We saw it at CES. It exploded at SxSW. People checking in everywhere, all the time. While tools like Foursquare are great for social media users like myself, the question I always ask myself is whether or not it can provide long-term value for a brand? I asked the same question a few years ago about Twitter and the answer so far has been yes.
I think most agree that Foursquare and other location-based services are excellent for in-person events so I won’t ramble too much about it.
Now if I worked for a Peets Coffee, Starbucks (client), 24 Hour Fitness (client), Best Buy or any other retailer in a highly populated city; I would be all over Foursquare like a politician with an area code exemption. What a better way to create incentives for customers or loyalty programs for early adopters and influencers. It’s been a little slow catching on and although I can only see a very small portion of the pie, I am seeing some movement from smaller businesses in and around Silicon Valley.
Foursquare will never reach critical mass and that’s okay. The point is that most Foursquare users have a level of influence that differs from that of a random customer. It’s not better or worse, just different. Social media users like to share information and generally have a wider reach than others due to their insane nature of being online all the time; which brings me to my next point.
Now, I normally don’t talk negatively about a brand unless my experience is offensive; and I have yet to be offended by a brand or company in my adult life. I recognize that not everyone is perfect and companies make mistakes at times. What I will talk about however, is when companies are being innovative and doing cool things. I may even write a letter, comment on a blog or publicly give praise to a brand that has went above and beyond with their level of service. Heck, if I had the time I would be all over Yelp but I am on profile overload at the moment and just don’t have the time. Nonetheless, I don’t use Foursquare for anything else but to play cat & mouse games with people here in the area or meeting up with good friends at events. It’s really just a tool that allows me to share what I am doing and where I am doing it.
Brand Innovation
Intel (my previous employer) did a fantastic job creating an analog groundswell at CES this last January. I watched hundreds of check-ins at the Intel booth from close friends, colleagues and other random users. It was amusing to see Mayoral battles happening each day; and then to see my pal Julio Fernandez crowned Mayor at the end of the event. I wish I could take credit for this but I left Intel way before they began planning their Foursquare spectacle.
Adobe (Edelman client) recently kicked off a new program utilizing a similar service called Gowalla to launch the Adobe Creative Suite 5 (CS5). It was a global treasure hunt called “The 12 Days of CS5″ which aimed to give creative professionals an opportunity to pick up a virtual copy of the new Creative Suite. Adob’e Twitter handle was giving hints about a location and the lucky person to arrive and check-in at the location at the time of the drop received a Creative Suite collection of their choice.
The program was tightly integrated with Twitter among other social channels and “Adobe CS5” was listed as a worldwide Twitter trending topic earlier yesterday.
The question I have to ask myself is whether or not programs like this are providing long-term value to the brand? I am confident that they are great for creating short term buzz … but is that it?
