Foursquare has announced the availability of Foursquare Pages for companies, brands and other organisations. While still buggy since it was made public yesterday the concept will focus on having a one-stop Page that will allow users to share tips, reach new fans and gain new followers on this location-based social networking platform.
Geo-marketing is a concept that has been around for many years and focuses on using geolocation ‘in the process of planning and delivering marketing activities based and tailored on the location of the audience.’ Foursquare adds the concept of the community to the marketing to enable organisations to tap into and benefit from recommendations that our own social communities share – best table at this restaurant, great shop for vintage, great customer service at this shop, etc. The problem though is that after over 2 years since Foursquare was unveiled it is still seen as a game and an experiment by many businesses. It has not been adopted, yet!
The opportunities for businesses though are enormous. After all, the theory goes that if you reward your customers then they should recommend the business to their own community. Some brand specific Foursquare campaigns have yielded interesting results, but the use is still restricted to those that are connected, are social networking enthusiasts and have smartphones – not your average consumer.
From my experience, I see that local businesses in South East Asia have taken to geo-marketing with more individuality than in Western European cities. In London the standard offer is a discount for the Mayor of a venue – bar, restaurant, shop. That is it. Rare to see the rewards for ‘checking-in’ that you see in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta, such as discounts and free gifts just for visiting and ‘checking in.’ Perhaps it is a cultural point.
Customer facing businesses will only gain the benefits from geo-marketing if they develop suitable rewards that encourage customers to develop their loyalty. After all, the technology alone won’t improve the bottom-line, for this you have to look at the business from a consumers perspective.
Foursquare and other services are ideally placed to help small and medium sized businesses (SME’s) because it isn’t just about rewards, but about accessing the recommendations from members of our networks.
Facebook or Bust, The Audience Is Listening
Friday, September 9th, 2011George Lucas was right, 'The audience IS listening'
Facebook has brought together an audience of incredible numbers. The social networking giant is today a community of people that keeps on growing, creating for businesses an opportunity to reach out directly to consumers. But here lies the question, why are businesses still looking like ‘rabbits in the headlights’ and failing to truly engage with audiences that can help many survive during these hard economic times?
Today, Facebook has over 750 million users worldwide. For many businesses that figure is a fantasy, after all, are we going to engage with so many? So let’s narrow this figure down into more manageable and relevant numbers. In the US there are over 154 million ‘active’ users, Indonesia comes in second with 40 million and a 16 per cent penetration rate, while in the UK there are 30 million users reaching half of the population. Malaysia has over 11 million users accounting for nearly 1 in 2 residents, while Singapore has a very active 2.5 million with 54% of people being on Facebook.
And the figures don’t stop there. Here are some more, more than have of Facebook users access the network each day, half of which do so through their mobile phones. And those that access Facebook through a smartphone or other mobile device are ‘twice as active as Facebook compared to non-mobile users.’
For many companies and organisations, these numbers are very 2-dimensional. The audience is there, but the history and culture of 20 century business dictates that for many they still broadcast to them through a given Facebook Page.
Audience engagement is much more than a Facebook Page and the apps and tabs that these Pages have. It is about, well, engagement. It is about listening and delivering. In business it is about meeting needs. And to meet business needs you needs to re-invent itself, spending time speaking an engaging with your various audiences.
Many companies are focused on the comfort of your own structure. Safe in the knowledge of how they have always delivered their business. But what about your audience? Have they been happy in how they have received your business?
As Facebook show’s us, people today are connected online. For many they check their network, their community first thing in the morning. People seek input, advice and support from their community that they have before they have spent money. Today, people are happy to share bad experience, which shapes many companies brands and reputations.
While engagement is certainly not as cheap as business thinks it is, it creates a much more personal relationship than brands have ever had with it’s audiences. It creates the loyalty, the holy-grail of business relationships that many aspire for.
Think about it this way, how do you like being talked at?
Tags: advertising, audience, business, customer service, engagement, facebook, marketing, recession, relationships, social media, social networking
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