Flagged For Follow Up

The Beancast - Episode 90: Flyover Country

Ian Sohn — 2010-02-08T09:23:21-05:00

Had the pleasure of making my debut on The Beancast - a great marketing podcast hosted by Bob Knorpp. Fellow guests included Bill Green from MTLB, Jim Mitchem from Smash Communications and Dirk Singer from the Rabbit Agency.

A fun conversation on topics like the Super Bowl, Toyota, Glee, Second Life (yes, Second Life) and Foursquare.

Have a listen or subscribe here.

Social Media Is Not A Moment In Time

Ian Sohn — 2010-01-27T20:03:13-05:00

I was thinking today how hit and miss social media can be if you base your approach on reaching people at a specific moment of time.

It simply doesn't work to say, let's Tweet this on Thursday to coincide with our widget launch.

What if President Obama stubs his toe on Thursday ... no one will care about your widget launch. Less dramatically, what if your most influential brand fans happen to miss your Tweet [which in the fast-paced world of Twitter streams and Facebook updates is likely to happen]?

If your approach doesn't account for these scenarios, you'll almost certainly miss chances to engage the people most likely to champion your message.

It comes back to the mantra we're all familiar with by this point ... social media is a conversation not a campaign.

Marketers interested in capturing a moment in time should buy the Super Bowl or Oscars. And to be clear, I do think in some cases this is a smart approach. But barring that kind of budget, you better think about a calendar of conversations over a period of time.

Though I suppose a few marketers in Cupertino would tell you that all it takes is a few years of speculation and a bunch of Apple loyalists to make a single press conference a massive social media happening.

I just wouldn't count on it for your widget launch.

5 Keys to Being a Successful Intrepreneur

Ian Sohn — 2010-01-17T15:54:50-05:00

Both my father and step-father were successful small business owners. One of my MBA co-majors was Entrepreneurial Studies. Which leads some people to ask why I haven't pursued an entrepreneurial career.

Actually, despite spending most of my years at large companies, I have.

To be more precise, I've pursued an intrepreneurial career. One spent making new opportunities for myself within large enterprises, at times where they didn't previously exist.

Here are my five keys to a successful intrepreneurial career:

Build your network: As in every other aspect of business, new opportunities come to those who make time to meet new people, explore new areas, and [quite frankly] are likable and easy to work with. I almost never turn down the chance to meet someone in my organization - I never know what it could eventually lead to.
Speak up: Unless people know you've got the intrepreneurial bug, they might not consider you for new opportunities. Advocate for yourself!
Dabble: Try new things. Go to new trainings. Play around with new technologies. In short, explore.
Understand how to translate your skills from A->B: Often times the greatest opportunities are in areas that you don't have direct experience. Well then, you just have to learn how to draw the parallel between what you are good at, and what the position calls for. Sell it!
Have an open mind: People who wear blinders miss great opportunities - I've seen it a million times.

If you are a successful intrepreneur, what am I missing?

My the3six5 Post

Ian Sohn — 2010-01-08T15:52:37-05:00

Please see my post for the excellent the3six5 project here.

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing

Ian Sohn — 2009-12-31T09:17:33-05:00

Last night I was at Kuma's Corner with a teacher friend who imparted a simple but valuable lesson on me.

But first, for those who don't know Kuma's ... it's a small bar in the Avondale section of Chicago that serves, by many accounts, the best burgers in Chicago. It's easily in my top 5 of all-time. You're not human if the picture below [via Gadling] doesn't make your mouth water. No reservations. Maybe 25 total tops, with first-come seating at the bar. Wait can be up to 3 hours.

Back to my lesson ... the teacher and I waited 2 hours for a table. Of course we knocked back a few beers during the wait, but still, 2 hours for a burger.

At one point I said to the teacher: "This place is a goldmine. I'll never understand why they don't open another location to accommodate the overflow."

To which the teacher very matter-of-factly answered: "Because if there was another location, Kuma's wouldn't be Kuma's any more."

That's it.

Paid Media = Scale for Domino's Pizza Turnaround

Ian Sohn — 2009-12-28T18:39:09-05:00

A lot of talk over the last few days about Domino's Pizza's "Pizza Turnaround" - equal parts blog | website | Twitter aggregator. The effort is centered around Domino's transparent re-engineering of its signature pizza offering.

I like the spirit of this ... good talk-value; makes me want to keep following along; most importantly, makes me want to give Domino's another shot.

One of the most talked about features of the campaign is a short documentary [produced with help of Crispin Porter + Bogusky]. At the time I write this [Dec 28 @ 5:30pm CST] the video has logged nearly 328,000 views [in just a few days, over the holidays].

I noticed today that Domino's is running paid media units on YouTube's homepage.

While I have no knowledge of this brand's spend, I have looked into YouTube packages and can tell you this is no small financial commitment. What I suspect Domino's has figured out - that many brands have not yet - is that paid media, as a compliment to 'social' media, can give your brand's blog | video | Facebook page | etc. the push it needs to scale to a larger audience.

Interested to watch this unfold. The one thing I really hope is that Domino's doesn't cave to the inevitable snarkiness that many marketing and social media 'gurus' will heap upon it. Stay the course, Domino's!

No 7s Allowed

Ian Sohn — 2009-12-17T15:23:34-05:00

I was in a meeting this week where the meeting leader asked everyone in the room to rank our capability in a particular area [not important what] and every person in the room gave the same answer ... 7.

I was immediately reminded of a rule my little brother [who at the time he told me this was a senior in college] and his friends have about banning the number 7 from rankings. You can guess what their context was.

But think about it ... he's totally on to something. 7 is a cop-out. It's lazy. It's a C. It's mediocre. It's nothing to be proud of, yet we [me included] have no reservations about publicly rating ourselves a 7.

So from here on out I am banning 7 from my rankings. Either I go with 6 - which should be alarming enough to take the right actions to jump the 7 transom and at least get to 8. Or I go with an 8 and look for ways to kick it to a 9 or 10.

Who's with me?

Trendwatching.com: 10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010

Ian Sohn — 2009-12-13T08:26:07-05:00

Always a good read, even if clearly skewed towards a hipster subset of society. Table of contents below. Read the full report here.

Forget the recession: the societal changes that will dominate 2010 were set in motion way before we temporarily stared into the abyss. More »

Urban culture is the culture. Extreme urbanization, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and far beyond will lead to more sophisticated and demanding consumers around the world. More »

Whatever it is you're selling or launching in 2010, it will be reviewed 'en masse', live, 24/7. More »

Closely tied to what constitutes status (which is becoming more fragmented), luxury will be whatever consumers want it to be over the next 12 months. More »

Online lifestyles are fueling and encouraging 'real world' meet-ups like there's no tomorrow, shattering all cliches and predictions about a desk-bound, virtual, isolated future. More »

To really reach some meaningful sustainability goals in 2010, corporations and governments will have to forcefully make it 'easy' for consumers to be more green, by restricting the alternatives. More »

Tracking and alerting are the new search, and 2010 will see countless new INFOLUST services that will help consumers expand their web of control. More »

Next year, generosity as a trend will adapt to the zeitgeist, leading to more pragmatic and collaborative donation services for consumers. More »

With hundreds of millions of consumers now nurturing some sort of online profile, 2010 will be a good year to introduce some services to help them make the most of it (financially), from intention-based models to digital afterlife services. More »

2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not 'raw' than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that. Will your brand be as daring? More »

Counterpoint: Tiger's Played This Perfectly

Ian Sohn — 2009-12-01T19:43:52-05:00

Update: Since I originally wrote this post on December 1 the story has only gotten more sordid and bizarre. Not sure the post is still relevant, but I'm not pulling it as I still think it's worthy of discussion.

There are a few things bothering me about the Tiger Woods coverage thus far, including:

The instant presumption of guilt;
The high-and-mighty tone of the media coverage;
The rush-to-criticism of how he's handled the situation.

Perhaps it really is the worst PR hatchet job ever, BUT I don't see anyone bothering to argue that perhaps Tiger's handled it perfectly. A few thoughts ...

Have any of your friends and family expressed real disdain for Tiger's alleged dalliances? I haven't. Why? Because we all do stupid things and unless you're a grandstanding politician or member of the 4th estate struggling for eyeballs, we know better than to judge.
How many people do you REALLY believe will stop buying Cadillacs, Wheaties and every other piece of merch featuring his name or likeness? Here's my guess ... 1% drop-off. And over time he'll gain that back.
What explanation does he owe anyone? Where in the celebrity-fan social contract does it say he's on the hook to come clean?
None of us are privy to the legal ramifications of going public. Someone in his position might have more to gain by letting the rumor mill stir rather than telling his story to us.
Why do we care so much about what he does in his private time? Why is it even worth his time to indulge our gossip-loving fanaticism?
I keep hearing people say that if he just went public right away, this would all have blown over. Nonsense. This story has legs regardless of his participation. Nothing he could do would dampen the volume or tone of coverage.

To be honest, I'm not sure I'm buying my own argument. But I guess the point of this post is that we should always force ourselves to look at situations like this from every angle - not just the most obvious or convenient.

Brand Partnerships

Ian Sohn — 2009-11-24T11:35:33-05:00

(CC by ooh.ooh)

A few years ago I was thrilled to be nominated to lead the global brand partnership strategy for the then-fledgling Nokia NSeries brand. I was the first person at big blue to ever have a job dedicated to this pursuit.

My remit was essentially to identify lifestyle brands whose customers were attractive to NSeries, define a mutually beneficial value-exchange, and "pitch" (for lack of a better term) my partnership ideas. It was a dream job ... it took me to far off places to meet and work with some of the world's most admired brands and interact with a ton of smart marketers.

For a number of non-important reasons I was recently thinking about that time in my life, and the valuable things I learned on the fly. I've never really memorialized those lessons, and my memory isn't getting any better.

A bit of a laundry list, but perhaps a nugget or two you can use to get off the blocks a bit faster ...

Before you do anything, you must articulate the objective your partnerships will support. Sales? Brand awareness? Competence in a specific area?
Think about the benefits of a brand partnership, including (but not limited to) marketing efficiencies; access to the passion people feel towards your partner's brand; access to new audiences; amplifies your own brand's values. Be sure to clearly articulate these to internal decision makers.
Take an honest assessment of everything your brand has to offer ... audience, reputation, distribution, physical assets, media, etc. Remember, partnerships must be mutually beneficial.
This depends on your specific case, but make a list of desired partners, segmenting them in a way that allows you evaluate and prioritize.
Remember that partnerships come with risks, including (but not limited to) less control over the message; slower decision making processes; you take on the reputation of your partner - good and bad. Proactively develop a risk-and-response plan.
While partnerships are often thought of as consumer or industry facing, don't forget what they mean to your internal stakeholders. Build in some kind of benefit to your rank-and-file ... a discount, exclusive access to some content, etc.
Long-term partnerships tend to fare better than one-offs, but require dedicated resources to manage and optimize.
Related to the above, partnerships based on a single product or service can be fickle, and don't give the relationship time to blossom.
If done right (and with the right brand) partnerships can not only amplify the good things about your company, but also help mitigate negative perceptions.

Any lessons you care to share from your experiences?

The Most Important Men in Marketing?

Ian Sohn — 2009-11-22T20:07:29-05:00

Do you know these men?

I am a huge believer in Alan Wolk's theory of NASCAR blindness. Both because I've seen it in practice, and I've recognized it in myself from time-to-time. With that ...

I don't think it's going out on a limb to say that Dana White and Brian France could walk down Madison Avenue without causing much of a stir. Which is too bad because one could easily argue that White and France - along with Vince McMahon - know the American consumer landscape better than anyone in the "industry."

If you don't know [it's OK, we don't judge here at Flagged For Follow Up] White is the President of UFC; France the CEO and Chairman of NASCAR. If you don't know who McMahon is ... well I just can't imagine any marketer doesn't know the name.

By various accounts, collectively these men preside over empires that generate more than $2 Billion (with a B) in revenues per year. We're talking live events, TV deals, licensing, pay-per-view and merchandise galore. Sure, business has suffered a bit in the recession, along with just about everyone else.

There are 290 million people who live somewhere between Los Angeles and New York City. These guys have it dialed in when it comes to speaking to/entertaining/selling to this group.

So if we (by "we" I mean marketers in major cities) want to create "stuff" (campaigns, creative, trinkets, retail experiences ... whatever) that drive business results, we need to start thinking about what will appeal to 300,000 fans at Daytona, not the cast of Friends. More like a rabid crowd at a UFC match, less like a star-studded crowd at a Lakers game.

There are a ton of smart, talented and grounded marketers in this country. The smartest of them recognize a world west of the Hudson River.

Social Media in '10 (Most Definitely NOT Predictions)

Ian Sohn — 2009-11-18T06:30:21-05:00

I'm not big on predictions (namely because there are rarely consequences for being wrong). These are just five things I personally look forward to in 2010 ...

A kinder, gentler, more thoughtful tone. Less finger wagging at brands who just don't get it; more willingness to help brands understand and implement best practices. I've met some of the people I think are at the forefront of this new benevolence ... have you?
An end to the shoot first - ask questions later approach so many top-tier bloggers take to reporting news. Reputations, livelihoods and [drama alert] lives are at stake. Getting the story right, even if it means getting it 2nd. Fact checking. Protecting sources. Basics of solid journalism. All to often ignored. But I expect that to change as more readers migrate from print to online and demand a baseline of integrity.
Watching luxury brands get deeper into social media (e.g. Generation Benz, Art of the Trench). I know I'm not alone in thinking there is tremendous upside here. My colleague, Rohit Bhargava, wrote about it recently.
A shift from "we need a [fill in popular social network here] strategy" to "what are our business objectives, and how can social media help achieve them?" approach. A no-brainer, but I still see the former employed much more than the latter.
Social media penetrating the C-suite in a meaningful way. I'm not expecting CEOs at every Fortune 100 company to go wild on Tweetdeck or start a Posterous blog, but I do hope at the very least they become familiar with the basics and understand how their stakeholders (employees, customers, etc.) are using the medium.

Any comments on my list? What are you looking forward to next year?

Follow me on Twitter.

Improving Internet Users' Opinions About Your Brand

Ian Sohn — 2009-11-17T06:56:36-05:00

Notice the top three are all about listening? Such a crucial first step that's too often glossed over.

And take notice of the least important - somewhere Alan Wolk is smiling.

20 Things I Don't Get (Please Enlighten Me)

Ian Sohn — 2009-11-11T19:53:05-05:00

I make lots of lists. Going through a few recently and decided to gather random notes, thoughts, questions related to things I don’t get. Some I literally can’t comprehend. Others I just can’t fathom.

None of these are meant to be provocative - I pose these with total (or close to total) sincerity. I would love hear anything you have to say on the following ...

What either “the message is the medium” or “the medium is the message” actually mean, and why someone decided both made sense.
Why Keith Richards is not more widely recognized as a brilliant guitarist. Have you heard "Jumping Jack Flash?"
The semantic web. Can someone explain sans jargon?
“The Phantom Menace” (acting, story, special effects).
Why people are so shocked I like NASCAR.
Why anyone would expect Michael Jordan to be as good a man or basketball executive as he was a player.
Perez Hiton. Or for that matter, why people find cruelty so funny.
FriendFeed.
The intense debate over Twitter auto DMs.
Why any team still runs the “Cover 2” defensive scheme.
Crocs.
Why people blindly bow at the alter of Seth Godin.
Mafia Wars.
Banana Republic since 2002.
Isaiah Thomas (the man, the coach, the executive).
Scrubs (the TV show).
The incessant Tom Cruise bashing. Was the Oprah couch dance that bad?
Why more people don’t gush over Flickr.
“Dances with Wolves."
Why the last three years have flown by in the blink of an eye.

We Must Do Away With "Social Media"

Ian Sohn — 2009-11-06T07:22:19-05:00

We've got to kill the term social media as a way of describing what we do.

You suffer from serious lack of situational awareness if you haven't noticed the eye-rolling at the mere mention of the phrase.

How dare you Ian??

Really? Watch the videos and visit the websites. I'm not making this up. This is happening. It's funny, right? Hopefully it makes you a bit uncomfortable [it did for me].

I know I'm not the first to raise this concern. And I sense the drumbeat getting stronger.

I realize it's been widely socialized, and thus won't go away overnight. But I'm encouraged that some other really annoying terms that were once popular are rarely used these days [e.g. "dandy" and "slacks"].

Rather than crowd-sourcing a new catch-all and beating it into the ground, I propose we develop our own lexicons ... our own way of describing the discipline. And that might involve a more nuanced approach than a convenient phrase like social media.

Hi, I'm Ian Sohn. I'm a communications specialist, counseling brands on how digital conversations in online communities drive business results.

Not quite there, but better.

ROI is a #, not an Essay

Ian Sohn — 2009-10-24T07:08:00-04:00

This will be quick. Was on a solid panel the other day with Amber Naslund discussing measurement in social media.

Amber said something so obvious, yet so important for every social media marketer to hear. Paraphrasing ...

Anyone who's read a business book or gone to college should know ROI is a number derived from a simple mathematical formula.

Nailed it. Her point [or my take on her point] is very simple: If you want to be taken seriously by your management, your clients or your colleagues, understand what ROI actually is and figure out how to calculate it.

No one wants the round-about, long-form, chock-full-of-caveats explanation of ROI. They just want the #. And if you can't measure return for something in particular, then just say so.

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/iansohn

How I (Don't) Manage My Online Brand

Ian Sohn — 2009-10-16T21:23:55-04:00

I was recently asked my how I manage my personal brand in social media.

I don't.

Well, not entirely true. I don't behave any differently online than I do in the real world. It's common sense, right? Some of the rules I live by ...

Look presentable: Yes, I take pride in how I put myself together in the morning. Just like I take pride in how my blog looks and what my profile pics say about me.
Be nice to strangers: I appreciate every blog comment and re-tweet, and am happy to return the favor any time - regardless of whether you're my college roommate or someone I've never met.
Be multidimensional: I'm a proud dad, professional, Cubs fan. Why would I be anything different on Twitter? My blog, Facebook and Twitter feeds are each a mix of all those facets of my life.
Take responsibility for your actions: I own up to what I say and do - online or otherwise.

What are some other rules that fit into this list?

PRSA and SUPERCOMM Speaking Engagements

Ian Sohn — 2009-10-14T19:35:10-04:00

I'll be sitting on two panels next week. In both cases the panels will be 3 people [including me], which will hopefully make for a good and intimate conversation. Please say hello if you happen to be around.

Tuesday, October 20
PRSA: Social Media: Measurement and Analytics
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Maggiano's Little Italy (516 North Clark Street, Chicago)
Fellow panelists include Amber Naslund from Radian6; Brandon Noel, Communications Consultant Allstate Insurance Company. The panel will be moderated by Gini Dietrich, Chief Executive Officer, Arment Dietrich, Inc.

Friday, October 23
Supercomm: Communications Integration: Technology's impact on marketing, advertising and PR
1pm-2:15pm
McCormick Place (Room W178A)
Fellow panelists include Erin Byrne, CEO, proof digital media and Chief Digital Strategist, Burson-Marsteller; Amielle Lake, CEO, Tagga Media Inc. The panel is moderated by John Salak, Founder & President, The Salak Group.

Ambient Awareness & Class Reunions

Ian Sohn — 2009-10-11T15:29:46-04:00

Just a quick thought ...

Ever since Clive Thompson published his New York Times article, I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You, the term 'ambient awareness' has been tossed around liberally in social media circles. And for good reason ... it's a nice way of describing the connections enabled by communities like Twitter and Facebook. As the article describes it ...

It [ambient awareness] is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Later in the article ...

Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating. The ambient information becomes like “a type of E.S.P.,”

It's that last bit, about E.S.P., that particularly hits home after spending this past weekend celebrating a milestone high school reunion. As my eyes floated around a room filled with people I hadn't seen or spoken to in many years, I felt totally in-the-know ...

Teddy? San Francisco, two kids. John? Chiropractor, stays in touch with Gregg. Dina? Can't believe her twins started 5th grade. Micah? Wonder how he likes living in the suburbs?

No big takeaway here ... just that after using the term 'ambient awareness' so often in the last year, it all finally makes sense; and I now have a good example to use when describing the term.

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/iansohn.

5 Marketing Lessons from Wine Country

Ian Sohn — 2009-09-28T22:05:06-04:00

Disclaimer: Don't worry ... I have no intention of fashioning myself as the next Gary the "social media sommelier" Vaynerchuk [for those of you who are not familiar with Gary, check out http://tv.winelibrary.com/ for a truly unique experience].

I recently returned from my first-ever trip to California wine country [specifically Sonoma]. In addition to pristine weather, post-card vistas, incredible wine and some of the best food I've ever had, I also picked up a few lessons that might be useful for any marketer.

Lesson 1 - In sea of uneducated consumers, free is a good starting point: If you're like me you haven't the faintest idea why one winery is better than the next. The ones we ended up visiting our first day were largely based on free tasting passes [a $10-$20 value] passed on by our concierge. Not the most sophisticated method of choosing, but a starting point. I'm not advising marketers give away their product [who do you think I am, Chris Anderson?] but I do think trial is crucial, and free is as powerful driver of that behavior.

Lesson 2 - Get your story straight, then tell it with passion: My wife and I were fortunate enough to visit with a guy called Stewart Dorman who runs a winery called Adrian Fog. Stewart has a great story [former wine writer ... left to pursue his passion ... spends his days toiling in the vineyards or perfecting his blends ... only makes 1,000 cases barrels a year ... etc.]. It's not so much Stewart's story [which is awesome] but the passion with which he tells it. We walked away from our conversation with two bottles of relatively expensive wine - I wanted to take part of Stewart's story home with us.

Lesson 3 - Create a captivating and differentiating experience: Of all the places we visited, we only joined one wine club - and it wasn't necessarily the best wine we had [but it was damn good]. Rather, it was the winery that did an elegant snack pairing with their tasting flight, spent an hour talking us through the flight, answered our questions, told us their history ... they were the anti-wine snobs. And it made their tasting room different than the others, and a really fun experience. The winery is Williamson Wines.

Lesson 4 - "Limited edition" can be a powerful sales tool: I quickly realized that most wine for sale was not available for distribution [meaning only sold direct or via a wine club]. So the pitch is: You can't get this anywhere else other than buying it right now. Wouldn't it be a shame to get home and think to yourself, 'too bad I didn't get that wine when I had the chance'?

Lesson 5 - Search is king: Found on every street corner in the town of Healdsburg. Charming, no?

the3six5 Project

Ian Sohn — 2009-09-27T21:32:18-04:00

Len Kendall - he of Constructive Grumpiness - has taken on quite an ambitious project for 2010.

Everyday next year a different person will pen a 250 word entry about their experience that day. No specific topic - just as long as it relates to something going on that day. Come December 31, Len expects to have collected the story of one year, told by 365 individuals.

It's called the3six5 ... you can check it out at www.the3six5.com.

I was thrilled Len asked me to contribute. I chose January 8 for three reasons: (1) I figured it might help get my mind going after the holidays (2) I wanted to go early enough as to not be influenced/intimidated by months of great entries and (3) It's my son's birthday.

If you're interested in contributing, email the3six5@gmail.com [sounds like Len has been getting a lot of emails, so be patient].

Nancy Grace is Everywhere

Ian Sohn — 2009-09-23T07:48:54-04:00

Including as a bookmark in Dan Brown's new book. What?!

Posted via email from Ian Sohn's Posterous

What If ... James Dean Lived a Long Life?

Ian Sohn — 2009-09-19T14:32:50-04:00

Thanks to PSFK for pointing me to this spot for Allan Gray, a South African financial services firm. Just watch it.

What I Like About Posterous

Ian Sohn — 2009-09-07T16:11:41-04:00

Posterous is the popular new kid on the block. There are a number of good reasons to like the service ... from how ridiculously easy it is to post, to how it syndicates content across the social web, to the great bookmarklet and more. Mashable has a nice post about some of the killer 'hidden' features.

But thinking about it today, what I like the most about Posterous is how egalitarian it is. Whether you're a big shot like Alex Bogusky and Guy Kawasaki or a regular Jane like Stephanie Lim, Posterous is not about bells, whistles and fancy design.

And that's what I like about Posterous - everyone starts with the same visual template. It's the content you put into your Posterous feed that will make it stand out from the crowd.

All About Foursquare

Ian Sohn — 2009-09-02T13:46:32-04:00

This was originally posted on Ogilvy's Travel and Tourism blog. I realize most of the people who read this blog already know about Foursquare. But for my father ...

Foursquare is an interesting, fun and [at times] useful service that’s gotten some solid buzz in the last few months. It’s the brainchild of the folks who brought us the one-time Internet service darling, Dodgeball. I found this article from the New York Future Initiative which does a nice job of explaining the service, and the creators’ vision for what it might become.

With the ever-growing buzz, I thought you might appreciate the skinny …

What it is

Foursquare describes itself as 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game, though my personal bias is that [at least for the time being] it’s more game.

How it works

A player checks in with Foursquare when they are out and about at a restaurant, bar, museum, movie theater, etc. Checking in earns you points. Points earn status [e.g, I was for a fleeting moment the Mayor of the Bowery Hotel Bar]. You can also earn badges for doing interesting things, like checking in at odd times or out-of-the-way places.

For now points/badges only get you bragging rights, though clearly that will change at some point [e.g., Ian checked in 5 times at Old Town Social, earning him a free cocktail].

How you "play"

Players check in via a slick iPhone app [uses GPS to find your location and things around you], mobile site and text message. You can have Foursquare ping Twitter when you check in.

Where it works

At the time of this post, Foursquare is available in: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

My recommendation

If you’ve got an iPhone, I recommend giving it a whirl - nothing to lose. If you’re a marketer, you should take a peak under the hood so you understand the possibilities when Foursquare [inevitably] opens for [paid] business. If you’re a business in one of the cities above [particularly in a hipster neighborhood] maybe play around with rewarding patrons for checking in from your store/bar/restaurant.

It’s not there yet, and may never be. But I continue to hear the buzz …