Do your travel dreams involve a visit to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania? It’s probably not in your top-10 must-visit places, but nonetheless, there exists a Pennsylvania Tourism Office to try and tempt you. And they’ve done a deal with Foursquare to promote the town’s biggest attraction: the weather-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil.
Punxsutawney Phil Badge: available for one day only
You can’t deny it: social media does lack the grandeur held by an emotive, sweeping TV advert; lacks the visual ‘punch’ of a colossal billboard passed by hundreds of thousands of people every day. Which I presume, is why so many people question its relative value as a marketing investment; especially considering the ROI debate continues to rumble on. Read More
After a year that saw some serious milestones tip in social media, such as Facebook reaching the 500 million member mark, you might be wondering what’s in store for 2011 trends in this lively medium.
Maz Nadjm
I met up with Maz Nadjm, Ogilvy Group UK’s now Head of Social Media, who formerly headed Sky’s online social media strategy, to pick his brains about what he thinks is in store for the new year in social media. Read More
2010 has seen a massive expansion in the use of social media by people and brands. There’s no denying that a lot of it is celebrity led – just look at @ladygaga with her 7.3 million Twitter followers – but major brands have been pushing it forward too, creating platforms on Facebook alongside their official websites or running location-based campaigns through Foursquare and its competitors.
The increased use of smartphones and steady stream of new applications have enabled us to access our favourite platforms wherever we are, to the point that social media has become integrated with our daily lives in a way that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. Read More
Foursquare seems in a bit of a bother. Just very recently a mobile network provider told me about some of the work they are doing with retailers here in the UK. If you enter a store and you are with said network, you will receive a special offer. They can triangulate the individual within a 5 meter radius and overlay age and gender. There’s no check-in needed and it’s based on simple trigger marketing principles, obviously ensuring different messages for different visits, and targeted not only on acquisition but also retention and loyalty. Now that is powerful stuff – very targeted, very relevant and very timely and completely independent from the need of being a mayor. Just imagine once they overlay this with social data. It’s going to be like mind reading. Read More
M&M is organizing a social media game in Canada. By using Google maps, Facebook, Twitter & Foursquare consumers need to trace ‘Red’.
The intro video is pretty cool and activates consumers to start their M&M hunt in the city of Toronto. Tips are posted on Facebook and Twitter to guide the gamers through the streets. Each day (until 4/12) there are three chances to find ‘Red’. Read More
Put down your drawing pins, maps of the world and printed out list of Twitter followers and their locations: if you want to know where in the world people are reading your tweets, you can now do it automatically.
Map My Followers: yeah, I don't have that many...
Map My Followers is a fun mash-up of Google Maps and Twitter followers (and as an added bonus, it keeps its promise about not sending automated tweets to your followers — pay attention other developers!)
Niel Armstrong – the moon, Edmond Hillary – Everest, Amelia Earhart – The Atlantic, Vincent Haywood and 249 others – UK’s first SuperSwarm Badge on Foursquare.
Maybe not up there with those names, yet at 19:03 October 7th, the UK foursquare community unlocked the UK’s first Super Swarm Badge and damn we were proud. Read More
I’m not entirely convinced about the name, but a service called Geomium, a new location-based social network is launching today that unlike Facebook Places and Foursquare offers real time location services, so a user can see what their friends are up to and see all the bars, gigs, restaurants and money-off deals in your local area, all in a handy map. Read More
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