Friends - The Killer Feature

My office is in a full-on fight for Foursquare mayorship. When I won it back this week, I cheered out loud in the office. This "great" feat was only seen by a small part of my social graph because most of my real-life friends aren't using Foursquare. Yet, when I checked into my first Place on Facebook, I saw that 20+ friends had checked into interesting locations all over the country. I reconnected with a couple of them to talk about their trip.

As these examples show, friends are the killer feature. We've known for a while that critical mass is a key element of success for nuclear weapons and social networks, but the nature-like ecosystem of relationships stored in Facebook are worth an order of magnitude greater than the parts. My 523 friends map very closely to the people that I know and care about most. I may not have spoken to some of them for several years, but their Place posts have already caused me to reach out and renew a friendship. In my opinion, the Facebook friendship map is probably one of the most important historical records of my life. Since I believe that social media makes you more social, I put a high value on the network's ability to improve my life.

If people like ourselves are the best way to influence us, then Facebook has the potential to be the best marketing tool in history. I'm sure to buy a product that my friends recommend and Facebook already knows all my friends and will soon know where they buy stuff. In fact, JiWire's (client) report this week indicates that more than one-half of people are willing to disclose their location to get more relevant advertising.

That doesn't mean that Foursquare and others are out of the game. Foursquare's concept of socializing loyalty means that brands may choose to market their products through Foursquare because it has the mechanisms to connect with customers at a much deeper level.

Friends take work to earn in our lives. Because of their value to us, we are reluctant to share them publicly. When we do, they become a tall barrier to entry and a killer feature that guarantees Facebook Places will rush to the top of the location-based services pile.

Disclosure: JiWire is a client of my employer Edelman.

Socializing Loyalty with Foursquare

Location-based services hold the promise of targeted advertising and ultra-relevant content for everyone. Are these services just high-tech coupons or is there a larger promise? Tristan Walker, VP of business development, from Foursquare sees something much deeper. He calls it socializing loyalty. This isn't a Tweet that I checked into Nola's with four friends, this is a way to tie a brand's existing loyalty program directly into their customer's social graph. Imagine a check-in at your favorite book store that occurs when your credit card is swiped. Or even better, a check-in that is tied to the book you just purchased. In an instant, you receive your loyalty points from the book publisher, bookstore and American Express. With your permission, that information is then shared with your friends. Instead of pulling out my phone and checking in and showing it to the clerk, all this occurs through the credit card payment systems that connect directly to the Foursquare system. All secure and all measurable.

From a brand's perspective, that engagement is very deep. If you have enough affinity for the brand to grant them access to your social graph, it is clear that you are a brand advocate. The customer also becomes a rich vector to connect the brand to like-minded customers. You are unlikely to grant a random taqueria the right to publish on your behalf, but you might trust French Laundry. Even everyday experiences such as visits to your favorite coffee shop or gym could trigger loyalty points and generate additional impressions for a brand.

The concept of loyalty programs and publishing your check-ins is not new, but the combination in a familiar mobile experience is different. Point solutions pop-up for all sorts of individual brands or specific campaigns, but they don't sit on everyone's mobile phone like Foursquare. In this scenario, Foursquare is much more like a platform than an mobile phone app. It allows for brands to build their loyalty programs around a consumer experience that guarantees engagement and relevancy.

We've seen other purchase broadcasting services go awry so good privacy control is needed, but people are quickly warming to the idea that they can get more from a brand if they are willing to share their experience with their friends.

This idea can change the market because instead of keeping Foursquare locked into brands with physical locations, they can now work with every brand in the store. Loyalty is extended beyond the bookstore to now include every brand, publisher and product in that store.

The concept of socializing loyalty with a location-based service such as Foursqure is still without a concrete, real-life example. I understand that Foursquare may be changing that soon. I'd love to see a major brand tap into their existing loyalty program and reward Foursquare users based on their past purchases. Imagine walking into the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and upon checking in you are upgraded to a bigger room or treated to free marshmallows and chocolate by the fire. I know Robert Scoble would love that since he is the Ritz mayor.

Now that I've met Tristan Walker, I was able to take the first step toward getting my Foursquare stalker badge. Hint: Tristan's business card has the pizza symbol.

Check-In or Watch Your Reputation Check-Out

Guide to location-based services, such as Foursquare and Gowalla, for PR and marketing professionals

I checked in on Foursquare as I arrived at a networking event the other day and I was greeted with a free drink if I showed my phone to the bartender. My excitement grew when Foursquare notified me that the restaurant across the street had a two-for-one dinner deal. I grabbed some colleagues to go with me. When we finished, I noticed that the bar across the street offered a free appetizer. So, we trouped across the street determined to follow our Foursquare adventure to its end even if we were already full. When we finished we had consumed drinks, dinner and appetizers all for less than $10 each.

As my experience shows, people are willing to give their location if they know they'll get something for it. JiWire's Insights report found that 53 percent of people are willing to show their location to get more relevant ads. Nielsen reports that 24 percent of Americans have a smartphone and we know that most of the new models have GPS. Foursquare has rapidly grown to 500,000 users and 275,000 check-ins in one day. Mashable reports that the other location-based check-in game, Gowalla, has about 100,000 customers. Additionally, nearly every user-generated review service is adding location to its mobile app because of its benefits to customers and the hope to attract higher advertising rates.

As a PR or marketing professional it is about time to add location-based services to your marketing mix and reputation management programs. Your customers are already mentioning your brand in these services and their comments are showing up in search results. It isn't hard to understand that like other social media, location-based services need active engagement and monitoring. Chuck Reynolds daftly details the impact of these services on local search and search engine visibility in this blog post.

Although not sanctioned by the company, there was even a Foursquare Day last month on April 16 (4/16) that fans put together. I know you have a lot to monitor already in the fragmented social media fracas, so here are some tools that can make it easy to keep an eye on public comments on Foursquare and Gowalla. Both Check-In Mania and FourWhere allow you to search for your business and view the shouts and recommendations people leave.

I love to see the updates and advice from my friends as they check-in throughout their day. It helps me find better restaurants and gets me to try new businesses. As a PR person, I've seen it create real-time buzz around an event and drive longer-term search engine results. It's time to check-in on your brand's reputation before your customers check-out.

Disclosure: JiWire is a client.