Marketers 'check in' for social sales
Marketers 'check in' for social sales
About 15% of those who won tickets through the Gowalla promotion actually attended the game. The Nets consider the initiative a success and plan to release more location-based marketing for this fall.
To help get the word out, the basketball outfit ran a billboard in New York City in July, encouraging people to check-in to the team's Foursquare page.
Local bars and restaurants, as well as national franchises such as Chili's Bar & Grill, are also testing location-based marketing. Chili's kicked off a Foursquare campaign in July giving away free chips and salsa to people who check-in to participating locations of their restaurants. Participating locations are marked on Foursquare with a “special offer” flag whenever a guest is within 200 yards of the restaurant. Chili's used in-store signage to drive awareness.
“With the rise of Foursquare's popularity, Chili's wanted to capitalize on this tool by offering a cutting edge incentive to our tech-savvy guests as a unique way to connect with them,” says Nicole Cochran, marketing director for Chili's Grill & Bar.
While Chili's would not disclose how many customers checked in to this offer, Cochran says if the experiment proves successful, it will extend the offer to all of its 450-plus franchise locations and promote it more heavily in social media.
Given the opportunity to expand existing loyalty programs and the immediacy of location-based marketing means that many marketers will continue to experiment with this channel.
