since it shows there seems to be good demand from consumers if the offer and relevance is right. I say this since O2 recently reported that it has reached 2 million subscribers of which half have been added in the last 6 months. This is how signup is achieved:
And these are the type of offers - it will look familiar if you've seen Groupon!
Mobile messaging campaign examples
O2 give these two examples which show what personalisation can deliver:
StarbuckA campaign for Starbucks, using a mixture…
Mobile growth predictions to support your mobile marketing strategy
Research value: [rating=5]
Our commentary: I'm sure you noticed the tremendous growth in 2010 of use of smartphones, tablets and the popularity of mobile apps. If you're creating a business case for investment in mobile phones we hope this alert about future predictions of mobile usage will be useful to highlight some data to suppport your arguments.
What's most interesting to us is how the trend to smartphone and tablet usage results in a lot more use of mobile networks. This is highlighted by this graphic.
Another point is that we don't seem to be near saturation. These statistics on mobile growth by region show sustained growth across all markets:
Don't…
My briefing evaluating Foursquare as a tool for marketers and users
Like many, I'm always questioning new technology asking "what can it do for my clients and me personally".
I'm naturally slightly sceptical, so decided to adopt foursquare for a month to understand how it works, the user's perspective and the benefits for businesses.
What is Foursquare?
Foursquare is a mashup between an online loyalty card and geo-social networking tool. It's in the category of Location Based Services (LBS) or Proximity Marketing as some call it.
Users access Foursquare from their smartphone and when they arrive at a specific destination, they 'check in'. In theory organisations can reward regular customers (the most loyal customer becomes 'the mayor') and encourage potential customers to share their wallet, with a range of special offers.
Foursquare - A user's perspective
Signing up is easy, the usual user name and password and As soon as I'd signed up and checked-in to my…
Wondering how to get started with QR codes? Our guide showing the marketing applications and campaign examples
QR Code Billboard
As Smart Phones and Smart Phone Apps increase in usage we're seeing a lot more interest in how to use QR codes (also known as 2D barcodes or mobile tagging) as a part of the marketing mix. This in-depth discussion on how to use QR codes for marketing on our Smart Insights Linked In Group is an example of this interest.
Late last year Nielsen predicted that smart phones will be the dominant device by the end of 2011, so there's certainly a reason to be taking this area more seriously.
What are QR codes?
Firstly, in case you're not 100% clear on what QR codes…
UpworkAdvice on how to design and build an app including develop options and costs
The amazing growth in mobile apps has been recently catalogued on Smart Insights, but if you're thinking of going on this journey to develop your own App for your products, brand or company, it can feel like an uphill task with various elements to consider and various costing options attached to it. I wish I could say it's easy but there a little more to it to make this happen. Ever since Apple introduced the ability to allow developers to build apps on their devices and the launch of the App store, individuals and companies have rushed through the gates to build all kinds of Apps which you now see available on the App store.
This post gives my recommended steps/tips to help you in starting the journey to developing and…
A few days ago, Google unveiled Hotpot, nothing to do with that Lancashire culinary delight, it's Google's foray into one of the fastest growing areas of the internet - location based software.
So should Facebook,…
10 Tips for developing Successful iPhone/iPad Apps
This chart, taken from my post on the consumer adoption of mobile apps and the marketing opportunities shows that it's worth thinking through you app strategy for different mobile platforms.
But if you decided you need to launch an app, what's the best approach to do this so that you get the results you're looking for? Well, thanks to Kim Watson, a Managing Director at publisher group MIlliivres Prowler Group, we're able to present this best practice advice on an app development process.
Source: IphoneDev
Ten tips for developing a mobile app
1. DEFINE A PURPOSE - Be clear about the benefits of your Application and match…
Campaign examples of using Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places and Twitter Locations to reach your audiences through mobile marketing
Value: [rating=4]
Our commentary: The growth in options for location-based marketing (aka proximity marketing) has been one of the major trends in 2010. We're sure you've followed the cases about the applications of Foursquare, Gowalla and more recently Facebook Places and Twitter Locations.
There's also Google Latitude which has an API which can be used to ask users for access to update their Latitude location or view their current location if they have enabled their location history in Google.
Our definition of location-based marketing:
Social location-based marketing is where social media tools give users the option of sharing their location, and hence give businesses the opportunity to use proximity or location-based marketing to deliver targeted offers and messages to consumers and collect data about their preferences and behaviour.
Marketing implications: Clickthrough Marketing have produced a short guide to…
Buy Your Friends Starbucks On Facebook
Value: [rating=4]
Our commentary: Thanks to an update added yesterday to the Starbucks Card Facebook application, the brand's fans can now gift Starbucks via Facebook. Importantly, the Facebook Card app was dreamed up by 'Suz01' in March 2008 in their community site, 'My Starbucks Idea' (similar to Dell's Ideastorm) - now the smart guys at Starbucks have enhanced that idea with a "Give a Gift" feature, users in the U.S. and Canada can use the application to load between $5 and $500 to a friend"€™s registered Starbucks Card.
To "€œGive a Gift,"€ app users are walked through a six-step process where they select a friend, specify an amount, choose a theme, pen a personal note, pay for the gift and then can share their generosity via status update with the rest of their Facebook friends
Marketing implications: "€œIt"€™s great to bring another customer-inspired idea to life that…
