Speaking at March #140conf NYC Meetup: Real-Time Web + Location Services

Posted by Marshall Sponder on March 22, 2010 | Link It

Tonight I’m speaking at Jeff Pulver’s March #140conf NYC Meetup: Real-Time Web + Location Services along with FourSquare. Here’s the marketing notes about this meetup event and then I’ll talk about what I’m going to say.

An opportunity to discuss the emerging Real-Time Internet and the effects on business. A monthly gathering for friends of #140conf to get together and discuss issues of the day.

Schedule:

5:00 Registration / Networking
5:45 Discussion Starts

Speakers include:

- Jeff Pulver – State of NOW :Update. A look at the state of the Real-Time web. Talk will include reflections from SXSW 2010 and time for interactive Q+A.

- Anoop Ranganath, foursquare – foursquare @ SXSW

- Marshall Sponder, analytics and location.

7:00 Networking continues.

Excited – Jeff Pulver discussed having me speak at his meetup recently for an Analytics panel - I’m going to focus how Social Monitoring is able to deliver ROI more through real time platforms such as FourSquare and what that portends for the future of Social Media ROI and Social Monitoring.

Recently I did a post about SxSWi – focusing on geolocation – around the same time Jeff Pulver mentioned location based services superseded Twitter at South by South West this year in his post (and I heard that Evan Williams presentation at SxSW was awful too … but hey, I wasn’t there so it’s all rumor to me)

SXSW 2010: The days twitter became less relevant

Just last week it was announced FourSquare is working with Starbucks and what this tells us about the future – the analytics businesses can have in real time is going to make Social Media fully measurable for those who buy into platforms like FourSquare by years end.

I used an example that took place a few weeks ago at Havana Central – the restaurant chain Cecilia Pineda Feret, who is a Social Community Manager for (I also am doing some freelance analytics enablement work for Havana Central) .

I set up Radian6 alerts set up on Havana Central that sends email status every 10 minutes when anyone tweets or mentions the restaurant chain in any way. Got and alert from a customer who was saying she was in the restaurant – via Twitter. When I read my email alert from Radian6 I immediately realized the customer was in the restaurant at the very same moment we are.

The alert took place in real time – the customer and her friend were given free drinks and discounts – we used Social Media and Social Media Monitoring (via Radian6) to reward a customer who was having a great time – and we made that time better.

TWEET FROM: KIMBERLY819
Source: twitter.com, Posted on: Mar 01, 2010 9:36 PM by KIMBERLY819
Chillin with my girl Yesenia in the city!! Great restaurant Havana Central!! Great Live salsa band!! Oooooooowwwww!!!!
Following: 86 | Followers: 65 | Updates: 270 | Sentiment: Positive

TWEET FROM: KIMBERLY819

Name: KIMBERLY819 Posted on: Mar 1, 2010 1:07 AM

Followers: 66 Following: 87

What a GREAT night at Havana Central!!!! My new favorite spot!!

Link http://twitter.com/KIMBERLY819/statuses/9811482654

We gave Kimberly and her friend a free drink immediately – thanks to Radian6 -that sends us alerts frequently (with a picture of the tweeter when it’s available from a profile) we had no trouble finding her – she was right around the corner from the receptionists table as you enter the 46th Street Havana Central entrance.

THAT gesture was worth it in my opinion … look what the customer tweeted after the evening was over …..

You want Social Media ROI – you got ROI – a new loyal customer – perhaps a loyal customer for life – and you know what that is worth – a lot of money.

Read more: http://www.webmetricsguru.com/page/3/#ixzz0ijDzkfdF
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

In fact, for tonight’s talk on the Analytics of Real Time Location data I decided to take a look at how often the Kimberly819 could happen and what it might mean to Havana Central if we could reward a customer when they are actually in the restaurant and are either tweeting they are present or announcing to their friends on FourSquare they are in one of the 3 locations.

At least 20 times in the last month a customer tweeted they were in one of Havana Central’s locations:

For those customers who have linked their FourSquare accounts with Twitter and Facebook the numbers are even higher with about 5% of the total conversation recorded as having happened at one of the restaurants – and I can swear the number is closer to 10% as we get 2 or 3 tweets a day from people who are announcing they are at one of Havana Central’s locations.

Suppose we go with the higher number (around 60 individuals a month say “I’m at Havana Central” in one slang way or another) and estimate the typical loyal customer will return a certain number of times and spend a certain amount in per visit – we can get a approximate ROI number.

I’m going to make an deduction the typical “rewarded customer” we find via Twitter, FourSquare and Facebook might spend $300-$500 a year at the restaurant in addition to anything else they might have spent there if they had not been rewarded.

That might end up meaning that reward customers with a drink or something could yield close to 30K a month in additional revenue – and over a year that could mean as much as 360K – just by making someone’s visit a little bit friendlier and better for them.

I believe FourSquare is becoming a major factor in changing how business perceives Social Media. Recently FourSquare announced a new real time dashboard for business owners to interact with their customers in real time. The New York Times had a few case studies it shared about FourSquare’s new dashboard and how it’s been used.

AJ Bombers, a burger bar in Milwaukee, tested the new statistics tool and plans to use it to choose specials and promote new menu items, said Joe Sorge, co-owner of the restaurant.

“If I’m in another location, I can actually sit and look at that screen and see who checked in last, and I can reach out via Twitter and say ‘Welcome. Have you been here before? What kind of food do you like?’” said Mr. Sorge. “It makes the experience more enjoyable for the customer.”

Shelley Bernstein, chief of technology at the Brooklyn Museum, sees promise in the Staff pages. “Basically, the new statistics tools give us the ability to promote a personal face for our staff so we’re not just seen as an institution,” she said. “We’re wrapping all of this into our Web site through Foursquare’s A.P.I.’s, and we allow people to interact with staff and have the opportunity to engage with them in new ways.”

Another test customer, P.C.C. Natural Markets, a Seattle-based organic foods company, saw a large number of new Foursquare users coming to its stores over the weekend and used the analytics tool to figure out where they were coming from.

“By using the Foursquare dashboard, we figured out that they were coming for a new organic doughnut that had been advertised on TV,” said Ricardo Rabago, social media specialist for the company.

Mr. Rabago hopes to use the new tool to figure out when people are coming for lunch and offer coupons and specials to entice them to return

Case in point, I have a friend who is not at all into Social Media, she doesn’t have internet at home – only uses it at work – she owns a low tech phone and can’t even get emails on weekends.

You know what – by year’s end there will be millions of new people using FourSquare and Twitter – they want the discounts and real time coupons and they’ll need location based platforms to deliver it.

I can see millions of new people on FourSquare as soon as it becomes common knowledge they see they can get real time discounts just for showing up somewhere – get a free coffee and danish at Starbucks or a free drink and Havana Central.

FourSquare, in particular, will alert business owners in real time when people check in at their establishment. By years end, we won’t be talking about accuracy of measurement as much as how much ad dollars are moving to location based platforms.

I hope you join me in what will certainly prove to be a very entertaining evening at Jeff Pulver’s March #140conf NYC Meetup: Real-Time Web + Location Services