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.

Why do people lie about the brands they love?

This headline and first sentence was something I wrote on August 28, 2008. I was inspired, then apparently got redirected somewhere else. I kept it in my drafts because I loved the title and first line so much. And I cannot - for the life of me - remember who the post was about. It’s a shame, too, because it could have been compelling. So 2.5 years later, I’m going to “let it go” into the ether of the larger world, and perhaps someone will catch it, think about it, and answer the question that I couldn’t.

Meanwhile, I will heartily recommend Nicholas Carr’s wonderful book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains.

I found it extremely interesting, illuminating and engaging.

Perhaps you will, too?

One of my clients, K12, is wonderfully fortunate to have a student contestant in American Idol 10. Thia M. is the youngest student to have made the Top 12 cut - at age 16. And to me, it’s a beautiful thing when a student can continue her high school education and participate in one of the biggest entertainment events that this country celebrates. March Madness notwithstanding.

It’s a bit harder to show Thia support and school spirit - since the online version of a pep rally hasn’t really been perfected yet (save Idol itself). So we are all doing what we can - rallying support from schoolmates, family and friends - online, via social media. And it’s been fun to watch the fire catch on, especially on Thia’s Facebook page.

With more than 80,000 students and families in more than 60 countries around the globe, one might imagine that K12’s voting audience might actually sway Wednesday’s results!

I know this is all tempered by the tragedy of the tsunami in Japan and the continuing angst of Middle East conflicts…

It may seem - to some - almost trite to celebrate one talented young woman’s accomplishment, when so many families are truly suffering around the world. But if not now, when?

So if you see some unusual tweets and such coming from me lately, it’s in celebration of, and solidarity for, a 16 year-old’s dream. And the power of our communities - virtual, online, educational, social - to show our support…

…for Thia, for families in Japan, and for peace in the Middle East.

(And thank you, all friends and family, for your personal wishes for my birthday today. I feel celebrated as well! The timing of well-wishes is always good.)

Portland food rocks. Out-of-towners are often surprised at the quality of restaurant they find here. I’ve been recommending some of our favorite places to folks who come out here from the east coast lately, and thought it might be fun to share my list here. (no comments, please, about the “cheap blog fodder,” I admit it freely.)

Two disclaimers:

1) We’re “eat in the bar” people, because neither of us eat a full appetizer + main course + dessert meal – we usually share, so know that the places we eat are fine and flexible, especially when you sit at the bar…

2) This was originally written for someone who leans heavily vegetarian. You’ll see a bit of that bias in my descriptions. I eat too much meat, so it’s nice to think of a non-meat bias meal once in awhile.

THE LIST

Paley’s Place – if I had to choose one restaurant over all others for a fabulous meal and exquisite service, this is it. They’re slightly limited on vegetarian options, but if you asked when you made reservations, I’m sure they’d let you know what they could do.

Higgins – always has a great vegetarian option on the menu. We go here après the theatre, or on a Sunday afternoon, and usually for Thanksgiving. Greg Higgins makes the best salmon anywhere. I love this place. They make all their own pickles, and such. YUM.

Lincoln – Jen makes amazing food. Just watch the photos on the website flow by. The food is even better than it looks. I crave their food for their amazing salads, onion rings and such. Whoa. I love Lincoln.

Gruner – believe it or not, cozy alpine cuisine can be delicious. I had the most wonderful mushroom dish there that I still cannot forget. It’s very different from most restaurants because it’s small and spare. Kinda noisy, but totally worth the trip.

Laurelhurst Market – okay, this is a steak house. But if I were you, I’d go there and live off the sides. Seriously. They’re fantastic. The burrata is to die for. If you do this one in the summer, there’s a lovely patio outside. This place could be my favorite in Portland. Maybe…

Tasty ‘n Sons – you must make brunch one of your options for fine dining. This place rocks the house. Get there right when it opens, or prepare to wait with coffee or a cocktail in hand. (Both excellent.) Don’t miss the biscuits. Simply don’t. The tables are all close together, and it’s noisy, but what a breakfast.

That’s a start. We also love Ned Ludd – but have only been there once. (We’re creatures of habit, and ms. m is a fantastic cook, so it’s often my preference to eat at home.)

Once you’ve been to all the fine dining places, please save a bit of time/space for the best pizza on earth at Ken’s. I have had more fantastic meals at Ken’s than anywhere else in the world… It’s crazy. If I didn’t live here, I’d be hard-pressed to not come back over and over again, just for Ken’s. I can show you pictures from my phone, and was a mayor there for a (too) short period of time.