It was a double jaw-dropping statistic from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Annual Leadership Meeting. Schmidt said that YouTube has reached 200 million playbacks of video content, on mobile devices…(first jaw drop), every day (second jaw drop).
With the explosive growth of iPad and the continued adoption of smartphones, it is clear to Weise Communications that mobile is rapidly becoming the primary device used to access the internet. For marketers, it will be crucial to influence organizations to incorporate SEO practices in mobile sites.
Technological advancements in location-based search and integrated social search results will impact how people use mobile search and how browsers deliver results. In order to increase traffic to mobile pages, it is essential for companies to leverage mobile SEO practices in order to increase traffic and provide a better user experience.
I recently attended a mobile marketing roundtable co-hosted by Alex Valderrama and Greg Olson of Growl, a Denver-area mobile marketing agency. They presented three mobile SEO tips that are necessary to consider:
1) Create a mobile specific landing page that detects the device the person searching is using and make sure you integrate mobile into traditional website strategy. People using the mobile gateway will not replace the traditional desktop search; instead, it helps reach new customers and sets you apart from the competition.
2) There is no rule that you must have a robust mobile site, instead, start small. First, launch the mobile site as a web app rather than native app. Then, measure results and grow the mobile site. Most importantly, have a share button on every mobile thing that you do.
3) Whether or not you are targeting mobile users, people are looking at your site on a mobile device. The quickest solution is to create a landing page with basic information that a mobile users wants: hours of operation, location and directions, etc.
At the same IAB meeting, Mr. Schmidt also shared that 78 percent of smartphone owners use their phones while they shop. “This is the future and everyone will adapt,” Schmidt said. “Because people are fundamentally better off with a better, smarter and more empowered customer.”
I’ve even downloaded the Red Laser app. I use this app shopping all the time, I scan the barcode of an item and this app provides results of nearby places also selling the same item and the price they charge. Red Laser has already saved me money.
Let us know if you’ve joined the mobile revolution, are you using your smartphone or iPad to access the internet more than your desktop? Has your company adopted a mobile SEO strategy? Share your thoughts here, on our Facebook page at Weise Communications, or message us on Twitter at @Weise_Ideas.
Everyone’s got their lists – the best, the worst, the funniest, the cutest, etc. My approach was totally different.
Here’s my play-by-play/color commentary on all the commercials shown during this year’s Super Bowl. I was live posting these on Facebook during the game and there was plenty of debate. Real-time discussions were very interesting and many comments are still coming in.
What is below is just a quick thought on each commercial’s ideas, production value, brand stewardship, effort, etc. and finally a FINAL SCORE of each and how I thought it scored 1 to 10. 10 being the best.
Suzuki “Sled”
THIS WAS MY FAVORITE! It was great because it was unexpected, unlike most of the other commercials that you knew what was coming. The music got you to tap your toe and snap your fingers, the dogs were great bouncing to the music along with the driver, of which had a great smile, and you could tell he REALLY BELIEVED in the decision he made. He knew he had made a great decision for his family…even though his wife may not understand…the family would be in a better place with this car.
FINAL SCORE: 10
8:14pm DETROIT/ DIRTY HARRY: ANY COMMERCIAL ABOUT THE REVITALIZATION OF DETROIT, I LOVE IT. The messaging is SO strong and I love the way they have positioned themselves with IMPORTED FROM DETROIT.
FINAL SCORE: 9
8:10pm CADILLAC: really? if you have to call out your competition (BMW 3 series) in your commercial, you’ve already lost. Nice try GM.
FINAL SCORE: 4
8:00pm SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE (SMART PHONE): A PHONE WITH A PEN? I HATE MUSICALS….and especially the ones that include spontaneous flash mobs of singing people. AND it looks like this spot was shot on the same back lot in LA as the Budweiser commercials.(Just saying.)
FINAL SCORE: 5
7:55pm CAREERBUILDER.COM/ MONKEYS : monkeys, deprecating humor = funny. Funny gets you points for the SB voting.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
7:53pm KIA/OPTIMA/MISTER SAND MAN/ADRIANA LIMA/ great production value! great idea: concept: ok.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
7:49pm BUD LIGHT: HEREWEGO THE DOG! I think my little boy needs a dog. Just like this one. Oh…and since there’s a dog in the commercial it will do well in the voting….
FINAL SCORE: 8
7:45pm HYUNDAI/ONE WORD GENESIS COUPE: weak…348 Horsepower…now that’s impressive. I didn’t know they could make a Hyundai with such a strong engine…but isn’t a little overkill for that brand?
FINAL SCORE: 6
7:38pm DISCLAIMER: MOVIE TRAILERS AND ‘THE VOICE” commercials DON’T COUNT AS SB COMMERCIALS…even though the Betty White commercial for THE VOICE was adorable…any thing with her in it always gets props.
7:36pm HONDA CRV/FERRIS BUELLER/Matthew’s Day Off: finally they showed it….deep into the 2nd half….2 minutes into the 4th quarter: I think we’ve all seen this commercial at least 27 times with all the press it got this week. Great idea: comfortable production value: the only thing that would have made it better would have been a cameo appearance by the wife (Sarah Jessica Parker)
FINAL SCORE: 8.5
7:31pm THE NFL: ONE OF THE BEST SPOTS YET! Using the history of the league in a great progression down the field was genius. How could anyone deny the richness of the NFL’s history and it’s promise to continue the this rich tradition. Hats off to the NFL. FINAL SCORE: 8.5
7:25pm BRIDGESTONE TIRES #2: Nice evolution of the campaign. Production value: spot on. Keep up the great work Bridgestone!
FINAL SCORE: 8.5
7:23pm BUDWEISER #2: BETTER THAN the first ad…more relateable to most people watching. I didn’t understand the 2011 music in a commercial that didn’t obviously get past the early 1990s? Nice evolution of the campaign AND with some of the same venues as the first commercial..the time evolution connection is subtle but well done.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
7:18pm GE #3: Great Pride in America’s manufacturing! This campaign will be around a while. I approve! I wonder if Jack Welch had anything to do with this new idea.
FINAL SCORE: 8
7:16pm ACURA NSX/JERRY SEINFIELD; FUNNY…HUGE PRODUCTION FOR CAR THAT’S NOT REALLY FUNNY. Acura’s NSX is one of the worlds most spectacular cars and they pitted Leno and Seinfeld against each other. Sort of on target.
FINAL SCORE: 6.5
7:12pm CENTURY 21: SMARTER. BOLDER. FASTER. : eh…Deon Sanders was in his 2nd .
FINAL SCORE: 4
7:10pm OIKOS GREEK YOGURT: Any time John Stamos gets knocked out, it’s a good thing.
FINAL SCORE: 6
7:07pm COKE POLAR BEARS #3: COKE MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER: duh?!
FINAL SCORE: 8
7:05pm CAMRY/REINVENTED...wa?
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
7:03pm FIAT/ABARTH: You’ll never forget the first time you see one. A nice way to keep your attention. Gratuitous legs, heels, cleavage, and a mini car tearing it up on a closed course.
FINAL SCORE: 7
6:58pm COMCAST: SUPER MONSTER HOUSE RACING!!! by Xfinity! Comcast: Great production value, simple idea, effective:
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
6:42pm TOYOTA CAMRY/THE CAMRY EFFECT: send us your story: Hasn’t this been done a bazillion times? the real story here is the fact you can ‘Shazam’ (http://www.shazam.com/) this commercial on your smart phone to enter the contest: something that’s NOT BEEN DONE AT ALL! for new technology efforts:
FINAL SCORE: 8.5
6:28pm JUSTFAB.COM : it’s a shoe commercial for a website: boring: production value low.
FINALS SCORE: 2
6:26pm AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE: People talking on a white background. no production value w no concept.
FINAL SCORE: 1
6:25pm OFFICE DEPOT: free pc tune-ups as told by an elf-like store associate and NASCAR driver: boring:
FINAL SCORE: 2
6:22pm HALF TIME COMMERCIALS: NFL.COM FANTASY: EH. A little too ghetto for me.
FINAL SCORE: 5
6:19pm ETRADE: SPEED DATING BABY: stick with what works. last years commercials were better: this iteration lacks real humor. Maybe eTrade needs to move on from the talking babies.
FINAL SCORE: 3.5
6:17pm DORITOS #2/BUNGIE BABY: funny: Customer created: not bad: Taunting is always appreciated in my world:
FINAL SCORE: 6
6:14pm CARS.COM/MY CONFIDENCE/FLOATING HEAD: funny, a little creepy.
FINAL SCORE: 5
6:13pm SKETCHERS: MR. QUIGGLY: funny, unexpected, and it features a Tone Loc tune…good but not great.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
6:10pm TELEFLORA/Valentines: Give and You Will Receive: Genius to use one of the hottest super models in the world (not to mention, a Victoria Secrets model- ADRIANA LIMA) and the only line in the commercial is a great one. Small production but a Big Idea:
FINAL SCORE: 8
6:06pm CHEVY SONIC: It’s amazing what a car company will do to appeal to its demographic. I guess they want to be like Red Bull.
FINAL SCORE: 6 (FOR WOW FACTOR ONLY)
6:03pm COKE POLAR BEARS #2 NO DROP: Cute. Nice idea. SUSPENSEFUL I’m a COKE man so their brand promise lives strong in this commercial: AGAIN!
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
6:00pm H&M: BECKHAM UNDERWEAR Does everyone really need to see Beckham in his tightie whities? I thought H&M was a ladies clothing store?
FINAL SCORE: 2
5:57pm VW BUG/FAT DOG: Back better than ever: Nice idea. Emotional. Everyone loves dogs…I love VWs so I’m biased that I like the commercial. but the switch into the Darth Vader/Star Wars…whats up with that? a flashback to last years Kid Vader commercial?
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
5:51pm TAXACT.com FEEL THE FREE funny story, great suspense…I’m sure their servers just exploded.
FINAL SCORE: 7
5:47pm GE TURBINES #2: Turbines that make the beer…Budweiser Beer. Great idea to make GE relevant in today’s world. Too bad I can’t afford to buy a turbine.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5
5:45pm DORITOS/MAN’S BEST FRIEND : I have a cat and I think it was funny! I think this was one of the customer created commercial.
FINAL SCORE: 7
5:44pm BUDWEISER: Since 1876: Great production, HUGE PRODUCTION… and amazing how the shaving cream stayed on the guys face! It’s no field goal kicking Clydesdale, but good.
FINAL SCORE: 5
5:39pm LEXUS GS: THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING: of what? Big/cool production for a car that looks like the rest of the pack.
FINAL SCORE: 2
5:38pm GO DADDY.COM: .co – we all know there’s never ever going to have anything revealed in these commercials so why bother watching them.
FINAL SCORE: 1
5:36pm BRIDGESTONE TIRES #1: Good, funny idea to make a point. Cameos by Deon Sanders and Troy Aikman.
FINAL SCORE: 6
5:31pm COKE POLAR BEARS: Cute. Nice idea. I’m a COKE man so their brand promise lives strong in this commercial.
FINAL SCORE: 7
5:28pm BEST BUY: All mobile phone carriers are available at one store. Who cares…the word on the street is that Best Buy is going out of business soon.
FINAL SCORE: 1
5:26pm M&MS/Chocolate Naked M&M: Funny! not to mention the Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle song…who wouldn’t like an M&M commercial.
FINAL SCORE: 8
5:23pm BUD LIGHT PLATINUM #2: An evolution of the first spot, but no real idea here, just people at a party…just like half of the other beer commercials on tonight.
FINAL SCORE: 3
5:21pm PEPSI/ELTON JOHN: Pepsi for All: I’m a Coke drinker so this commercial did nothing for me, but it’s always amazing to see Flava Flav pop up in the weirdest places. Elton John was cool, but the lady that sang for her Pepsi(Huge production for little pay-off)
FINAL SCORE: 1
5:18pm AUDI HEADLIGHTS/VAMPIRE BONFIRE: really? I could see this idea coming from a mile away, corny, less than appropriate for Audi’s brand:
FINAL SCORE: 3
5:15pm BUD LIGHT PLATINUM: huge production for little pay-off, a new beer intro needs more.Why would I buy a beer that is portrayed as something crafted in a high-tech foundry? It almost looked like a cell phone commercial.
FINAL SCORE: 2
5:14pm Hyundai: Rocky Movie Theme Song: toe tapping idea, little payoff.
FINAL SCORE: 5
The average cost of a commercial for the Super Bowl is around $3.5 million this year, and NBC pretty much sold out its ad inventory by Labor Day. With the DVR changing how we watch TV and creating commercial skipping, television advertising seems like a dying media. So, why do advertisers mortgage the farm to get an ad for the Super Bowl?
Fewer events are more hyped, create as much fanfare, attract more interest from celebrities, politicians and average Americans than the Super Bowl. And live is still how viewers like to watch sports with the NFL leading the sports pack in fan base size. Last year’s Super Bowl had an astonishing 110 million viewers – definitely worth mortgaging the farm.
Therefore, we wanted to preview some of the spots that we think will be real highlights this year.
Volkswagen
One of the highlights last year came courtesy of Volkswagen as they unveiled their commercial, “The Force,” which featured a young Darth Vader and a new 2012 Passat.
Volkswagen may have replicated its 2011 success with a memorable ad for the Super Bowl XLVI. They have a teaser (yes – an ad of an ad) for this year’s Super Bowl commercial, which includes dogs barking the Star Wars theme and is named “The Bark Side.”
As a dog lover, and Vizsla owner (top row-center), I for one am excited to see this ad.
Sketchers Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will be guest starring in Sketchers third-consecutive Super Bowl ad. With expectations lowered after last year Kim Kardashian commercial, Sketchers can only improve, right?
It turns out that this particular ad features racing greyhounds that lose to a tiny dog wearing Sketchers.
Doritos In my opinion, Doritos has been throwing multiple game winning touch downs with its “Crash the Super Bowl Contest” for the last couple of years, and this year looks to be no different. Here are some of the top contenders.
Sling Baby What do you get when you mix a baby in a swing, a mean grandmother and a bratty kid taunting them both? A great commercial.
Man’s Best Friend Dog-themed entries always grab my attention. This entry features a dog trying to cover its tracks and a human that can apparently be bought off for just a sack of Doritos.
The Voice A promo for “The Voice” that will be aired during the Super Bowl, for a series that premieres directly after the Super Bowl, will at least create some conversation at the water cooler on Monday. The spot is titled “Vokal Kombat,” so I can only assume that it features Christina Aguilera ripping Adam Levine’s head off, vocally that is.
So, we are interested to know, what commercials are you most excited to see and , more importantly, do stellar commercials make up for a Super Bowl that is heavy on defense or one-sided? Let us know here on The Side Note, or on Facebook (Facebook.com/WeiseCommunications) or on Twitter (@Weise_Ideas).
On October 18, 2011, Google announced it would block keywords from natural search results for users signed into Google products such as Google+ or Gmail. Google said the motivation behind the decision was to protect the privacy of personalized search results. This motive is bogus for two reasons:
Google has NEVER provided a keyword search result tied to a specific individual.
They are still providing the keyword search results for someone signed into a Google product if it is PAID search traffic.
Now, our Google Analytics for the Weise Communications website, weiseideas.com and for clients’ websites returns, “Not Provided” as the highest or second highest keyword result.
As someone who creates Internet content, I believe hiding keyword search referral data from unpaid search results impairs my ability to deliver high quality content to my audience and my clients’ target markets.
By creating a black hole of keyword results, I also predict that some websites will turn to black hat tactics to compensate for the loss of data.
What Avinash proposes is not easy to do. Quite frankly, I don’t know any clients that would be willing to pay for this analysis today to improve SEO. However, “not provided” is only at 10 – 18 percent, Google wants that to be as close to 100 percent as possible. I reserve the right to revisit that statement as more and more keyword results are hidden from companies and they feel the pain of not knowing what people are searching to reach their website.
Unless they pay for the privilege.
Let us know if you’ve seen “not provided” search results impact on your SEO. Share your thoughts here, on our Facebook page at Weise Communications, or message us on Twitter at @Weise_Ideas.
Last week, I had the privilege to be interviewed by Angel Tuccy and Eric Reamer of the Experience Pros Radio Show on KLZ in Denver to discuss search engine optimization – SEO (Click on pic of Angel and Eric for the podcast) Unfortunately, we ran out of time before I could provide a hot SEO business tip that any business with a physical location can implement today.
Google Places is a free service provided by Google that combines a physical address with the robust Google Maps application. Google Places allows an individual to review and evaluate business listings. For marketing professionals,of of the best reasons to understand Google Places is that Google has a clear preference for businesses listed in Google Places when providing search results.
Here is an example, I entered the search term “copying” and the first page of Google has two paid ads, a wiki entry about the subject copying, two company websites FedEx Office and Staples, then the Google Places results. Interestingly, the top three selections in the Google Places listings all have customer reviews.
Now that you see Google Places is important to Google ranking, there are some to do’s that are important:
Since Google Places uses an algorithm to list the most relevant results, you should include the most important keywords for your business in the 200-character description of the listing.
Listings are allowed to include up to five photos. Use appropriate keyword titles for the pictures that will also help with SEO. It is important to control the photos attached to your Google Places listing because with the fleet of street view camera cars, Google reserves the right to use their sources to add photos to your listing.
Encourage customers to leave reviews on the Google Places page. You can set up a program to give a customer a discount on a return visit for a positive review. One note of caution: Do not submit multiple reviews from the same IP address. The people at Google are smart, if you cram a bunch of reviews from the same IP address, Google will identify and consider this type of behavior a violation.
Be sure to add your Google Places site to your analytics. In addition to traffic, the analytics dashboard will show you the search terms used to find your Google Places listing. This will provide valuable information as you can focus your content creation on relevant search terms.
Let us know if you’ve used Google Places and seen impact on your SEO. Share your thoughts here or on Facebook at Weise Communications and follow us on Twitter at @Weise_Ideas.
Facebook purchased the location-based social media service (LBS) Gowalla. This is the latest acquisition by Facebook pre 2012 IPO. Interestingly enough, when Facebook acquires a company, it acquires the leadership, developers and talent instead of keeping just the product.
From the Gowalla Co-Founder Josh Williams, “Gowalla, as a service, will be winding down at the end of January. We plan to provide an easy way to export your Passport data, your Stamp and Pin data (along with your legacy Item data), and your photos as well.”
As with many of the strategic moves from Facebook, there are privacy concerns. In this case, Facebook now owns all the pictures, check-ins and connections entered by users of Gowalla. Early rumors have the Gowalla team working on the new Facebook profile, Timeline. Gowalla’s team and data would add a robust component to the Timeline, but will Facebook risk the inevitable complaints of privacy exploitation?
So, in the world of location-based social media, Foursquare is left standing. In 2009, Gowalla and Foursquare launched in the same week as rival location service apps. Both apps provided a method for people to announce their whereabouts by using their smartphones to “check-in” at real-world locations, such as Starbucks. In 2010, Facebook launched Places as an alternative LBS. Places has received luke-warm acceptance, it is not a huge leap to assume the acquired leadership from Gowalla will be able to improve the user experience of Facebook Places.
In the meantime, Foursquare has a window of opportunity prior to Gowalla/Places integration to capitalize on reduced competition and own the LBS marketplace. Foursquare should take our advice and use these ways to improve the service.
Let us know if you think Foursquare will seize the day or if Facebook Places with the infusion of Gowalla talent will overwhelm the LBS market. Share your thoughts here or on Facebook at Weise Communications and follow us on Twitter at @Weise_Ideas.
One of the often-overlooked parts of Facebook has been the profile, with a combination of privacy concerns as well as Facebook automatic like and app postings apps to the profile. However, prior to the 2012 IPO Facebook keeps rolling out improvements as well as value added applications to the service. The latest in beta testing is called Timeline. Timing of full release is unknown to due a legal dispute with timelines.com.
This redefining of the personal profile is a significant change. Facebook knows a lot about us. It knows about the crazy party, the time we went on vacation and when we met specific friends. This is the primary source of Facebook power; it is the online service with the most personal data about our lives. Timeline is the vehicle where a user can harness that power.
In another Facebook surprise, Timeline allows users to control what is displayed. (Three cheers for user control over Facebook content!)
Certain stories can be promoted, they will grab more real estate on the profile. You are not tied to chronological order.
Stories and posts can easily be deleted from the Timeline.
If anything is missing, it is easy to add ‘life events’ to the Timeline. The more info you put into the Timeline, the more robust it becomes.
It is easy to selectively edit the postings that will shape the view of people going forward.
In the past, I’ve written about my favorite iPad app, Flipboard. It appears that the Facebook team has taken the best of Flipboard to create Timeline. Instead of a random scrapbook, Timeline presents our online life as a high-end photo album.
Tell us what you think of Facebook grouping information to tell the story of our lives. Is Timeline a new, exciting way to detail history or is it a creepy way to reveal everything you’ve done in a potentially unnerving way? One thing for sure, anytime Facebook makes a change there will be a cry over privacy concerns.
I recently participated in a symposium and one of the topics was the basics of social media, hosted by my colleague Heather Horsey. I was surprised at some of the questions:
How do I get a hashtag? How much does it cost? How often can I use it?
When I set-up our company Facebook page profile, everything the company does is updating on my personal wall and to my personal email, how can I delete that?
Our company doesn’t want negative comments, is there anyway to choose the comments we want to post on Facebook?
When I was tweeting on the Twitter, I didn’t see any results. How can you make sales on the Twitter if nobody is interested?
The intent behind the questions were genuine, but I quickly came to the realization that there is a massive education effort needed regarding social media in business. If we can assume that social media is now an essential function of any business, executives will treat it as a discipline that they must understand.
This will lead to educational opportunities, as companies cannot make strategic decisions without understanding social media. Executives will see social media as function that cannot be ignored. Companies will begin building internal social media teams and it will cross multiple business functions from customer service to employee recruiting. Any company not fluent in the language of social media will be at a significant disadvantage.
This is an opportunity for the marketing department to step up, take a leadership role in social media education and enhance its value to the entire organization.
Hopefully, we’ll never hear anybody ask about ‘tweeting on the twitter’ again.
Let us know if you think social media education will even extend to the C-suite, even if they never post, tweet or check-in. Share your thoughts here or on Facebook at Weise Communications and follow us on Twitter at @Weise_Ideas.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as The Mormon Church, recently launched a new ad campaign. I’m a Mormon ads are sweeping major cities in the United States to help the general public better understand Mormons. The Ads show regular people talking about their lives and hobbies before announcing they are Mormons.
A representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explained that the ads are not scripted; feature no fake stories and no wardrobe. The featured people are real people talking about their real lives.
In this video pro surfer Joy Monahan says, “I’m a woman’s long board champion and I’m a Mormon.”
The Killers band member Brandon Flowers has one of the most recent ads. His video expresses his love for music, family and his faith.
The Mormon Church is using this advertising campaign to attempt to tear down boundaries and stereotypes regarding the Mormon. The ads are supported by the website mormon.org, where you can find profiles of more than 30,000 Mormons worldwide and chat live with representatives from the church. The website has the church’s basic beliefs and answers frequently asked questions such as their beliefs about Jesus Christ, why they don’t drink alcohol or caffeine and what they believe about the Bible.
While the campaign is well developed and paints a picture of Mormons as the basic friendly next-door neighbor, the timing of the advertising campaign cannot go unnoted.
The Mormon Church has been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. (who?), both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Unfortunately, a June Gallup poll showed that 22 percent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon candidate. This was once the sentiment about Catholics and African Americans as well, but our country continues to evolve. While the Church does not endorse any party or candidate, the timing of the ads will most be a decision based on trying to sway general opinions and eliminate fears about voting for a Mormon.
The Mormon Church has made this public statement on various occasions before major elections: “Principles compatible with the gospel are found in the platforms of all major political parties. While the Church does not endorse political candidates, platforms, or parties, members are urged to be full participants in political, governmental, and community affairs.”
Ads will run until February, just after the Republican primaries have started in earnest.
Could the Mormon church have found a way around limits on political campaign contributions in order to gain political support for church members? Do you believe the campaign is effective in changing perceptions?
Foursquare, the location-based social media service, has implemented two significant improvements to the service. They have integrated with Groupon to identify when a discounted offer is available for a specific location. Also, they have made home addresses private, which will hopefully mean fewer sites like ‘Please Rob Me’ mocking social media over sharing and identifying when you are not at home.
In the spirit of helping make the service better, here are four ways that Foursquare can become a better social media experience for users, businesses and opportunity for marketers:
The establishment/location should be alerted that a user has checked in. Whether the store manager gets a text message or there is access to a group Twitter account, someone at the location should know when a Foursquare user has checked into their establishment. There is one location that I have been the mayor for more than six months and visited for 28 straight weeks with at least one check in per week. So far, ZERO acknowledgement from management. The marketer in me wants them to know I am loyal and in return they should consider providing some recognition that will encourage me to spread news by word of mouth or social media. I know this will not be popular with all establishments, as I have heard from retailers that they do not want to ‘pay’ Foursquare to recognize someone that has already entered their store.
The leaderboard and points are irrelevant – connect them to something of worth or simply eliminate them. This is the portion of Foursquare that feels like a frequent flyer program as I accumulate points with every check-in; but there is no cashing in my points for a romantic getaway to Napa Valley. In fact, the most often question I am asked by a non-foursquare adopter is, “A 5 point check-in? What did that get you?” I would be in favor of a donating my points to a charity and that charity can redeem the points for a monetary donation. But, for that to happen, the points need to mean something.
Create another layer of recognition besides mayor. Foursquare has designated the person with the most check-ins over a rolling two-month period as the mayor. Since many locations are offering specials and discounts to the person holding the mayorship, it can be desirable to be the mayor. However, there are many valuable, loyal customers that cannot breakthrough to become mayor of a location. For today’s purpose, let’s call them a patron. Establishments should consider a loyalty bonus for a patron based on repeat visits over a short period. The offer can be less than the mayor’s offer to encourage a patron to strive to mayorship and still recognize the patron for being a valued customer.
Enrich the experience at events. On Nov. 17, I am attending the Thursday night NFL game between the New York Jets and the Denver Broncos. Wouldn’t it be great to have a video highlight from the game broadcast for someone viewing my check in? You know, actually sharing information. This summer, I attended the Peter Gabriel concert at Red Rocks. When I checked into the event it would have been great to have a live video link for others to share the experience, a connection to his Facebook or My Space page or at least a link to iTunes to allow someone to purchase music. This is also an opportunity for ‘Swarming,’ Foursquare’s moniker for a location with a lot of concurrent check-ins. The idea is: everybody is here, you should be too! However, if I am engaged at a great networking event or an awesome happy hour, I am way too busy to check-in. How swarming can someplace be if you are stopping to tell everybody about it? There should be an automatic check in Foursquare pre-set option. For example, if my phone is at a place for 20 minutes with 200 other Foursquare users, it automatically checks me in – and you’ll know it’s really swarming.
We are convinced that location-based social media can be a powerful marketing tool. Many of our franchise clients would benefit greatly from a robust location-based program, but only if they can see a spike in repeat visitors.
Have you had good experiences with Foursquare? Want to add to this list, share your thoughts here or on Facebook at Weise Communications and follow us on Twitter at @Weise_Ideas.
It was a double jaw-dropping statistic from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Annual Leadership Meeting. Schmidt said that YouTube has reached 200 million playbacks of video content, on mobile devices…(first jaw drop), every day (second jaw drop).
On October 18, 2011, 
urchased the location-based social media service (LBS) Gowalla. This is the latest acquisition by Facebook 
One of the often-overlooked parts of 
I recently participated in a symposium and one of the topics was the basics of social media, hosted by my colleague 
Foursquare
on Facebook
on Twitter
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