Geolocation has been the smash hit in the social media scene of 2010. Coming from relative obscurity in early 2010, Foursquare alone now boasts over 3 million users. With the NYC start up recently breaking it’s own record for most new users in one day, the social media darling has recently took funding to the tune of $20m while reportedly also turning down a buyout offer from Yahoo.

With Foursquare beginning to assert its authority in geolocation, one of it’s biggest possible rivals decided to step in. Earlier this month Facebook announced ‘Facebook Places’, the social networking heavyweight with over 500 million users took geolocation from niche into the mainstream overnight.

Where as location based services Foursquare, Gowalla, Hot Potato, Yelp and others relied on social networking to spread their message, Facebook turned the tables and are now trying to stamp its authority in the geolocation game by creating its own platform 

With all these recent developments, let’s look at the big players in the game right now, what they currently offer, what they may offer in the future and how sports marketers should be trying to take advantage of geolocation.

Thought geolocation was just for geeks? This billboard in Times Square begs to differ.

Facebook Places

So far Facebook Places is yet to really show its hand, while currently only available to users in the United States, the social media giant hasn’t actually released full details on how businesses can take advantage of the platform, but let’s start with a few titbits from what we know so far.

You can claim your location: Whether it’s your ball park, your front office or your training facility, you can now claim it and anything else you own. If it’s not already there, feel free to create it yourself.

You can link your Fan Page to your ‘Place’: You are able to link your Facebook ‘Place’ to your Fan Page, so do that ASAP.

Yep, that’s about all we really know so far.

For more info on Facebook Places, check out the slide below for a full introduction.

 
Facebook Places for Advertisers
 

Why Use Facebook Places?
This is one for the future. With very few features available so far, it is very hard to tell you to focus on Facebook Places – as being in such an early phase of its development it’s impossible to tell where it will go – but once the platform finds it’s feet, it will be crucial to your digital marketing plan.

Possible additions?

• Facebook Places ads: Ads that target you due to your location
• More game aspects: Features similar to mayorships, rewards, etc
• Hot Potato features (which are covered further down) this includes in-venue messaging

Foursquare

Currently the number one place for all your geolocation needs. It has the most exposure, has the biggest userbase (specifically for geolocation) and also allows you to take control of your venue. Not only these factors, but we have case studies. Manchester City, from the English Premier League, was the first team in all of professional sports to have an official presence on Foursquare. They had their own sub-page on the foursquare.com website, as well as the ability to let their fans “follow” them on Foursquare and become fans.

What that actually cost I’m not sure but it wouldn’t have been cheap – as Foursquare badges alone reportedly around ten thousand dollars a month – so I wouldn’t tell you to run to your boss and ask for an official presence on Foursquare. What can you do? Similar to Facebook:

Create or claim your venue:
Once you do this, then you can start serving ads or messages to people that check in to your arena/front office/tail-gate, etc

Serve Ads
You want to start making some money off geolocation? Serve ads. When you claim your venue and you are then an owner of it on Foursquare, you then able to send a message to anyone who checks in to your venue. Let’s say you own your venue, have tens of thousands of fans coming to your venue every week, and want to start promoting on Foursquare. You could have a special on hot dogs that day, or maybe you have a piece of merchandise you want to get rid of quickly, serve the ad accordingly. You can change the ads as often as you like, but make sure you give a call to action with a discount or offering to the end user to increase the uptake of your ad.

Use Analytics
We’ve all heard of Google Anayltics, well Foursquare has their own analytics system. It allows you to see who comes to your venue, , what time of day/week they check in and if they haves shared their check-in on platforms like Facebook or Twitter. A great an easy way to reward fans could be through giving away a jersey/cap/pair of tickets to your “Top Visitor”.

Why Use Foursquare?
Right now, Foursquare is the best place to market your sport in geolocation. It is the most popular platform and has the most active user base but most importantly, it allows you to monetize your marketing efforts.

Possible additions?

• Pay per listing: With so many venues in short proximity of one another, businesses should be allowed to out-bid one another for priority listings
• More interactivity: Being able to take photos/videos and tag them in your check-in
• Social gaming: Similar to Facebook creating currency, Foursquare may offer virtual goods down the track that have real world currency

Gowalla

Gowalla can sometimes be forgotten when it comes to sports marketing, as it is a lesser known entity when compared to its main rival Foursquare. Right now Gowalla has a smaller user base, but allows for a far greater check-in experience. The interactive platform Gowalla can offer with its graphic artwork and the ability for users to take their own images takes the check-in experience to a whole new level. Userss can also pick up virtual goods like Livestrong bands, books, pieces of fruit, etc, creating a game for the users.

In sports marketing however, Gowalla recently gave us one of the most amazing social media case studies we have seen. Gowalla teamed up with the New Jersey Nets and offered virtual goods, in the form of virtual tickets to their fans. The tickets were placed virtually in Gowalla venues around relevant areas like basketball courts, gyms or hotels throughout New Jersey. The users were then able to pick up the virtual tickets with in Gowalla and trade them in for real tickets at the stadium. Check out the slideshare below for the full case study.

Why Use Gowalla?
If the service that the Nets used ever becomes mainstream in Gowalla, this is a must use platform. By giving away virtual goods such as tickets or jerseys, geolocation can open up a whole new ‘fan engagement’ sports marketing has never seen before.

When compared to Foursquare the experience for the fan is a whole lot richer, and allows them to share their own special moment,whether it’s a picture of their son at the ball game, or the view from their seat. Although on the flip side, what if a user is to take a negative image, with abusive language, graffiti or simply something you don’t want to be seen at your venue, there is not much you can do about it except report it to Gowalla and wait.

When combined with the relatively small user base and there aren’t yet and ways for teams or leagues to claim venues, so from a marketing perspective, the platform is limited.

Possible additions? 

• While their monetization plans have been kept mainly for big business, expect more business aspects for small businesses such as ads and priority listings
• Claim a venue: Allows businesses to claim their own venue and then control them

The End-User Experience: Foursquare vs Gowalla

The following image is a screenshot of the difference the user experiences for Foursquare and Gowalla. The top half is the Foursquare page for Yankee Stadium;  it a fairly bland experience for the user, nothing really stands out or makes it unique as this page is no different to any other. (Side note: It appears the Yankees haven’t claimed their venue and no staff are listed)

In the bottom half we have the homepage for Yankee Stadium on Gowalla. A completely unique experience with the stadium having its own individual icon, each check-in listed (with status/photo if they have one) and the page also has over 50 user generated images.

What amazes me though is the number of check-in’s. Foursquare has over 21,000, with 12,000 unique users whilst Gowalla has 600 total check-ins and only 300 unique users.

Even though the numbers show a 35:1 ratio of users, I really like what Gowalla has to offer.

With their virtual goods, unique artwork and the ability for users to take their own images, Gowalla definitely wins in the battle of check-in experience.

Hot Potato

You may not have heard of Hot Potato and that’s fine, but you may soon be seeing it’s functionality. Facebook recently purchased the start-up which means you may start seeing a few of its feature popping in Facebook Places sooner rather than later.

One of the major selling points of Hot Potato is that it allows instant messaging between users that have checked in to the same venue. Let’s say for example you’re at a game, and five other people check-in to the same game on Hot Potato, you can now chat to them, just like you were at home on MSN. Where as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook will simply list the people, Hot Potato actually allows you to chat with them, taking that check-in experience to a whole new level. While not commonly used for sports, its mainly popularity so far has been  at concerts or similar live events

Check out the video on Hot Potato below

Possible editions?

• The future of the company is not clear. They will either be allowed to continue as is, be swallowed completely and become apart of Facebook or a combination of both

Summary

There is no doubt that right now Foursquare is the place to be in geolocation. With the large user base, ability to claim your own venue and serve ads, it wins this battle.

While the experience Gowalla can offer for the end user is the best out there, for sports marketers it is extremely limited and you are relying on the users to generate the content for you, and you may experience the dangers that come with that.

Any competitor who has a user base of over 500 million will always be a threat, and once Facebook Places is released to all countries and goes through a few minor tweaks it will be a dominant force in geolocation and sports marketing, but not just yet.

www.sportspiel.com.au