Location-Based Social Media for Brand Advertisers

Brian Groth

September 2010

Twitter: @BrianGroth

http://BrianGroth.wordpress.com

Agenda

• Examples of Location-Based Services (LBS)• The game dynamics of LBS• Overview of a few of the top LBS• Opportunities for brand advertisers• What does Microsoft Advertising offer brand

advertisers?

Examples of Location-Based Services (LBS)Each needs a consumer with a mobile device at a physical locationSocial LBS Gaming LBS Shopping LBS

Services like Groupon and LivingSocial are social coupon services for local businesses. Their hook is a coupon, not location-based services that require a mobile device at a physical location.

The Game Dynamics of LBS

Current social networking influences connections between people and things (locations, brands, etc.) on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Gaming on these networks influences behavior. Four of the main game dynamics behind the location-based services, per Seth Priebatsch, founder of SCVNGR: 1. Appointment dynamic: Players have to do something by a specific time,

such as fly to get mileage points, buy when a sale is on, etc.2. Influence and status dynamic: Players want to be perceived in a certain

way, such as achieving the highest level in a game, having branded clothing on their Xbox avatar, etc.

3. Progression dynamic: Players want to achieve or complete something, such as seeing a partially completed profile on a social network

4. Communal discovery dynamic: Players have to work together to achieve something, such as going in with others to activate a Groupon or unlocking the Swarm badge on Foursquare.

Sources:TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world.html

OVERVIEW OF TOP SERVICES

Who are the Location-Based Services (LBS) Players?

Facebook Places Overview

As a consumer:• Check in and your update will appear on

the Place page (soon to be merged with the Fan page), your friends’ News feed and your Wall

• Tag friends you’re with so they can be part of your update

• Discover others who else also checked into this location in the past and who may be currently there

Source: Consumers Q&A: http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=places

Facebook Places Overview

As an advertiser:• A Facebook Place page is like the Facebook Page (fan

page)– You can have advertising on the Facebook Place

page– You can merge your Page and Place pages (for

now, only a single place per page, but will likely get improve for multi-location businesses)

• You can (or probably soon will)– Target people who have checked into a Place– Target friends of people who have checked into a

Place• API for Facebook Places will allow brands to leverage

Places in apps • New ad unit for a Place page, similar to an ad unit for

a fan pageSources: http://socialfresh.com/facebook-places-for-business/ Advertiser Q&A: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1159Future predictions: http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/08/22squared-facebook-places/

Foursquare Overview

• Users check-in when they get to a location and earn badges, points, recognition and rewards if offered at that location

• Locations (pubs, restaurants, theatres, etc.) get repeat visitors

• Brands: – Locations are partnering with brands to

offer rewards for check-ins or being a Foursquare mayor of that location

– Brands can work with Foursquare for custom badges

– Brands can have branded microsites on Foursquare (Bravo, Zagat, MTV, & others)

Sources:http://mashable.com/2010/08/24/big-brands-foursquare/ http://econsultancy.com/blog/5845-10-foursquare-marketing-campaigns http://socialfresh.com/foursquare-case-studies/

Loopt Example

Loopt is similar to Facebook Places to find nearby friends. They recently had an offer where checking into LAX or SFO would get you a voucher for two tickets to Mexico on Virgin America

Source:http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-check-in-reward-ever-loopt-and-virgin-are-giving-away-2-for-1-plane-tickets-to-mexico-2010-8

Shopkick Overview

• http://shopkick.com/ rewards you with monetary compensation for being present in the store via specialized hardware in the store – you still need to check-in though

• Social media location-based services let you check-in when you’re in the vicinity, but Shopkick requires you to be in the store, or other specified location (parking lot, dressing room, etc.)

Source:http://www.businessinsider.com/shopkick-ceo-users-get-free-stuff-and-stores-get-foot-traffic--everyone-wins-2010-8

BRAND ADVERTISERSOpportunities if you don’t own your own retail stores

Why Brands Should Care about LBS• Gain fans/loyalists (acquire customers) through local retailers, restaurants,

pubs, etc. via friends• Brands and Locations can build their own LBS service, like EpicMix has

done (EpicMix.com) for ski resorts • Brands can associate to location-based businesses (partnership

opportunities) to drive brand awareness • For the same reason radio is a great advertising channel for local retailers,

Location-Based-Service (LBS) advertising is also valuable: it can reach the consumer near the point of sale

• Check-ins at “places,” rather than just map coordinates, makes the data valuable for targeted advertising and context-aware advertising

Sources: http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/location-based-strategy/ http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/08/22squared-facebook-places/ http://mashable.com/2010/05/13/location-mainstream/ Building your own LBS service: http://www.snow.com/epicmix/home.aspx?cmpid=PARMX00001

MICROSOFT ADVERTISING?

What about Location-Based Services and:

Full disclosure: I work at Microsoft

What About Online Advertising?• For Consumers: Microsoft doesn’t offer anything like Facebook Places.

However, Windows Live Messenger can display location updates if the user has connected Facebook (or 75+ other social media services)

• For Advertisers: Microsoft offers a large range of geographically targeted display and search advertising on premium Microsoft and partner websites globally, such as:– Geo targeting of display ads (banner & rich media) on the PC– Geo targeting of display ads (banner) on mobile devices– Geo targeting of search ads on the PC and mobile devices– Geo targeting via In-Game (Xbox) Advertising with Massive– Relevant ad-serving options and geo-targeted inventory on

local.msn.com

Sources:http://advertising.microsoft.com/profile-targeting http://advertising.microsoft.com/atlas-rich-media-features http://advertising.microsoft.com/ad-solutions/gaming-massive http://advertising.microsoft.com/msn-local-edition http://advertising.microsoft.com/wwdocs/user/en-us/advertise/adCenter_Overview_One_Pager.pdf http://advertising.microsoft.com/learning-center/product-information/mobile-search-advertising

Why care about geo-targeted ads?

• If you are using Location-Based Services for your brand, then you have already decided to go after a local audience.

• With geo-targeting, you can attract the local online audience, and thus, amplify your Location-Based Services efforts.

RECOMMENDATIONS Brian Groth’s

Recommendations for Brands Without Physical Locations1. Alignment: Align your LBS plans with your brand strategies and goals.2. Earned Media: Use social media monitoring tools to discover which LBS

tools your customers are using, or which are most popular at a given location, then slowly start participating yourself. This way you can earn the right to participate with your potential customers in this latest form of social media: Location-Based Services (LBS)

3. Owned Media: Use a consistent brand voice on your LBS profiles that you manage and on location-based offers that match your websites that you own and manage.

4. Paid Media: Advertise to attract a large audience to drive the local online audience to use the LBS you’re leveraging for location-based marketing. Plus partner with your LBS of choice and the physical locations (retail stores, cities, etc), some of which might charge for the opportunity.

5. Measure, analyze and improve your geo-targeted ads and LBS offerings.

Ideas to Sponsor Locations

It can sponsor locations. Using Foursquare as an example: • Custom Foursquare Badge: A brand could sponsor a public park and

anyone who checks in could get a special badge (you have to work with Foursquare to build these)

• Location partner: A brand can work out a deal with local vendors listed in Foursquare and offer a discount on a the branded item if someone has checked into those locations.

• Generic Foursquare Badge: Spread the word in the community that you’re throwing a swarm badge (pictured here) party, which means that if more than 50 people attend and check in, they get the swarm badge in Foursquare.

Additional Resources

• My own Foursquare articles: http://briangroth.wordpress.com/?s=foursquare

• Awareness, Inc. “Top 10 Ways Enterprise Marketers can Leverage Foursquare”: http://info.awarenessnetworks.com/rs/awarenessnetworks/images/foursquare-Top10-eBook-by-Awareness.pdf

• Brian Solis “Foursquare Means Business: Have you checked-in yet?”: http://www.briansolis.com/2010/07/foursquare-means-businesses-have-you-checked-in-yet/

• Microsoft Advertising: http://advertising.microsoft.com/

• You can contact me at: – Foursquare: http://foursquare.com/user/briangroth/ – Twitter: http://twitter.com/BrianGroth – Blog: http://BrianGroth.wordpress.com/