Bloody Social Media... again

Having checked out my GA it appears the last post was by far the most well received ever. Therefore I thought strike while the iron is super hot (about 3 weeks I think) and quickly share some of the perils of this here social thing.

I work for a company, we sell pizzas, we are a franchise business. Well, earlier today one of those franchisees sent me a cool thing that Macy's are doing on Facebook and asked if it was something replicable in the UK - I'm looking into it.

In principle its pretty simple and neat. You see the offer they put in a status post, you click 'get offer' they email you the offer - boom! Great marketing, nice way of making that very sociable communication a direct one.

The thing is, I thought I'd have a play with it myself. So, I went to Macy's page saw the post in question and clicked on it...

Thing is, being all about the social and the sharing those pesky facebook people immediately share the fact I've interacted with the Macy's ad to my wall and I had some nice people make comments about the nice shoes I was never going to buy from Macy's (don't worry, I'm still cool because I styled it out by pretending I was a transsexual - what a winner eh?)

Point being?
1) It's a good reminder that people spend a lot of time on facebook in fact all the time (first response was in seconds)
2) Facebook has some seriously awesome marketing opportunities in its platform - imagine if I really was buying those shoes?
3) It's always worth considering what you're doing in the social space and who might see it!!

Bloody social eh?

Why google wins

Funny, I had completely neglected my wee blog, I'd go as far saying I forgot I ever started one, then today by pure coincidence I was chatting with a buddy about google and facebook... bit if a who would win Superman or King Kong type conversation and I was nicely reminded of the sheer scale of toys google gives me to play with on my own terms.

I thought I'd check them out and needless to say there are a good 6 or 7 tools above I use on a regular basis and a further 10 or so I could and should be using more.

Another good thing about the G-bomb? I'm writing a blog that nobody will read and its not going to end up in my newsfeed and have everyone thinking what is he talking about... because I'm not really talking about anything.

Probably why I don't update a blog very often eh?

Its local, direct and personal. I love foursquare for marketing!

Any one that follows me on twitter or is a facebook buddy will know I'm a regular at the Sainsbury's on Clapham Road Bedford or that I frequent the Luscious Fruit Bar on Lime Walk (both historical Bedford monuments for those not in the know), the reason for this phenomenal geographical commentary that allows mere mortals to feel they are in the presence of greatness is the wonderful little social network/game of foursquare.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure the real purpose of this post other than to say I think its a cool service which, when used correctly should enable companies to engage really well with their potential customers at a local level with a direct communication that ilicits a response for very little expense on behalf of the business - a retail holy grail?

Last week Domino's credited its use of foursquare with increasing pre tax profits by 29% (along with a range of other social media initiatives) which alone is an excellent example of a UK organisation taking advantage of location based digital integration but combined with the rest of their social mix makes for some really interesting reading (and a good case study for a few agencies I suspect!)

There is some good analysis of Domino's social activity here - Wavematrix

Another thing I like specifically about foursquare is its seemless integration with facebook and twitter rather than being a rival it syncs superbly and I've a nice little

piece of personal experience on this from a few weeks back. I decided to treat the wonderful Mrs Dutch to a wild night out and went to see Predators at my local Cineworld. Being the social media pioneer I am I let the world know I was there and what film I was going to see with my foursquare sync to twitter... the next day I was tweeted by cineworld asking me what I thought of the film...

I'm still waiting on the years supply of free cinema tickets for my insightful response but in the mean time I'll revel in the warm glow generated by a local, relevant and direct communication I had with a national brand.

For those more interested in making foursquare work for their business there are 7 Quick Steps to Foursquare Marketing here because its clear I've not given up much in this post... I just think its cool and has a lot of potential!