SCVNGR Emerges as Latest “Groundbreaking” Social Media Marketing Platform
At a local networking group that meets every other Wednesday I give a social media marketing and SEO update. I quickly found that people aren’t nearly as interested in the inner workings of search algos than they are with the latest social media gossip.
Most people in our group seem to have moved past their skepticism, which was a shared connection at first, especially among our more seasoned members. It helped that a few younger professionals reported making sales using Social Media. One professional in particular — a home remodeler — reported that he has sold remodeling projects on Facebook, which seems to be a favorite mode of communication for curious or aspiring moms.
So every other week I give an update (two weeks ago was Apple Ping and Google Instant), and normally at least half the group shakes their heads, except for a woman who is just starting her own raised garden bed company. Not from skepticism, but from the light speed at which social media moves, and the rate of which a well-funded start-up or established tech company launches a new, “groundbreaking” application.
At our meeting Wednesday, I’m planning to talk about SCVNGR, a game-based geo-location application that may uproot and usurp Foursquare. SCVGNR’s founder, a 21 year old dude named Seth Priebatsch, was quoted in the New York Times recently saying that SCVNGR is his attempt to create the “Game Layer on Top of the World.”
Trust me, it makes sense when you read the article. But when I first heard it, I shook my head, much like my group members will when I introduce them to SCVNGR on Wednesday.
Retail Social Media Edition – Ranking the Big 4
This is a post in a series ranking the Big 4 social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare — for B2B, retail, and real estate. Read the introduction for background.
For retail social media, there is a clear loser — LinkedIn — though mainly for a lack of effort. LinkedIn simply doesn’t play in that space and never will. That leaves Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to vie for retail supremacy. Unlike B2B and real estate, however, there isn’t a clear winner. This is fitting since all seem to offer their own virtues and can compliment each other nicely in a social media campaign.
1. Facebook
Facebook gets the number one slot for its sheer volume. 500 million users can’t be sniffed at. With more and more people communicating through Facebook, and more and more young people ditching email and choosing Facebook for all of their communications needs, it is a powerful and still largely untapped medium.
Retailers can set up standard or customized pages and interact with customers like never before. Facebook promotions have been very effective in building consumer loyalty and driving repeat purchases.
2. Twitter
Twitter offers the most potential for viral promotion for retailers, and is a great way to jump start interest in a product or brand through competitions and promotions.
Being the fastest moving source of info on the planet, Twitter is also an excellent way to get in touch with media, since every reporter known to man seems to use it. That said, Twitter can quickly become all-consuming and turn into a full time job if you let it. Building a following takes blood, sweat, and tears. It’s worth the commitment if you have the resources, and eventually you’ll build your list and start to see the needle move. If you don’t have the resources, focus on Facebook, which doesn’t require constant updates to be fruitful.
3. Foursquare
Though Foursquare has savvy interplay of mobile and brick and mortar, it get the #3 spot, because, simply put, it still hasn’t achieved critical mass. Though the same Foursquare promotion could easily be promoted on Twitter, the geo-location feature actually requires a store visit. Retailers using Foursquare can offer incentives for bouncebacks and repeat purchases and, like Facebook, reward customers for being loyal followers. Last, in a nod to small business, it doesn’t require 24/7 monitoring and maintenance to be effective.
4. LinkedIn
See intro pp.
Given that the basic version of Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare is free, all of them have played in a role in the tremendously democratizing force that social media has become. If resources allow, it’s a good thing to do all three. If they don’t, it’s more than acceptable to pick one or two and get the most out of them. In retail, you can only go wrong if you stay on the social media sidelines.
B2B Social Media Edition – Ranking the Big 4
This is a post in a series ranking the Big 4 social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare — for B2B, retail, and real estate. Read the introduction for background.
Not every social media application is right for B2B marketing. Yes, there are tools that allow you to post the same content to the Big 4, but that ignores the nuances of each site and can make you look spammy and out of context. In the end, picking the proper channels and doing right by them will drive the most value.
Here’s how we rank the the Big 4 for B2B -
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn has basically taken the posting functionality of Twitter and Facebook and optimized it for business. Also like Facebook, they now allow businesses to set up their own pages and accumulate followers.
So why not just do Facebook? If you’re like me, your LinkedIn contacts are business people who want business information and will have a genuine interest in the information you’re providing. Don’t be shy about asking for followers and posting interesting content that reminds them of who you are and informs them of important milestones, new hires, and client acquisitions.
2. Twitter
Let’s be honest, Twitter is a pain the @ss, especially for Type B’s such as myself. You need to post frequently and do a lot of interacting to build a following and make it work. That said, you’ll find a lot of general and industry Media on Twitter, and if you work the relationships, you’ll be able to slip in your news and other timely content items.
As I’ve said in a previous post about building real relationships behind Twitter, it’s important to press the flesh with your Twitter network in person. Get that Type A go getter in your company a Twitter account and send him/her off to industry conferences to hob-nob and meet the media. You’ll see your posts getting much more traction and respect, and the publicity will follow.
3. Facebook
Imagine logging into your Facebook account to see what your friends are doing and seeing something in your news feed about the latest advances in PVC piping. Construction guys aside, I probably only Like your page because you’re a friend of mine, you suggested it, and I feel obligated to follow it.
Unless your B2B product or services cross into areas of social and hobby, you can feel free to leave Facebook alone. It simply isn’t the right context for B2B communication in most cases.
4. Foursquare
Of the big four, Foursquare is most blatantly geared toward consumers. Unless you’re trying to — okay, I honestly can’t think of a real Foursquare/B2B scenario. Can you?
If you insist on doing all of the Big 4, do yourself a favor and use a service like Hootsuite to manage your accounts. You’ll be able to post simultaneously, which is nice. More importantly, you’ll have the option to NOT push content through certain channels.
In summary, don’t stress yourself out thinking you’re missing something if you don’t do everything. Internet marketing, like traditional marketing, is about making choices, and it’s more important to do one or two things well than everything mediocre. B2B companies will find the most fruit with LinkedIn and Twitter, and should focus on building those channels first.
Ranking the Social Media Big 4 – A Strategy Intro
Okay, let’s settle down and take a deep breath with this Social Media thing. You’re not going to burst into a ball of flames if you don’t do Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and LinkedIn RIGHT NOW.
Saying you don’t have the time and resources is a legitimate concern. So are questions about how your business is actually going to grow through Social Media, or whether these social media sites have anything to do with your customers.
For one, social media isn’t one-size-fits all. A real estate agent is going to use it much differently than a stock broker or a retailer. Two, like all marketing initiatives, you have to do the strategy groundwork to make sure you’re casting your net where your customers are swimming. Last, you better have some good, creative talent in-house, or be prepared to commit to outsourcing if you’re going to make it work, because it isn’t a one shot deal.
With this in mind, I’m doing 3 posts (maybe 4) that rank the big 4 social media sites for different businesses: B2B, retail, real estate, and a yet to be determined 4th option.
The goal is to express that, at the end of the day, you need to make social media work for you, not the other way around.
The first is the B2B Social Media Rankings Edition.
We’ll do the others soon. We’d tell you when, but we’re a small business here and we have lots of things to do, so keep your pants on and subscribe.
Foursquare Promotions Take a Giant Leap into Legitimacy
Two articles recently posted on the social media marketing website Mashable show that Foursquare has taken a leap from a fledgling social media novelty to a legitimate promotional tool for major retail brands.
Domino’s in the UK reported that social media initiatives have helped increase profits by 29 percent. They have been giving Foursquare mayors free pizza, and others who check in get free side dishes. The buzz and activity surrounding these promotions have more than made up for the cost of the giveaways.
Ann Taylor has jumped into the Foursquare arena by giving Mayors 25 percent off non-sale items at its eight NYC locations. Others who check in five times are eligible for 15 percent discounts.
As Foursquare matures, promotions driven through it are quickly becoming an effective means for spurring sales online and at brick and mortar locations.
Foursquare Demographics – Age, Gender, Education
Contrary to popular belief, or at least the belief of some people with whom I recently went to a wedding in Los Angeles, Foursquare is not dominated by men seeking to mark their territory, as was intuitively presumed in a recent post. In fact it’s the opposite. Here’s the data from Alexa:
Alexa data works by comparing the number of users to the relevant internet population. So, compared to the overall internet population, females comprise much more of the usage than men. Quantcast data backs it up.
So there you have it. Ladies love Foursquare. Though it can still be argued that they love it for different reasons than men.
Is Checking In on Foursquare a Primal Need?
I was in Los Angeles for a wedding a last weekend for a friend of mine from high school. I had lived with this friend post-college for a few years and there had been a Vegas bachelor party, so I had gotten to know many of his college friends and others who had become a part of the scene. Between them and other fellow high-schoolers everyone was familiar and congenial. And we were all using Foursquare.
Check-in at the rehearsal dinner. Check-in at the bar after. Check-in at the hotel bar. Check-in at Starbuck’s the next morning. It was a little weird because we were just checking in with each other, for the most part, even though we were standing next to each other. It made for some light irony — “Did you check in yet?” — while standing around waiting for the wedding to start. So we checked in at the wedding venue. Checked in at the bar after, at the hotel, at the airport the next day.
It wasn’t until after I was home walking our English Cocker named Barnes that I remembered a comment somebody had thrown out. A guy named Rob was arguing that girls don’t use Foursquare (though Foursquare demographic info suggests otherwise), that it’s primarily a way for men to mark their territory. I tried to think of some other reason why it was so integral to the weekend — none of us were going to become or be able to keep a mayorship in Los Angeles, after all. Maybe it was the camaraderie, or just something to do.
Then I watched Barnes interact with some of his neighborhood friends on his stroll and leave his scent on a hasta near our building, and suddenly it made sense. It was all of those things — for men, anyway.
