Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

There are now 8 million people who use Foursquare, up from 1 million a year ago. Location-based social content is proliferating, and early adopters tend to be affluent, highly educated, and eager to explore new things; according to recent reports.

Most people who check in to restaurants, movies, games, and stores do so to get discounts, according to a recent study by Beyond. So what’ the big deal, and what does it mean to check in? Here’s what it means to me.

First, Some Rules of the Road

1. You’re letting people who follow you know where you are. And sometimes friends of friends… whom you may not know well. So be mindful of that. Many people check out - when leaving a public place - which is a good option, especially when you’re traveling, or alone.
2. You’re using your mobile phone at a restaurant, or at a movie, or in places where mobile phone use might be deemed rude. So be discreet. Please.
3. Never, ever, ever set your home up on a location-based service. Please. Just don’t do it.

Okay. So we’ve gotten the basics out of the way.

Check Out What You Find Before You Check In

I use Foursquare, because I’m one of the 21% of location-based application users who feel rewarded by the gaming element of the experience, earning points, badges, etc. (I admit, I’m slightly coin-operated, but in a different (non-discount) way.)

But I’ve stuck with it because of the information I find within the application.

In this example, I was near a restaurant, Pei Wei, across from my client’s office in Herndon, VA.  I was in the mood for something new, but as is the case of many travelers, I didn’t have a clue what the restaurant was like.

I used Foursquare to review the tips other Foursquare users have already posted about the place… to see whether there’s anything outstanding about the restaurant, or to avoid going there at all. It’s saved me from some bad experiences in the past.

In this case, the tips are pretty innocuous. I could go there.

And you can bet that I leave tips, both positive and negative, about my dining and shopping experiences. Pictures too! It’s all a big circle of good content, to be mined by all.

Loyalty Programs Business Owners Can Leverage

The concept of a Mayor in every venue is to reward loyalty, or frequent check ins. You get a point for every check in, and every calendar day you check in will count towards a Mayorship.  Sometimes, a business owner will jump in the game and offer Foursquare Mayors and other users specials. (Remember the discounts, above?)

Savvy business owners might offer Mayors a free appetizer for every fourth check in. Why? Because those of us who are competitive, (hello pot!) often fight for Mayorships of our favorite venues.

For example, if I were to go to Ken’s Artisan Pizza three days in a week, I might be able to take the Mayorship from Courtney S., whom I’ve never met, but I like her because she’s an ardent Ken’s fan! If I were ever at Ken’s when she was, Foursquare would let me know she was there. So it’s likely we’ll meet someday, and I look forward to that.

I’m usually stunned to find that business owners who run local establishments have no idea entire conversations (not all of them as pleasant as the tips I reviewed at Pei Wei) go on without them knowing.

As the check in growth continues, the danger of not knowing what your reputation feels like is pretty dire.

Know any small business owners? Show them what their Foursquare (or Facebook Places / Gowalla / etc.) reputation is today.

Do them a favor and help them to check out their check ins.

Often the best way to explain a new concept to people - like “What’s a QR code? And how does it work?”  …is to SHOW, not tell. I’m a nerd. I carry a QR code in my wallet to show people how they work. And I take a lot of screen shots, and I post random shots (probably too often). And I realized just last week, this QR code show and tell would make a nice little blog post. (Of course, you’ll be the judge of that…)

This is what a QR code looks like - in a newspaper, on the side of a building, or from my wallet (from a bottle of Argyle, a sparkling wine we particularly love at our house.)

In order to read QR codes, you need a code, a smartphone, and a QR code reader. People with smartphones (Comscore predicts half of the population will have smartphones by the end of 2011) can download a free QR code reader from a site like this.  (Increasingly, readers will come built-in to the software of smartphones.)

Once you have a barcode reader on your phone, and you run across one, you simply open the reader application, hold it over the code, and it’ll lock in on the code and open up a screen that allows you to go to the embedded information, in this case, a web page with information about the sparkling wine, the kinds of foods it goes well with, and even a nice video of the vinyards.

So there you go. QR codes. And how to use them. Even in a store. Especially when you want to know more.

I was fortunate to attend the Mobile Marketing Forum last week in Los Angeles. I’m reconnecting with my “phonic” roots this winter, having worked in the telephony market as well as the software/internet markets for much of my adult life. And like everything else, they’ve converged.

Marketers - especially local businesses - should be forewarned. You really need to know how you come across on a 3″ screen. Here’s some data behind that statement:

Microsoft / BING said a few interesting things in a study they fielded on mobile search behaviors:

• Mobile search prompts immediate action – 70% of mobile searchers completed / took actions within one hour, vs. one month online
• Mobile searchers are more likely to take action locally and with commercial intent – 2-1 over online search
• GMC case study - 1M people interacted in a mobile campaign, resulted in 77% wanting to know more at end of campaign

Mobile Marketing Forum study of 1,100 mobile phone users found:

• Consumers are increasingly aware of, and disposed to, mobile brand engagement. 29% coupon interest, 24% content, 18% commerce
• 66% of consumers who responded to their study use their mobile more than 4 hours/week. 12% use them more than 20 hours/week
• Mobile devices growing at expense of landline, TV, laptops
• Only a niche group 8% have used a barcode (QR codes). But 41% have seen them. I’m seeing them regularly more and more

And my favorite quote from the conference:

The more you use your phone, the less you use it as a phone.

I encourage you to do just one thing from your smart phone this week: check your business’ website. See how it shows up on your own phone. You might be surprised. Are you serving your mobile population well?

We’ll explore more stats here about why it’s increasingly important to do so. (In case you’re not yet convinced the time is now.)

“Checking in” on Friday was good for me. I was one of the 10,000 folks who got a free pair of jeans at the Gap. No strings attached. I was just in the right place, at the right time, with the right tool - Facebook Places on my phone - to do so.

The resulting comments on my Facebook profile are typical of the sentiment around the promotion - that it was confusing, and that it was a counterpoint (nice or sarcastic, you choose) to the recent Gap logo debacle, fresh in consumers’ minds. (Regardless, it stirred up plenty of press - more than 1200 people have covered it in the past three days.)

What is the deal?

Checking in to stores and restaurants is probably a new phenomenon for most people. But it’s easy as finding the place you’re in, and clicking a button on your phone. Once you’ve checked in, you can see who else is there, leave tips for others, or simply share the fact that you’re out and about with your family and friends.

To do so, you either download a little application to your phone - like Foursquare or Gowalla - or you play around with Facebook’s new Places feature. Facebook’s Places was launched in mid-August, and will probably cause location-based programs (which is what these are called) to be adopted more quickly, by virtue of Facebook’s sheer scale, and in their ability to forge partnerships with marketers like the Gap.

Location-based social media programs are only being used by about 4% of all online users today, according to recent research from the Pew Research Center. But just because we’re in a minority today, don’t think our numbers won’t grow exponentially. The 4% who are playing around with location-based programs is about as the same percentage of folks were blogging six years ago. And early adopters of social media tend to be highly vocal and have lots of online connections.

What is the deal for brands?

Just like in the rest of the social media landscape, brands need to know people are broadcasting about them when they’re “in the moment” with the brand. This can be good or bad for consumers - sometimes you can win goods (thanks, Gap!), sometimes you can unlock coupons (Starbucks has been very actively offering special “coupon deals” for check ins for months), and sometimes you can find excellent information in tips left by others.

Like the guy who said to sit on the right side of the plane as you fly out of Reagan airport - or the left side as you fly in for the best view. I’m still grateful for his advice!

The History Channel has created a ton of tips for Foursquare users around the country, which always add to my check in experience. Thank you.

The brands who are actively participating today are doing so with a highly engaged and vocal audience.

Because when we “win/unlock/share tips” the applications themselves can help us communicate our observations to our Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIN communities without lifting another finger to do so.

I’m going to repeat that.

The applications can amplify our observations to (potentially) all of our social connections without lifting another finger. That’s word of mouth.

The sad thing is, most businesses have no clue that we’re doing so.

The brand problem is the brand opportunity

I had lunch on Friday at a chain restaurant (there are nine locations on the west coast) that is heavily used by business people. Because I had a little extra time to check out the tips that other Foursquare users had left, I took the time to do so. I was stunned at what I read:

Whoa. Did you see that? “The pork chops tastes like the grill has a propane leak.”

Imagine this kind of information about your brand hanging out there for anyone to see - for months. My bet is, the manager of this particular restaurant might like to know what a small, but vocal percentage of people is thinking - and passing along - about his / her establishment.

If you have a local business that people are frequenting: whether it be a restaurant, a bar, a dental practice, even a gate at an airport… you should know what your customers are saying about you when they’re “checking in.” You might be surprised. Positively, or negatively. And frankly, you need to know which it’s going to be so you can respond appropriately.

Now. Before adoption really blossoms.

I’ve been looking for an infographic that shows the intricacies of the mobile marketing field, to no avail yet…

Something like the latest version of Brian Solis’ Conversation Prism - that shows the players in social media’s “art of listening, learning and sharing” - and which is truly a thing of beauty. (Head over to The Conversation Prism to see it in its full glory.)

They suggest you look at it to see what you’re missing.

I suggest you look at it to see possibilities… and the beauty of a well-constructed picture that truly is worth a thousand words.

BTW, if you’d like to see how it has changed over the years (it’s pretty remarkable):

2008 version 1.0 is here.

2009 version 2.0 is here.

Now… who is working on this for mobile?