My single biggest learning from exploring Foursquare, QR Codes and Google Goggles is that they are being underutilized by brands and companies. Companies aren't taking advantage of the promotional, sales and customer loyalty opportunities these tools can offer. Furthermore, these social tools cannot be used solely by themselves to bring awareness to a campaign, company or brand. Their functions are not valuable as a stand alone tactic. They have the most value when used in addition to existing campaigns on Facebook or Twitter. They need to be used to spread word of mouth so they must co-exist with other social media platforms in order to maximize how many people will read what people are saying about a particular company or brand.
When thinking of three examples of uses for these tools for public relations many of my ideas were marketing driven, used best for promotional purposes or in advertising. However, the following are three examples that I think would compliment any PR campaign:
Teasers
They can be used to act as a teaser to an event or a significant day. People can check-in to different venues to unlock an invite or scan a code or image of something inconspicuous to retrieve important information to an upcoming event. They can also be used on an invitation to an exclusive event to make it more intriguing and mysterious.
Competitions
There can be a contest to leave tips in different venues around the city or scan different QR Codes or images of a particular company, brand or product to win a giveaway.
Corporate Reputation
A company can be seen as an influencer in their community and culturally involved if they share tips when checked-in at different venues in their area or share images and interesting factoids of events and venues nearby. They can also encourage customers to leave tips when checked-in at their venue, create their own badge or provide a forum for customers to source information and ask questions of a company through the visual service tools.
I think you mention a very significant point that to use these platforms effectively they must be used in conjunction with a broader social media strategy that utilizes facebook and twitter to attract broader attention and engage users. For PR professionals there is also the added advantage with using Foursquare of being able to access a list of check-ins that will help to identify an important stakeholder segment, with details like how many times they visit, at what time they visit and what they are saying about your organization or business.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the strongest points you have raised is that they are being underutilized by companies and brands. I agree to a certain extent, but I also think it may be a lack of knowledge. There are so many social media platforms that do different things, and yes, some are trending faster than others in which case the professionals working with these brands are not well equipped on the power these platforms have or better yet, how to properly use them. One of the best tools in my opinion is foursquare, as you can directly speak to your clients and at the same time retrieve information about your clients visits and interests. With that said, it is important that PR practitioners are on the ball with the most popular platforms, in this case twitter, facebook and foursquare so that they are not "underutilized". Great post Melissa! :)
ReplyDeleteAgree . . . especially with the idea that the integration of social tools is what gives each their strength.
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