With the evolution of location based social media and the emergence of companies like foursquare and Gowalla, we are seeing the future of how we will market our products, services and businesses using customer location as a driving factor. The ability to target and direct your marketing efforts and marketing dollars at a prospect based on their location using GPS through their phone is in its infancy, but I see it exploding into the social marketing mainstream in 2010. Will you be ready for this new marketing wave, or be washed over by it in the future?
In an article written by Kevin Nakao of WhitePages ( a Top 40 Web and Mobile Publisher) on Mashable, Kevin discusses the 5 Things You Need to Know About Location-Based Social Media. Companies need to not only develop their social marketing strategy, but also need to consider their Social Location Marketing Strategy “SLMS”. As companies like Apple and Google drive hard into the mobile market, applications and consumer acceptance will follow. Every business should consider how location based services and mobile application will impact their marketing efforts and how they will target and capture customers in the future. It will not be cost effective overnight, but will be part of the future. An effective strategy to take advantage of this evolving market will be the key as it gains momentum.
Below is a summary of Kevin Nakao’s list along with my thoughts on how education and content based location based marketing will be an essential part of any effective social location marketing strategy. To read Kevin’s complete post Click Here.
The Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Location-Based Social Media
- Location Shouldn’t be the Only Goal
From finding the nearest ski slope and conditions, to a locating a nearby movie theater and what is playing, there are plenty of applications that have incorporated the ability to use location to match a search.With all the hoopla surrounding location, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that location’s real appeal to advertisers is the fact that with this functionality, you can reach the on-the-go user, who is ready to buy and consume. Just because Twitter and Facebook offer location doesn’t make that valuable or new to advertisers. Location-targeting via IP address has been around a while. For the same reason radio is a great advertising channel for retailers, LBS advertising is also valuable: because it can reach the consumer near the point of sale.
- The “Long Tail” for User Adoption
Foursquare has clearly emerged as the location darling. Consider the fact that after only one year, they’ve reached 500,000 active users (Foursquare recently tweeted they added 100,000 users in 10 days).However, if you apply any city’s share of the total U.S. population, the results show some pretty low estimates of Foursquare users in individual localities. What emerges is a very “long tail” — a steep, narrow graph — of local user adoption. This shows why it is important to achieve scale if you hope to see return on investment in the location marketing space.
- Mobile Battery Life is Key
Battery life is the single biggest threat to location marketing right now. With GPS on, the phone is asking the network where it is, and this chatter can drain battery life very quickly — anyone with an iPhone or BlackBerry understands GPS drain. Thus, phone manufacturers will play a critical role in the future of LBS.Foursquare has helped us move forward here as well. “Check-ins” help to address the issue as they offer efficient geo-triggers without having to keep battery-draining GPS features on at all times.
- Location Will Be the Battleground of the Mobile OS
Looking forward, I predict the mobile platform wars will be fought with location and maps. This is an important feature that a platform can use as a point of differentiation for consumers and developers.In anticipation of that battle, Apple purchased mapping company Placebase, and Google is starting to provide unique mapping features like turn-by-turn navigation on its Android devices. The only hope I see for Windows Mobile is if they do something completely revolutionary on the mobile location front. A development like this was alluded to at the recent TED conference with its augmented reality layering of geo-tagged Flickr photos and real-time video integration.
- Location Pays
Currently the CPM (revenue per thousand ad impressions) for sponsored local links is $30-$50 — double the effective CPM (eCPM) rate you see for premium display ad campaigns from national brands. The eCPM multiple of local targeted ads over ad network rates is a staggering 10x.Location-based inventory will also become scarce as Apple recently announced that iPhone apps will not be permitted to access GPS capabilities for advertising alone. There now needs to be some consumer benefit and functionality in order to access a user’s location. This is where education and content based marketing will be critical to offer information and services and not just a display ad.
As always I encourage you ideas, input and comments on the topic.
Bill Sifflard - With over thirty years experience as an entrepreneur, an executive, an author and as a business consultant, Bill Sifflard has a long history of experience bringing innovation, efficiency and success to large and small businesses adapting to evolving markets.
As a premiere Sales and Marketing Innovator, Bill is changing how business integrates traditional marketing strategy with the power and potential of the internet utilizing his "Velocity for Success" matrix.
To learn more about Bill and Bssential Small Business Solutions you can visit http://www.bssentials.com and register for his Free eNewsletter or follow all of his blog posts by clicking on the RSS feed button above. 
You must log in to post a comment.