Last week E Factor Media (www.efmexperience.com) held another successful Morning Brew discussing Location Based Social Media (LBSM), a trend in social media that has impressed us in both growth and opportunity for marketers. There have been many LBSM applications added to the social media landscape; however, we chose three that have big implications for marketers right now – Foursquare, Gowalla, and Yelp. Here's an overview on where the applications are now and how they can be used in your marketing strategy.

1. GEOMARKETING AND LOCATION BASED SOCIAL MEDIA WHATS ALL THE HYPE?

2. LOCATION BASED SOCIAL MEDIA (LBSM) Users share their location with friends, record places they visit, leave tips, earn rewards, and announce their interest in YOUR BRAND to the world. Aka-Aki, Belysio, Bliin, Blumapia, Blummi, Brightkite, Buddy Beacon, Buddycloud, BuddyMob, BuddyWay, buzzd, Carticipate, Centrl, CitySense, ComeTogethr, Dodgeball, Dopplr, Duzine, EagleTweet, FindbyClick, FindMe, Flaik,Footprint History, FourSquare, Foyaje, Fraced, Friend Mapper, Friends around me, Friends on Fire, GeoMe, GeoSpot, GeoUpdater, Glympse, Google Latitude, Gowalla, gpsME, Grindr, Groovr, GyPSii,ICloseby, iPling, Ipoki, IRL, Jentro, Junaio, LightPole, Limbo, Locaccino, Locatik, Locatrix, Locr, Locle, Loki, Loopt, MapMe, Map My Tracks, Match2Blue,MeetMoi, Meet Now Live, Microsoft Vine, Mizoon, Mobilaris, MobiLuck, Mologogo, Moximiti, My Adventures, MyGeoDiary, MyGeolog, Myrimis, myWingman, NAV2US, Now Here, Nulaz, Ovalpath, Plazes, Pocket Life, Pownce, Quiro, Qlique, Rally Up, Rummble, Shizzow, Skobbler, Skout, Sniff, Snikkr, Socialight, Sparrow, Spot Adventures, SpotJots, Stalqer, The Grid, Toai, Tonchidot, Toodalu, Tooio, TownKing TownQueen, Trackut, Trapster, Tripit, Troovy, Tweetsii, Twibble, Twinkle,Twittelator, Unype, VicinityMatch, Waze, weNear, WHERE™, Whereis Everyone , WhereYouGonnaBe, Whrrl, Zhiing, Zintin There are MANY in this space. We have focused on the three we felt are headed to the top. MyTown and Loopt are still big contenders. Also, this has been called many things – geo-loco, loco-social… we have no idea what will catch on, but we’ll use LBSM for now.

3. GEOMARKETING Businesses provide real time, direct advertising to customers engaged in LBSM

4. Check out our blog post: http://efmexperience.com/html/blog/welcome-back-to-social-town/ to learn more.

5. DUKING IT OUT In just the last 6 months, LBSM users have doubled for the “big three”. Why isn’t Yelp here? Its LBSM features are too new, but with their following plus all the reviews it has available, we’re sure their check-in stats will be just as impressive.

6. GEOMARKETING IS FOR SMART PHONE USERS 90% of customers identify word of mouth as the best, most reliable and trustworthy source of ideas and information about products and services 45% look at 3rd party reviews with their phones when in stores 43% Look for retailer coupons with their phone

7. SMART PHONES + SOCIAL MEDIA = NEW WORLD Since 2007, internet’s environment has changed from a “creating” landscape (blogging, content creation focused) to “chatting” (sharing, discussing through channels). LBSM continues with this trend.

8. SMART PHONES + SOCIAL MEDIA = NEW WORLD

9. WHY CHECK IN? To non-explicitly brag about coolness and/or importance, based on where they eat, drink, work, and travel. Get free stuff Be found

10. WHY WE LIKE IT

11. LISTENING = GOOD Though most LBSM conversations are private, you CAN view what they’re saying about your business when they share it to Twitter --- listening is the first step in communicating.

12. HIGH TECH SAVVY SHARERS Young, trend-setting, with a lot of disposable income. Notice how they look like they have jobs and all are using smartphones?

13. ENGAGEMENT, SHAREABILITY, LOYALTY LBSM is the digital version of direct marketing, think CAMPAIGNS.

14. REAL AND DIGITAL WORLDS COLLIDE In Vegas at the Miracle Mile Shops, the mayor is plastered on a digital billboard. Promote engagement in any which way you can. People like to interact.

15. STEP BY STEP Learn the platforms Determine your goals Establish your presence Customize Implement promotions Engage with customers Track Adapt Visit http://mashable.com/2010/03/15/location-based-marketing/ for more details. But use this method before you take on ANY online marketing campaign – in LBSM or otherwise.

16. GOALS Increase foot traffic to a physical location Promote/Sell more of a particular item Acquire new customers Increase repeat customers These are some goals you may have for your LBSM campaign, your goals may be different – just make sure you know what your goals are!

17. There are hundreds of location based social media applications, these are the three that we feel hold the most opportunity for marketers today.

18. FOURSQUARE

20. See where friends and others in your area are hanging out

22. ANALYTICS Recent visitors Frequent visitors Time of day people check in Unique visitors Check-ins per day Gender breakdown Check-ins broadcast to Twitter and Facebook …more coming soon! Sign up to manage your business on Foursquare, and these will be available to you for free.

23. SPECIALS Check-in: Foursquare says you've been here 10 times. Free drink for you! Get 30% off the first time you check-in! Wildcard: Show us your Foursquare Swarm badge and get a free drink! Raffles: Checks in for a chance to win an iPad Digital punch cards: Check in 5 times, get a free coffee Get creative! Foursquare users are proud to show off their accomplishments, and happy to get something in return.

24. GOWALLA

26. See where friends and others in your area are hanging out

27. Read/leave tips & photos

28. Passport records check-ins and rewardsGowalla is targeting more of the travel and event sector than the other LBSM apps.

29. EARN. COMPETE. Stamps: Checking-in Pins: Completing goals Trip Pins: Completing trips Items: Leave or pick up All of the branded stamps and buttons require a strategic partnership with Gowalla. It takes a bit of luck to connect and partner with Gowalla, but if you have a value proposition for them, they may take your call .

30. YELP

31. SERIOUS CONTENDER Combined review/reputation management site with LBSM Has a business model Huge, established user base with Elite users With 11 million local reviews and iPhone app use of 1.4 million visitors in just one month (May 2010-June 2010), Yelp has what the rest don’t – a great reputation and established user base.

32. YELP AS LBSM Earn badges Yelp Royalty Friends opt-in to push-notify them when you check in Map with friends’ check-ins This is VERY new – there are not many stats of how many Yelpers have caught on to this new feature. However, if it does catch on as fast as the others, Foursquare and Gowalla should be nervous.

34. Call your business

35. Get directions to your business

36. “Check in" to your businessThese analytics are powerful in understanding your ROI in this market. Analyze and adapt to see what tactics best fit your company.

37. LET’S NOT GET CARRIED AWAY Difficult to customize promotions Working with Startups (resources are stretched) Challenge yourself to work within their sysems This is the ugly truth and we hope this will change in the near future. But don’t get discouraged – work with what you have access to – it will pay off!

38. CASE STUDIES AJ Bombers & Jimmy Choo The Nets Too new to find any The Foursquare case studies can be applied to any business. The Gowalla case study requires strategic partnership with Gowalla. If you have a Yelp case study (with LBSM), tell us about it! Twitter @efactormedia.

39. FOURSQUARE The following case studies did not need a Foursquare partnership to complete (no special branding here). These are all great examples of getting creative with LBSM and reaping the rewards. Remember to use your other established social media channels!

40. AJ BOMBERS SWARM “Earn Swarm Badge at AJ Bombers!” Create a Tweetup Promote socially Trust the Foursquare Network

42. Great PRPlus that’s 161 customers who ate, drank, and shared their experience through their network. If each had at least 100 friends and followers, that’s 16,100 possible people who heard about a fantastic experience at AJ bombers that evening.

44. She must be found with the trainers to win

45. Approach her and say, “I’ve Been Following You.” to win (must be first)Jimmy Choo used all of their active social media channels to promote Catch a Choo. Over an 8 week period, people were hunting her down until the very end.

47. Heart warming twistJimmy Choo was able to promote their new trainers across all their socials channels in an engaging, fun way. The winner actually gave her trainers to a friend with cancer as a pick-me-up.

48. GOWALLA

49. THE NETS SUCK Challenge: Broke NBA record for most losses and had lowest attendance in NBA in 2010 Campaign: Targeted 75 mile radius – NY and NJ sports bars, parks, and gyms Distributed 250 pair of virtual tickets At the game winners directed to Gowalla booth Obviously, the Nets partnered with Gowalla for this one. They created branded virtual Nets items, and dropped them in strategic locations which could only be found if you are a Gowalla user.

50. THE BRAND FARES BETTER THAN THE TEAM 500 tickets distributed / 76 used (15.2% attended) Positive brand sentiment - 89.5% of winners shared experience in their social networks Profits in sales of concessions, merchandise, and parking These results are comparable to a decent email blast or banner ad click-through rate.

51. LIFETIME BRAND VALUE Remember, these are tech savvy smart phone users! They shared their Nets experience across all of their social media channels.

52. SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT Mayor, Badges Stamps, Pins, Items Royalty, Badges As you can see, earning rewards is the big pull for LBSMs.

53. SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT All of the above LBSMs broadcast check-ins (with a link to the location except Yelp links to the review) to Facebook and Twitter.

55. Pull data into your siteShare information with those who don’t use LBSMs by adding the open API data to your website. Visit the Brooklyn Museum example at: www.brooklynmuseum.org/community

56. WE HAVE CONCERNS Fatigue: are consumers tired of the social media hype (it’s just one more “thing”)? Privacy issues with people knowing where you are all the time Businesses need to remember to teach everyone from managers and staff of the promotion(s) and to promote to their customers Awareness of what these applications are and how to use them, habit of “checking in”

57. BEFORE YOU BEGIN Are you currently engaged in Social Media? Have you defined a Marketing Strategy? Is your customer base smartphone users? Are you location-based? (Event or Storefront) Do you have the resources to succeed?

58. GET IN ON THE ACTION Capture users before your competition does Attract tech-savvy, social customers with disposable income who like to talk about brands

59. WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE? @efactormedia www.efmexperience.com @morgangrahamEFM mgraham@efactormedia.com @debhanamura