Foursquare, Gowalla, Scoville – Geolocation Roundup
Back in January I was at a crossroads with Foursquare. I know I’ve mentioned this to people here and there, but the lack of cultivation was really getting on my nerves. It seemed that there were no moderators over there. For example, there’s a Walmart 2 minutes from my house. I go there frequently due to the convenience, and get my prescriptions there. So checking in often, I was mayor. After some time using Foursquare, and I guess with wider adoption of the service on this side of the Bay Area, I noticed it was harder to find the “right” Walmart in Foursquare as there were eventually 5 different check-in locations for the same physical Walmart.
From everything I could tell at the time, there was nowhere within the service to flag duplicate locations. Being slightly OCD, this bugged me to no end. I’d complain, attempt to contact them, no response.
Well, of course this is mostly a useless game with some potential for local businesses to market to me by offering coupons when I check in or something. So I couldn’t get too irritated.
At my wits end with Foursquare, I used it while in Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit West and then said sayonara. I used Facebook Places for awhile, then after learning that Gowalla would kill two birds with one stone and integrate with Facebook, I jumped on it.
I quite like Gowalla now and have been using it since January. There’s no mayorships, but you can “find” amusing little items at different locations. Like I’ve received Cowboy Boots at two different steakhouses. Gowalla has better graphics and I really dig it’s Android app better than the newest versions of Foursquare. From what I can tell, their service is growing as well and has frequent updates. Every time it updates, I like the functionality of the app better. One of my favorite features of Gowalla is that some businesses have made their little icons graphics of their locations or logos. It helps me find the right place. Best of all, there’s very very FEW duplicates!
One of the greatest features of Gowalla is that you have to actually be in a geographic proximity to the location in order to check in. So you don’t have a bunch of people jokingly checking into your house from thousands of miles away. Gowalla has excellent GPS technology. Most of the time once I enter a business and start the app, it suggests where you want to check in and knows exactly where I am, despite having checked in nearby elsewhere. For example… I went into my doctor’s office last week, opened the app, and it suggested the office right off the bat – despite having not been there since February.
Lately I’ve received a few invites to Scoville, which is currently in private beta. The idea behind Scoville is that it collects local recommendations based on your check ins. I liken it to Yelp Lists, where you can collect your check ins into recommendations. The theory, I suppose, is that not all the places you check into you’d necessarily want to recommend and evangelize. I signed up and I’m interested in participating, but there’s a problem – it integrates with Foursquare.
So what to do? I certainly don’t want to check in to both Gowalla AND Foursquare everywhere I go. I updated my Foursquare app so I can check in and test out Scoville, but I’m still at a crossroads. Are there business uses for Scoville? I hope to find out & report back! What are your thoughts on the geolocation check in services?
Read MoreIt’s All About the Cookies!
Philanthropist extraordinaire Missy Ward has announced her latest project to help fellow marketers and share some yummy recipes in her new book, It’s All About The Cookies. As of today, Missy is now accepting folks to submit their recipes! Not only will this be a great book, but it’s ultimately for a great cause. 100% of the net profits will be donated to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which has raised more than $380 million since 2003 to help fight this horrible disease.
This unique book may look like a cookbook, smell like a cookbook, and you’ll be able to make yummy delicious treats like from a cookbook… but here’s the catch. It’s REALLY a marketing book. When you submit your recipe you must also submit a marketing insight to share with other marketers. So not only are you going to get some great recipes (I’m very partial to the one I submitted), but you’re going to get some marketing schooling.
From their website:
Since the 90’s, affiliate marketers have had a love affair with cookies – not the chocolate chip, or oatmeal variety – but the pieces of code that ultimately tracks affiliates’ sales and commissions earned.
These affiliate marketers are a diverse group. Some work part-time and earn enough to subsidize their income while others have created extremely lucrative businesses.
For the uninitiated, Missy Ward is Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, Co-Publisher/Co-Editor in Chief of FeedFront Magazine, VP of Operations for MoneyMindedMoms.com, Founder of Affiliate Marketers Give Back, and all around amazing woman I’m happy to know. Also involved in this great project are Mary Poiley, founder of InternetCareerHunt.com; and Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge of JGoodeDesigns.com.
If you’ve got an awesome recipe, and some keen marketing advice or knowledge to share, please submit a recipe!
Read MoreSocial Email Marketing: Why are you uniquely prepared for the social onslaught? The Lohan Effect #SMMSF
This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. Tyler looked at the similarities and differences between email marketing and social marketing – explaining the lessons you can apply today to translate your email marketing experience into social marketing success.
I really enjoyed the presentation, but unfortunately Tyler spoke a bit fast for me to catch more, so hopefully the presentation is clear enough! The speaker was:
- Tyler Willis, Head of Brand Management, Involver (@TylerWillis)
Bullet Point Review!
- We always focus on ‘what’s changed’ but really successful marketers ask ‘what’s remained consistent’?
- Framework is the same.
- Subscribe -> engage -> convert.
- The key to making great art is all in composition.
- What’s changed?
- Social proof influences your outcomes.
- Mistakes are now public.
- Targets talk back.
- You have to pay attention to a lot more locations.
- You have less space & more options.
- Your messages don’t always get delivered.
- The KPIs are different.
Here’s Tyler’s’ slide presentation:
Social Email Marketing: Small Tweaks, Big Impact! The Power of A/B Testing #SMMSF
This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. In this session, Shelley discussed how even the most simple tweaks and A/B testing techniques in email can improve KPIs and significantly impact traffic to your site.
I felt bad for Shelley, as earlier in the day some folks had bagged on MySpace. But Shelley recovered nicely and the testing data she presented was informative and sometimes surprising! The speaker was:
- Shelley Beaumonte, Online Marketing Manager, MySpace
Bullet Point Review!
- Almost any email variable can be tested.
- Determine your success criteria before sending email.
-
Variable Open Rate CTR CTO Subject X Design X X Frequency X X - Lessons learned:
- Test 1 variable at a time, or else you won’t know what factor actually affected the data.
- Don’t abandon the losing variable completely, you can still tweak it.
- Know the objective of your email.
- Never assume a small change = small results.
- There’s no standard minimum sample size. No one number but you want it to be statistically significant.
Here’s Shelley’s’ slide presentation:
Social Email Marketing: Finding Influencers in Your CRM & Making Advocates #SMMSF
This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. In this interactive session, Chase explored how to go from boring CRM to Social CRM discussing the importance of knowing your customer, segmenting out advocates and understanding who and why they are following or “Liking” you.
I felt like this was mostly a pitch for the company, which was a little discouraging. But some of the info was useful, hence the notes I took. The speaker was:
- Chase McMichael, Co-Founder and CEO, InfiniGraph (@chasemcmichael)
Bullet Point Review!
- There are 4.6 billion cell phones.
- 500 million users on Facebook.
- Facebook Connect – you don’t even need email anymore.
- If you integrate that, you might just have given up control.
- An affinity map provides insight for co-marketing.
- InfiniGraph ranks shared content based on people, context, influence, and brand affinity.
- Your “stream” must induce clicks (Facebook, Twitter).
- If a consumer is active around your brand, they’re sharing details with friends.
Here’s Chase’s’ slide presentation:
Social Email Marketing: From Fans and Followers to Customers and Advocates #SMMSF
This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. Jacob explored changes in customer demands and expectations and looked at how organizations can work with the new “social customer” via Social CRM.
Jacob’s hatred of American Airlines made the presentation pretty hilarious. I was unfamiliar with the concept of Social CRM, so this was really enlightening. The speaker was:
- Jacob Morgan, Co-Founder, Chess Media Group (@jacobm)
Bullet Point Review!
- Email is just another marketing channel.
- 43% of consumers say companies should use social media to solve customers problems.
- Only 7% of organizations understand CRM value of social media.
- #1 thing people care about when purchasing products are personal experiences.
- Traditional CRM involves marketing, sales, and service & support all leading to the customer.
- Social CRM rotates those three things around the advocacy and experience of the customer.
- Building a powerful advocate is important no matter what channel.
- Don’t bribe your customers, fix the problem.
- Download a free white paper on SCRM at the Chess Media Group website
Here’s Jacob’s’ slide presentation:
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