Foursquare, the location based social network, is purported to be the next big social media phenomenon despite ongoing privacy concerns.   Launched just last year in only a few cities around the world, Foursquare now has over 400,000 unique visitors (in January).  Since September there has been a steep increase  in activity as users catch on to this popular social networking game and this is only expected to grow since Foursquare went global last month.

Foursquare Growth

Playing Foursquare

Foursquare allows users to check in from their mobile phones when they are out and about at dinner, sports venues, tourist venues and even at the hairdresser.  As a user, each time you check in to a location you are awarded points.

Once you start accumulating points or visiting locations frequently you are awarded badges and titles (I am the Mayor of Stock Up, one of my favorite places to have lunch in Kerrisdale).   Foursquare apps are available for download to most major smart phones (iPhone,  Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre.).

If you think it sounds like more of a game than a serious business network, you are right but if your business is location based, it is a game you really should be taking seriously.   A little friendly competition can do wonders to bring people back to your location again and again and so businesses are beginning to clue in to the loyalty potentially and Foursquare as a tool to spread awareness: many businesses are offering incentives to those who become mayor and to visitors who offer tips about the location.

Foursquare Tips for Business

1. Make sure you are listed on Foursquare.  The best way to do this is by joining the community, downloading the phone app and adding a venue from there (read this post from Dave Tailor for more detail on how to do so).

2. Consider offering incentives for those who visit frequently and sign up with Foursquare to promote these.  Every time someone signs in to your location, their followers see this, so the more Foursquare visitors you have the better – its like free advertising!

3. Monitor Foursquare to see who is visiting and especially to track tips.  Foursquare users can provide tips about your location and since this is user driven you may want to reward positive tips and be prepared to go to bat if someone posts something negative.  Most of the tips I have seen to date are positive.

My Perspective

I have been playing around with Foursquare for a few months and it is fun but so far I haven’t been rewarded for my patronage – here’s hoping this post changes that!

Frustrated at the longer anticipated wait for sushi the other week, I posted this warning others to factor in time but there has been no response to that either.

Since Out-Smarts is virtual and not location based, we’re not on there but we do encourage all businesses to be aware of what Foursquare is, to make sure they are listed and to keep an eye on what is being said about their business.  If Foursquare does take off, as it is predicted to, then more and more of your clients will be using this tool to share their nights out, business meetings and fun.

Understanding the traffic visiting your site is a key metric, not just in terms of your Internet marketing efforts but also for building a effective social media campaigns.  Too many clients come to me wanting to bring more business through the website but without knowing anything about the traffic they are currently getting.

Do you know how many visitors your site gets as a result of your Facebook or Twitter presence?   Which blog posts or comments drive the most traffic to your site?  How much traffic your site gets overall and is it from your target audience?

Fortunately our friends over at Google have just the solution. Google analytics is a free web site traffic analysis tool that tracks traffic to your website. It works by having you enter some code on your web site and it should be the first thing on your to do list before embarking on any Internet marketing or social media marketing effort.

Using Google is a great way to understand your on-line community: how they find you; how they navigate your site and where they come from. Website owners can monitor and improve web site results by honing in on their specific community.  The service includes a dashboard containing vital visitors stats and the ability to drill down on these to find out more; score cards to assess traffic; conversion rate tracking analysis for keywords targeted; targeting by region (for example); the ability to create and share (send and schedule personalised e-mail reports) and export data.

Analytics is a free service that is used to attract customers to Google’s fee paid Ad Words and Ad Sense offering but those are optional – the benefits of this free data at our marketing fingertips are unquestionable.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a leadership round table headed up by Judy Bishop of Bishop and Associates. Judy has been a key player on the Vancouver business scene for 20 years and her discussion surrounded building your personal brand.

During the conversation Judy pointed out that “branding” is not a term that should be used in a business context and that it in fact should only relate to cattle or livestock. Its an interesting point and got me thinking about the process we go through as marketers trying to influence our audience.  A mistake is often made in focusing on “us” (ie the company, product or service) and not “the audience”.

Taken literally as a verb, using -ing to form the progressive tense: branding,  is grammatically correct.  However, I think  its not the grammar that Judy has a bone of contention with but the implication.  Branding implies that we actively seek to make our mark on  the audience when in actual fact its not marketers who are in control of our brands but the audience itself.  Many marketers fail to recognize this and go about building their brand from the inside out without giving too much thought to the audience who is on the receiving end.

So what has all this got to do with social media I hear you ask.  Well, since you asked, I think its vital.  You shouldn’t go about using social media as a means “to burn your brand”  into the minds of your audience.  Social media users are particularly sensitive to manipulation.  Rather, look on social media as a great tool for making contact with your audience, to understand them better (what makes them tick)and to allow you to build better products for them.  Use it as a tool to build better relationships with them so that they, in turn, build a great perception of your company in their minds and are more likely to turn to you when in need. The best way to do this is to constantly be on the look out for ways that you can help your target audience and add value for them.  The key point here is that it is all about them not all about you.

Unlike Judy, I may use the term branding from time to time to categorize the efforts we make as marketers to build awareness but I do see her point.  Branding is something that is done to something else – the word implies a lack of respect.   Building a brand is all about respect: understanding your audience and catering to their needs.  By placing your customer front and centre and catering to their needs not yours, your marketing efforts will be more likely to succeed.

Related posts:

Branding – with Isabelle Mercier

And thanks Michelle for the great Highland Coo image!

This weekend I came across a LinkedIn company profile with “Biatch” among its employee titles. Sigh. Educating employees on the basics of social networking is very simple, and very important.

Social networking is not rocket science, but every one of us goes through a learning curve in which mistakes are easy to make. Today, these mistakes, as innocent and naive as they may be, can do significant damage to a brand.

Take this case for example; I’m sure this Biatch is not aware her personal LlinkedIn profile is showing up on the company’s main profile. She probably wanted to have some fun, and the one in charged of this at the company didn’t notice. Regardless of who’s at fault, this company’s brand takes an embarrassing hit every time someone views their profile.

Here are a few simple tips to help prevent these corporate embarrassing publications:

Create simple organization-wide  guidelines for social networking. Write a document short enough so that everyone will read it. Include the different social networks your company is participating, general guidelines on the company’s branding and general suggestions on how to participate in social networking. Avoid labeling them as “rules”, it works better.

Encourage but don’t force employees to participate in social networks. Why? Personality, passion and commitment come across very well in social media. Similar to a networking party, it’s very easy to spot people who are forced to be there. Besides, forced participants usually don’t communicate well or plainly say the wrong things. Let the ones who want to be there, be there. Their keenness will come across superbly.

Designate someone to oversee your online presence. Simple mistakes can be avoided by having someone review important profiles every now and then.

Think long term. An abandoned profile is just as embarrassing as these faux passes.

By Jose Uzcategui

Thanks Darren Barefoot for the Image

Today a new social networking tool launches in Vancouver, its name is Foursquare. It’s a game-based application that lets you explore the city and earn points, badges, and in some cases, free drinks by “check-in” at different establishments.

There are hundreds of social networking tools out there, but Foursquare is getting more buzz than usual. Earlier this week it was profiled in the Georgia Straight and I’ve heard some people say it’s “the next big thing”. Now, that’s a bold statement. And personally I wouldn’t dare to make such predictions, especially when it comes to social media. Nonetheless, I want to keep an eye on it and think you should have it on your radar too.

Foursquare seems fun and catchy. The problem, like anything in social media, is privacy. The whole point of “playing” Foursquare is to “check-in” at different locations with your mobile. Obviously, if you’re at Cactus Club, you’re not home… and there lies the privacy concern. I know people that stay clear of Twitter because of this concern (though many people use Twitter effectively without revealing their locations).

So, will Foursquare catch on? Personally, it’s hard to say. I don’t think it’s a done deal because I’m already hearing conversations around privacy, but it could make it.

One thing is for sure, if you would’ve asked me if Twitter would be “the next big thing” back in 2006, I would’ve said, “no freakin’ way.” Hence, this time I’ll say, “honestly, it’s hard to say.”

Go play Foursquare and let us know your experience!

Social Media Listening Tools

Social media content is a great source of information for research, customer service and planning purposes.  Its important to use tools to effectively listen to what is being said about: your company, its products services and representatives; your competitors and clients; your market niche as well as your target geography and other marketing considerations.

With millions of people on-line every day exchanging opinions, thoughts, feedback and other information – this data source shouldn’t be ignored.

But how to listen effectively, what to listen for and how to do so in a timely manner?  As with any other market research initiative, it is important to have a social media listening strategy or plan that outlines what you are hoping to learn, the information you want to track and how you will analyze and use it.

There are thousands of social networks, millions of blogs, how do you sift through this information to find the gems that are relevant to your company and industry?    It’s important in advance to know what you want to listen for.  Identifying and listening for keywords pertaining to your company name and product or services names is a good start.  This allows you to get going with something concise and manageable and get a feel for the type of information you will return.

There are a number of tools available to effectively listen some are free, the obvious one being Google and some charge.  If you expect that you will use these tools extensively or if you hit the wall with free tools then you may want to consider the paid options as they provide structured and strategic solutions.

Here are some more specific services:

FREE

Google Alerts – this service sends e-mails outlining Google search result for your keyphrases.

There are a plethora of Twitter tools like Twitter Search, Monitter (my current favourite) and Tweetlater that allow you to monitor for keywords via email or online.

Pipl – great tool for assessing your personal brand online across multiple social networks

Backtype –  search terms, follow conversations.

Facebook wall comments Lexicon.

Trendrr – social and digital media tracking

Technorati – blog monitoring

PAID

Radian6 – this is a paid service but word on the street is that it’s worth paying the price. Radian6 tools

Trackur – another tool for social media monitoring.  Starting at $18 a month with a free trial.

Visible Technology’s Trucast – Social media and blog monitoring.