Foursquare. It’s Back and Better Than Ever!

Just three years ago, I was sitting with CEO/Co-Founder Dennis Crowley at his Girls in Tech fireside chat in San Francisco where he described his vision for Foursquare.

He compared this future iteration to Clippy. You know, that silly (and annoying) paperclip from Microsoft Office living on the side of your screen. He explained that Foursquare would one day “be your personal tour guide, or Clippy for your pocket. This personal tour guide would be so in tune with your everyday behaviors, that it would recommend places to check out as you walked around the city you’re in.” Check out my video of Dennis Crowley describing the future of Foursquare on Socialcam here. 

Now, they’ve brought this idea to life! Introducing the new Foursquare, “which you can download today, learns what you like, and leads you to places you’ll love,” explains Foursquare.

Here’s how Foursquare describes the new functionalities:
Our phones should learn about us – our tastes, our social connections, and our preferences. And, using what they know, they should help us better explore the world around us. If you love vintage clothing, it should tell you that there is a hidden gem nearby. If you’re in a new city, it should tell you that your friend Katy highly recommends this hole-in-the-wall restaurant downtown. If you crave spicy food, it should advise which dishes you should order when you sit down for dinner.

Check out the video below to see it in action! 

Co-Founder Dennis Crowley on the Future of Foursquare

I have to be honest; I’ve lost a bit of my drive to check-in places after I’ve already  taken advantage of the many first time deals around San Francisco. However, Foursquare is starting to intrigue me again with their plan for the future.

At the last Girls in Tech Fireside Chat, I had the pleasure to listen to Foursquare Co-Founder Dennis Crowley. He explained that Foursquare could soon be your personal tour guide, or Clippy for your pocket. This personal tour guide would be so in tune with your everyday behaviors, that it would recommend places to check out as you walked around the city you’re in. Check out the video of Dennis Crowley describing the future of Foursquare on Socialcam here.

What if Foursquare knew your personal shopping behaviors? Think about all the boutiques and stores you’d discover according to your interests. And, think about how this would change tourism. No need for those guidebooks because Foursquare would help you make the trip your own.

After leaving this fireside chat, I couldn’t help but wonder how all this would change advertising, PR and sales. Do you think these changes would help or hurt these industries?

Fashion Location-Based Marketing

Last week, Mashable’s Macala Wright Lee shared her advice on fashion brands using location-based marketing to engage customers. As a professional with an interest in learning more about these types of social media tools, I wanted to share Lee’s thoughts on this emerging trend. She explained, “it’s important to remember that location-based marketing efforts can and should be used to accomplish more than one marketing goal. Brands should strive to not only engage customers, but to enhance their shopping experiences.”

Lee also suggested an alternative to implementing Foursquare from in-house: “If integrating Foursquare into the marketing mix seems too complicated, or if it doesn’t match a brand’s core audience, consider partnering with a publication that is already exploring these strategies. Lucky Magazine has already started developing a solid presence on Foursquare, and has interactive and socially-enabled smartphone applications that show great marketing potential, for example. Tristan Walker, Vice President of Business Development for Foursquare informed us that a customer loyalty program integration usually costs less than $10,000 to implement (as seen in the case of Tasti D-Lite).”

In this post, Lee particularly focused on Diesel as an insightful example of lessons learned from soft-launching a Foursquare campaign. In conjunction with their Be Stupid campaign, the fashion brand held a one-day event giving a discount to customers checking in to their flagship store. Diesel decided to organically promote the Foursquare event without any proactive pre-promotion outreach to bloggers and online writers.

PR Couture‘s Crosby Noricks shared her thoughts on this strategy, “In this iteration, without pre-promotion, it also failed to drive the level of activity I feel would be required to qualify its replication, although I applaud them heartily for trying. What is potentially more valuable for the brand is the post-event coverage that promotes Diesel as an innovating, digitally-savvy company who puts together pretty incredible experiential opportunities for its customers.”

Currently fashion brands are still green as they use this type of marketing. Glamour Magazine Technology Editor Amalia Agathou said, “Luxury brands have used location-based services like Foursquare to create buzz and promote new lines and stores. The challenge for the retailers is to find ways to use these services in order to build a cohesive shopping experience in the web/mobile and the physical world. The retailers are now presented with a plethora of geo-location apps to choose from, but it remains to be seen the amount of control they will want to have on them.”

Here’s a list of brands already experimenting with this type of marketing tool. Check out the following for great case studies:

• Diesel: Faces of Stupid campaign
• Marc Jacobs: NY Fashion Week
• Jimmy Choo