A Foursquare Check-In Addict's Story of Recovery

My story begins on January 5, 2010 when I tapped my first Foursquare check-in at a Skyline Chili and ends today ... 60 days since my 5,000th (and last) check-in on Foursquare. Since that last check-in, I've had daily urges to whip out my iPhone and tap that Foursquare icon. I know I should move the icon from its coveted position on my home screen and maybe even bury the icon in my "elephant graveyard" folder labeled "Infrequent." But alas, one day at a time.

I'm many years past the millennial classification that is normally tagged as the mobile generation, but ever since I got my first PC back in 1986 - an AT&T 6300 with a whopping 10 MB hard drive - technology has been my passion. Never really been much of a "gamer," but my technology exploration quest inevitably led me to mobile and its never ending plethora of apps. So, in early 2010 I stumbled upon Foursquare and my check-in addiction got started.

If you've gotten this far in the post, I will assume that you know a little something about Foursquare so I will skip any major app overview. But in short, Foursquare leverages location, recognition, gamification, and rewards to engage users of their app.

Location today is very different than in the early days of Foursquare. Today, it is rare to try and check-in to a location on Foursquare and not find a listing for the business. Back is 2010 I remember regularly adding locations and admittedly enjoying the process. The feeling of helping to add to the merchant ecosystem for some reason was a thrill. At one time I was not only adding new listings in Foursquare, but also in Gowalla ... an early Foursquare competitor that fell by the wayside.

It's the other three elements of Foursquare - Gamification, Recognition, and Rewards - that finally lost their luster for me and had me turn my mobile behavior around. In retrospect, I think my realization of a need for a change started around the time that Foursquare released their companion app Swarm. This required me to start the check-in process on Foursquare but then complete the process through Swarm ... still scratching my head on that one. And hey, 5,000 check-ins on Foursquare and no fireworks, no new badge, no recognition? What's up with that?

Then, mysteriously, Mayorships disappeared! Eliminating my subconscious (and silly) thoughts that telling a business that I was the mayor of their establishment elevated my standing in their eyes. The few times I tried to mention my mayorship status I got the obvious reaction of "What's Foursquare?" BTW, Mayorships returned in June 2015 but that part of the addiction grip wasn't strong enough to suck me back in. With the return of this self-aggrandizement enabler came some weird tinkling coins that were awarded in various denominations when you check-in. Still, I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do with the 1,408 coins in my account?

But probably the biggest contributor to my check-in recovery was finally realizing that after 5,000 check-ins I maybe got, at best, 3 rewards pushed my way ... a free dessert, a $5.00 off special, and something else so inconsequential I can't even remember it. I think where Foursquare really messed up was in not enough engagement with their merchants, letting them know how to claim their business, and then educating them on how to use the platform to build their business.

Many of the local retailers I frequent have implemented loyalty programs like Belly and Flok that actually reward me for my patronage. I started to begin seeing the light! Heck, even a local sports bar - with a Chicken Philly to die for - started rolling out the Flok program. In the 3 months I've been in their loyalty program, I've received a free sub on my birthday, a free soft drink for joining the program and a $2.00 off reward that miraculously appeared when I drove by the location. I frequently receive push notifications keeping me engaged with specials that ride along with the Cavs games that are happening. 

So there you have it, mobile check-in addiction can be overcome if you honestly evaluate the question ... what value are receiving? If your answer is "very little," take a look around for what mobile loyalty programs your local retailers are using and take that first step towards rewards. Smart phones are ubiquitous now and retailers have noticed this and are quickly shifting from old-fashioned plastic card programs to mobile loyalty. Get rewarded, get recognized and have fun!

Hyperlocal Comes of Age for the Small Business Retailer

Hyperlocal marketing has been with us for decades in multiple forms: yellow pages, billboards, direct mail, newspapers, and numerous other mediums. Today, consumer mobile adoption has created the “perfect storm” for Main Street small business success. In this age of the Internet, GPS and QR codes, small business CEOs can easily leverage some sophisticated digital marketing tools to reach local audiences, build awareness neighborhood by neighborhood, and make the most of a limited marketing budget.

The buzz in big box retail marketing circles is about hyperlocal marketing … something that is very tough for a large retail chain to execute, but – with the right digital tools – an extremely effective marketing strategy for the small businesses CEO. Hyperlocal marketing is using focused marketing efforts targeted for a community within a local geographic location. The main goal of hyperlocal marketing is to connect with people close by and turn them into repeat customers due to their proximity to your business location.

In his Think With Google article, Matt Lawson, Google’s director of search ads marketing, states, “We want things right, and we want things right away. As a result, the consumer journey looks markedly different than it did just five years ago. Instead of a few moments of truth, it’s a series of ‘micro-moments’ when we turn to mobile to act on a need.” Turning to our smartphone for hyperlocal information has become second nature. Google searches involving ‘near me’ have nearly doubled since last year as people make purchase decisions on the move.

Gone are the days when brand building was a game for big bucks. Today, with hyperlocal marketing , even mom and pop retailers, with limited marketing budgets can establish their brand among their target audience and drive new and repeat customers in to their stores. Getting started with building your small business’ hyperlocal marketing strategy is easier when you leverage the tools and experience of a technology partner who has expertise in working with small business retailers. Let’s discuss four cost-effective digital tools that should be part of your hyperlocal marketing mix:

Mobile Device Loyalty Programs

The future of loyalty programs is not in plastic cards or even keyfobs, for that matter. Nope, the future lies in retailer-branded mobile loyalty programs that will allow consumers to get their rewards and a much much more. For the consumer, there’s the convenience factor – your loyalty card is with you at all times. Now a days, who doesn’t panic when they leave the house without their phone? For the retailer, you can drive higher engagement and encourage program members to redeem more offers and even get your brand on your customers’ phone home screens.

Mobile app loyalty programs combined with close to ubiquitous consumer smart phone adoption has created this “must have” tool for the small business retailer. Consumers have been trained to check-in on apps like foursquare and Yelp and amazingly it is the gamification aspect that seems to encourage this behavior, since there are little if no rewards ever received. The new breed of small business mobile loyalty solutions leverage this gamification behavior and tie-in rewards and messaging to achieve significant repeat business and increased revenues.

Today’s best mobile loyalty solutions leverage beacon technology, push messaging, geo-location, and social media integration to accomplish results that were previously unattainable for the small business retailer. Membership sign-up can be jumpstarted with personal invites to an existing customer email list and/or invitations pushed to social media followers. Repeat business drivers like welcome rewards, birthday rewards, visit reminders, and Facebook check-in rewards motivate customer to come back and inexpensively do wonders for branding.

But the real beauty for the small business retailer adopting a good mobile loyalty solution is simplicity. “Set & Forget” allows the hurried small business CEO that already leads a day long schizophrenic existence of managing his business to not have to add another task to his daily chores. A good mobile loyalty program just works and results in a significant increase in repeat business. Also, hardware requirements and WIFI connectivity do not matter since all digital communication takes place through the app on the customer’s phone.

Responsive Websites

I wonder what sort of device you’re reading this on? A laptop? Maybe an iPad while you’re sitting on the couch multi-tasking with your TV and mobile device? Or perhaps even more likely you’ve got a smartphone in your hand, and you’re thumbing through information before your store opens for the day.

Since more local searches are being conducted through mobile devices, your company’s website should also be optimized for mobile devices. That means creating an experience specifically for mobile, and not a mini version of the desktop site. A mobile optimized website has pertinent information readily available that buyers want to see when they access your website from a mobile device. If a potential customer has to pinch, squeeze and swipe too much, chances are they’ll move on. Your website is your “home base” so if it is not mobile responsive get it updated ASAP.

Social Media

Social media has come to be one of the most essential hyperlocal marketing techniques for small business retailers. Although it may be difficult to establish a direct relationship between social media and in-store sales, few would deny the influence that it bears on consumers’ purchase decisions. Use your social accounts to offer your followers a peek into your business. Offer your social media followers exclusive deals. If you are an expert in what you do post your expertise through articles on your social properties. There are lots of creative ways to deliver hyperlocal engagement through social media … and it’s free to get started.

Make sure to monitor your own social media profiles and thank customers for positive feedback as well as respond to negative comments and try to resolve issues offline. Also, some of your best competitive information can be found by monitoring what your competitors are saying through their social channels. For the busy small business owner there are cost-effective tools that will consolidate all your social chatter in a single view making it easy to stay on top of things … and some even aggregate everything your competitors are saying too.

Local Directories

You should pay close attention to your business profiles listed on Yelp, Google My Business, and Bing Places. Make sure they are accurate, add additional business details, and claim them as the business owner. They are prioritized by the search engines and will be seen frequently on local searches. I don’t know about you, but when I am in the mood to eat out Yelp is the go-to app for me.

Just twenty years ago, when we first started figuring out the digital landscape, there were no tools. Sending 500 emails was a cumbersome process, and having a website was a little like having a classic European sports car … rare, expensive and difficult to maintain. In 2016 digital marketing tools tailored for the small retailer are out there. A good technology partner will assist you in stitching together social media chatter, cookies, email addresses, mobile IDs, location data and other identifiers, to create a powerful hyperlocal marketing machine.

Case Study: Using Periscope at a Trade Show

Can Periscope be adapted for business use, or will it forever be categorized as just a platform for bad homegrown reality television? Last week I decided to test Periscope out as a component of our social strategy at the TRANSACT15 payments conference in San Francisco. The conference spanned over three days during which I streamed twenty (20) Periscope live broadcasts.

Leading up to the show there was solid pre-show social conversation around the #TRANSACT15 hashtag, hugely improved over the 2014 show's social buzz.  I leveraged this social conversation by contributing a few blog posts and several tweets about live streaming and made mention that we would be using Periscope during the conference in our booth.  Even shouted out to attendees that they should stop by and add their elevator pitch to the live stream.  There will be lots of attendees strolling by to try out this (my) new, bright, shiny object. That should do it, right?  Wrong.

Day 1 broadcast time arrives so I kicked it off with the perfunctory tour of our booth, but that can only go so long before your content risks looking like a sales pitch. Nobody was coming by to give me an elevator pitch so I just started "winging it." I highlighted the show's buffet food tables, talked about our neighboring booths, and panned the aisles of people. With the exception of a live stream of the wind tunnel/flying cash machine where a gentleman was shoving dollars in his pants .... my live broadcasts pretty were boring stuff. Thank goodness the conference's Opening Reception was only 2 hours in duration because I realized I was using Periscope as bad homegrown reality television that was adding little value to the event's social media conversation.

When I got back to my hotel room I knew that my body of work that evening was less than stellar so I decided to pull out the best moments from each of the seven (7) Periscope live streams and stitch them together with iMovie into a compilation video, then included the video in a blog post about what I had learned.  I had been talking up this technology, and still truly believed in it, so I had to do something to build some momentum for Day 2 and hoped that video would create some awareness of what I was trying to accomplish with Periscope. First thing in the morning I tweeted out the blog post and started contemplating what I could do better.

I still had some time before the show so I started catching up on the social thread that was taking place during the conference ... and that's when my new strategy for periscope became clear. There are some folks at this show that were contributing some solid value to the social media conversation and I need to seek them out in their booth and ask them to do what they were already doing - adding value to the conversation - and see if I could interview them with Periscope about their social strategy for TRANSACT15.

Bingo, IMHO this strategy was a success and gave me a chance to meet some of our industry's social influencers.  Some were in their booths and gladly agreed to a Periscope interview but others were back at home base handling their social strategy remotely.  With the latter, I sought out a spokesperson in their booth that wanted to "Periscope" their company's elevator pitch.  This Day 2 strategy gave me an easy and enjoyable way to capture some great snack-sized, quality content.

Needing to add a little fun to the mix I also filmed a quirky live steam "goof" on the Periscope phenomenon "What's In Your Fridge" where I took viewers behind the scenes of our booth's margarita bar showing them the ingredients that were going into our tasty libations. At the conclusion of the show we also live streamed the fishbowl drawing of our show giveaway of a Western Mediterranean cruise for two.

Here are a few I learned during my first attempts of using Periscope at a trade show:

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY: Understand that there may be Internet-connection problems if you are using Periscope on a restricted Internet connection. This happened to me twice ... once at an off-site sponsored event at a downtown San Francisco billiards hall where it appears that the connection restricted downloading, and again during my live stream at the conclusion of the event where the convention center appeared to restrict the paid Internet the moment the show ended.  In this situation the live broadcast works out fine, but it fails to completely archive to Periscope leaving only a 2 second video view ... nor does it download to your camera roll.

PORTRAIT MODE: Landscape mode severely degrades the video quality ... when broadcasting in landscape mode I had several in the viewing audience asking for me to switch to Portrait mode. You can see the degradation in the video when the streaming is in landscape mode. Each video live stream is saved to your camera roll, though the comments and hearts are stripped out, but it does leave you with some content for future use.

INTERNET TROLLS: Comments make the use of Periscope as a business tool a little tricky.  Your live feeds are visible to anyone that wants to tune in - not just your focus audience - so you get the "troll" comments too.  Some of the "off topic" comments were humorous and added some lightheartedness to the content stream, but we did get some downright offensive comments that were seen by others in the viewing audience.

SHOW HASHTAG: Before you click BROADCAST NOW remember to use the show hashtag in the title you enter in the field "What are you Seeing Now?" as well as click on the small Twitter icon. This will result in a tweet that is immediately generated when you start your broadcast, and the tweet will include the show hashtag along with the additional information you enter. Attentive show attendees can immediately tune in and watch live, and the broadcast is also viewable online for 24 hours so attendees that search after the fact for the hashtag also see your content stream.

VALUE ADD COMMENTS: Viewers can interact with a broadcaster through comments, which can replied reply to on camera, and viewers can tap the screen producing with colored hearts that let the broadcaster know they approve of the feed.  Videos are stored online for 24 hours, and privacy options can be selected to limit the audience. 

TWITTER INTEGRATION: Periscope has tight integration with the Twitter network.  The trick is to get attendees (and those wishing they were there) to follow your Twitter account so they get instant notification when you start a live broadcast. Effective use of the pre-show Twitter social conversation will help accomplish this, but I also think that more awareness of the Periscope network is required from the business segment for success.  Once folks with an appetite for industry content realize that just like business content is available on YouTube, it can also be found with more immediacy (actually real-time) on Periscope this medium will become commonplace.

Overall I have high hopes for this new live streaming technology.  I still believe it truly has a "wow' factor and you will be seeing it used more and more for business purposes.  The natural evolution of most new communication mediums was initially pushed along by risqué and comedic content which you will find in abundance on Periscope, but business is catching on that these new mediums can be used for a business purpose so I am pretty sure you will be seeing Periscope broadcasts at the next trade show you attend.

About Merrell Sheehan

Merrell is the VP of Digital Strategy at Electronic Merchant Systems, a national provider of payment processing services.  Merrell manages a digital marketing team that that utilizes content marketing and paid social strategies to acquire users for Electronic Merchant Systems' mPOS payment solution, EMS+ (plusbyems.com).

Live Streaming From TRANSACT15 - Join In!

It had to be done ... I had to pick a single platform for live streaming from TRANSACT15. No more playing around with simultaneous live feeds using Meerkat and Periscope since that would just cause confusion for folks that were interested in tuning in. I did a fair amount of testing over the past 2 weeks but no clear cut winner dominated the tests.

Weighing heavily on my mind was the concern that bringing something new like live streaming to TRANSACT15 is a big responsibility. I've always gotten pleasure out of introducing technology to others, so where the "big responsibility" concern comes in play is that you have to pick WINNERS or risk doing a disservice to others that you may drive to adoption. That said, I've picked my winner and the winner is Periscope.

Admittedly, it was an easy decision since the epic battle between two tech players - that I blathered on about in a live broadcast last Friday - was decisively won by Periscope ... and in less time than it took in the 1980s for the British to win the battle against Argentina over the Falkland Islands!

Just LAST Thursday Meerkat announced $14 million in new funding and later in the day Twitter launched its rival streaming app called Periscope.  By Sunday night, the Periscope-Meerkat battle was brutally lopsided. The Periscope app had become a smash hit, breaking into the US iPhone top-30 chart by Friday night (a rare feat for a social media app).  Conversely, Meerkat was quickly dominated like a braggadocios Rhonda Roussey opponent and appears to be close to "tapping" in Round 1. By Sunday night Meerkat had collapsed to No. 523 on the US iPhone download chart.

Is this "quick win" a sign of the times in today's real-time tech world?  Will the tech world ever again see a "long haul" battle for supremacy like the Apple versus Microsoft conflict?  I know this writer will surely hesitate using the cliche "epic battle" any time soon!

It will be amazingly simple for you to see how this Periscope "live streaming" stuff works at TRANSACT15.  Real-time simple if you have an iPhone (sorry Android users but Twitter is still working on an Android version of Periscope). Just download Periscope and it will intelligently connect with your Twitter account allowing you to immediately start watching feeds, or live stream yourself. Android Users: I will post a few recorded broadcasts as videos and share them on twitter ... especially the good ones.

Throughout the show I will be live streaming from the Twitter handle @emscorporate. If you follow us on Twitter you will see tweets throughout the show beginning with "LIVE ON #PERISCOPE" announcing that a new live feed has just started - just click the link in the tweet and you will be watching the live feed. Once a live feed ends, Periscope will keep it visible for 24 hours ... hearts, comments, and all. The broadcaster also has the ability to download the broadcast to their camera roll.

I will be kicking off the first Periscope live feed tonight at 6:30 pm pst from booth #1617 during TRANSACT15's opening reception.  Please stop by if you have something to say since my goal is to add value to the show conversation. Got a good elevator pitch then bring it by booth #1617 ... or any other topic you think would be of interest to attendees or industry folks watching/listeng from afar.

BONUS READING: For those looking for a "how to" article, I found a nice Pericope tutorial by @AnaHoffman ... Periscope Tutorial: How [and Why] Use Twitter’s Periscope

TRANSACT15 Twitter Mentions Increase 514%

Pre-#TRANSACT15 Twitter tweets (622) have increased 514% over the same prior period measured for #TRANSACT14 (121).  What a pleasant surprise for the pioneering payment marketeers that have been trying to foster the social conversation for several years now at payment industry events.  Heck, there have been some recent regional shows that it felt kind of creepy when you appeared to be the only one trying to develop a social media conversation.

Big kudos to @electranassoc for fostering an environment that encouraged a social media conversation with their brilliant "Team Selfie" contest that pretty much said, "we embrace social media as part of TRANSACT15."  While many trade show organizers feared the demise of their events if the conversation moved online, the Electronic Transactions Association spotted the trends and saw how it could be a benefit.  Fear of VIRTUAL-ONLY trade shows?  Never attended one and probably never will despite my penchant of being an early adopter of all things technology related.

I did a little non-scientific drill down into the aforementioned 565 pre-#TRANSACT15 tweets and categorized them as follows:

- Team Selfie Contest - 21% (congrats to winners @retailcloud and @grpfunding)

- We're coming ... in Booth XXXX - 37%

- TRANSACT15 Happenings - 20%

- Value-Add Show Information - 21%

Congratulations if you or your company has joined in the conversation!  Just using social media to say "Stop by and see us" shows that your business "gets it." But for those of you that added exceptional value to the conversation by posting a tweet that falls into the latter two (2) categories, I salute you.  Here are just a few that I found exceptional value in, added comments after each as well:

It is not just Twitter where you can find social media mentions of TRANSACT15.  I also found the following:

- 21 Instagram posts referencing TRANSACT15

- 2 Facebook Events for TRANSACT15 (created by Swipely & National Merchants Association

- TRANSACT15 has a YouTube channel (I assume it was created by the ETA) with 4 videos and 93 views

But this writer believes that Twitter is by far the premier social media platform for trade show conversations.  Twitter is an up-to-the-second newsfeed that lends itself well to an event's business conversation.  Though Facebook is a great tool for businesses doing paid social, I felt a little awkward joining the TRANSACT15 event groups and publishing this to my timeline. I do have high hopes for the new micro live-streaming platforms like Periscope and Meerkat primarily because they leverage the Twitter ecosystem and also provide real-time news.  Stop by booth #1617 if you want to try out live streaming during TRANSACT15.

So if you have not joined the conversation here are some simple ways you can get started:

LISTEN - Create a Twitter account and periodically search on the hashtag #TRANSACT15

SHARE - Sharing can be as easy as just retweeting what you see value in.  Click the tweet, then click retweet ... it's simple.

CREATE - Share your thoughts, images, videos, and ideas from your own perspective via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

There is an audience out there that wants to hear what you think.  If you have a question or a social strategy you want to talk about ... or want to promote something with a live stream on Meerkat and Periscope just stop by booth #1617 and look me up.  Let's keep the momentum going!

Digital Content Production At Trade Shows

Timely publishing of good content maximizes the effectiveness of your social media efforts in many "live event" situations.  Especially when the event is well attended both in person and virtually by a motivated tribe of individuals.  Trade shows are the perfect environment for this "speed to publication" strategy and if you have a little insider knowledge along with some cool new content creation technology, it is not that hard to stand out amidst the noise of the event.

Let's face it, content that gets digested in today's crowded digital media space is short and to the point, and normally takes the form of digital imagery and videos.  Heck, when a trade show is going on, no matter how much you love the written word, your tribe's bandwith is limited during the event and they just don't have the time to read your six hundred word blog post.  But, they will watch your 90 second video (assuming it’s not a straightup sales pitch), or check out your quality images of the event happenings and probably "follow" your social footprint in hopes of seeing more ... and that is a WIN!

Configure your content so that it can be consumed at engagement outposts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or wherever, and then the strategy is to invite them back to your home base to take whatever that next-action is that you define as success.  Important Note: This strategy will FAIL if you consistently violate the cardinal rule of social media content: Thou shalt not publish content that will not have a perceived value to your intended audience.

In this writer's opinion, Twitter is still the best social platform for leveraging this opportunity, but I have high hopes for a new social platform, Meerkat, that allows for live broadcasting and with its tight integration to the Twitter universe it is easy to promote. That said, don't let me discourage you from experimenting with other social platforms since experimentation should be an important component of any social strategy.

The key to Twitter success is using the show hashtag.  Believe it or not, there really are interested individuals following and using the show hashtag that are looking for your content.  If you don't believe me just log into Twitter and search the hash tag #TRANSACT15 ... you will be pleasantly surprised at all the pre-show activity on this channel. The show hashtag allows you to personally deliver your content to interested individuals, and if they find value in your content they will share it downstream with members of their tribe.

OK, so let's back to the speedy creation and publication of content that will be digested by your tribe.  During trade shows you've got to make your posts easier to consume on the go. You have a limited window of opportunity with a captive audience that is interested in anything pertaining to the event. Short is good, and what better way to get your message across with limited words than by adding pictures and video to make your content stand out?

You are communicating with a business audience so  you have to "up your game" a notch to get noticed, but in no way am I saying that you need to create a corporate-quality production. Social imagery that is directed to a business audience needs to be targeted and to the point, in focus, and clearly audible.  "Targeted and to the point" is dependent on your insights and creativity, but in focus and audible is easily improved with some tools to enhance your recording device.

My suggestion is to travel light so you are "ever ready" to catch that content moment.  I accomplish this by taking advantage of my iPhone 6's built in camera and accessorizing it with some photo and video tools to improve the quality of my imagery and videos.  I have attached a picture of my digital content session kit and would love to find out what you are doing.

If you are attending TRANSACT15 feel free to stop by booth #1617 and I'll show you my gear.  Even better, if you have some value to add to the “conversation” stop by and let's create some good content.  Hope to meet you next week!

I am Still Charmed by my Meerkat

Wrote an published a guest post today for Plusbyems.com about my recent experiences with the new Meerkat live broadcasting application.  Here is how it starts out ...

My Meerkat stood me up yesterday, but I am still enamored with her.  No, not the type of meerkat that endeared the hearts of children in the Madagascar movies, but rather this geek's new bright shiny object that is the hot new mobile app called Meerkat.  

Meerkat allows you to stream live video from your phone to all of your twitter followers at once.  Press "Stream" and instantly your live video feed shows up in your followers' Twitter feeds.  When your followers have the app they ..... Read the full post here