Vancouver Internet Marketing Social Media Marketing Consultant Canada

Gowalla 3.0: All-In-One Check Ins Are Here

By Allie Townsend on December 2, 2010

Yes, you can now check in to your Foursquare account with your Gowalla App.

Will I stop opening both my Foursquare AND Gowalla Apps on my iPhone now when I want to check in somewhere and just use Gowalla's nicer-looking new interface instead? Or will I be lured back to Foursquare? Or will I simply gravitate towards only using my Facebook app and just check in there where I have a larger base of relationships? Maybe once Facebook Deals arrive in Canada and if Facebook can give me the option of also checking in to Foursquare and Gowalla then I'll let Facebook have a chance at being my one geo location app that rules them all. Until then I'll continue to open the Gowalla app and be tempted to try to remember what my foursquare email/password is so I can skip opening Foursquare all together.

As a social media marketer I love to see competition growing amongst the social networks and to see an increasing number of people learning about location based games and checkins and deals. What's your favorite location based application? Have you claimed your business in Foursquare and Facebook? Need help figuring out how to use social media marketing to promote yourself or your business? Contact me today for a free 30 minute phone consultation at http://stirsolutions.com/consultation

Sep 8, 2010

As location-based services have emerged as compelling ways for businesses to interact with potential customers, there have been a flux of marketing and social media platforms that help set up campaigns. Context Optional, SnackSquare, Geotoko, Sprout Social and a number of other platforms are helping brands run campaigns on services like Foursquare, Twitter, Gowalla and now Facebook Places. PlacePunch is launching its platform in the space, and has already enlisted a well-known brand as a client.

Colorado-based Vail Resorts is launching a new location-based social media service at its many mountain destinations--some of which are the largest in the U.S. Called EpicMix, the service acts as a cross between Nike+ and Gowalla, and enables users to check-in on the slopes through Facebook Places to earn pins and rewards for various skiing accomplishments, view the location of friends and family on the mountain, and track ski routes and vertical feet traveled. Vail's EpicMix is an innovative use of social media, showing that it's not just a tool confined to big cities or national companies, but has a more intimate application too on a hyper-local level.

Using an RFID chip embedded into lift passes, a skier's journey is captured through every scan it receives on the mountain. No smartphones are required--check-ins are automatic and can be accessed at anytime online or through EpicMix's mobile app for the iPhone, Android, and other devices.

Looking to plug social media into your resort's online or offline marketing strategy? Contact us today for a free 30 minute resort social media marketing consultation today here: http://stirsolutions.com/consultation Read about our social media marketing services here: http://stirsolutions.com/social-media

Most of the attention paid to Facebook Places, the new location feature that the social network launched on Thursday, has focused either on the privacy implications of the service or on the impact it could have on location-based startups such as Foursquare (which some have said they expect to be "crushed" by the new feature). Facebook's real focus with this launch, however, isn't individual users or even Foursquare: Instead, it sees Places as a way into the local business and local advertising markets, and the company with the target painted on its back is Yelp.

Google Places, Facebook Places, Foursquare Location Layers & Mayors. Having trouble keeping up? Will Yelp have to partner with Gowalla or another smaller check-in startup to stay ahead of the million-business-pages-strong Facebook checkin tsunami? What is your business doing to get listed in all of the social network places? Why should you even consider spending your valuable time or marketing dollars on something like this Facebook Places or Yelp or Foursquare advertising or promotion? Drop me a note at brent[at]stirgroup.com and I'd be happy to answer your questions or setp a time for a free phone consultation to discuss your business and whether getting on the Facebook / Yelp / Foursquare / Gowalla check-in marketing train is right for your business, products or services.

Foursquare is hands-down the leader of the location-based/geo-social marketing space when it comes to hype. But other services are making their marks among both brands and users.

In fact, three of the five location-based services briefed below have more users than Foursquare, which has roughly 1 million. Like Foursquare, most utilize the mobile "check in" system, while rewarding users for registering an arrival at a store, restaurant, or another kind of business. Though, the services are being leveraged in different ways by brand partners.

Here are snapshots of recent campaigns by name brands on five prominent location-based platforms not named Foursquare: