Yelp Checks-In on Foursquare and Gowalla

Yelp is making a huge splash on Gowalla and Foursquare by adding Check-In features for the iPhone this past week. It has plans to be on the Droid and other mobile operating systems very soon. 26 Million people connected with local businesses with Yelp last year and has over 1.25 million users in their community. The new release of the Yelp Check-In system is shaking up the competition. Mashable did a poll on who would win in a fight of location based mobile services which included Yelp, Gowalla and Foursquare. Of the 2495 votes Yelp received only 26% of the votes. That was at the brink of Yelp adding the Check-In feature and iPhone users are still updating to the new Yelp 4.0 software. I would like to see a similar poll at SXSWi this coming March, as we could see significantly different results.  Much like Foursquare and Gowalla, the sharing feature of the new Yelp app allows you to tell your friends on Twitter / Facebook.  Also enabling the push feature allows you to get instant alerts of where your friends. Yelp allows you to turn on “weekend only” push alerts which is new to the mix.

Why Yelp has Gowalla and Foursquare freaking out?

Yelp Monocle – this is the Augmented Reality feature Yelp added last year and has made significant updates with the new release including a new “map” feature that will move with you. Having the reviews, distance to location, type of business, and price point show up is a nice bonus with the Monocle.

Reviews - Foursquare and Gowalla both have Tips/Review systems but have a lot of ground to catch with the over 9 Million business reviews which puts Yelp in a sweet spot. Not only will you be able to see who posted the review but how many times they have been to that business.

Filtered Reviews – In 2005 Yelp added in a Review Filter which has evolved and helped businesses with credibility. The algorithm of how this is filtered is going to be quite a challenge for the competition.

Photos- The ability to add pics is a must.  When checking in on Yelp you can add pictures of the amazing dinner you are having or the coolness factor of the atmosphere. Foursquare and Gowalla do not have this as a feature.  You can however use third party applications such as Tweetphoto to check in on Foursquare just by simply taking a pic.

Maps- A Map that will show you the Check-Ins of your friends nearby and Check-In count next to your Yelp Star Rating once you write your first review.

Gowalla and Foursquare are focusing forward with virtual goods and a gaming aspect that Yelp has yet to release. It should be an interesting road forward.  Based on how Twitter spiked and took off in March ‘09 ,whichever location based service company shows up to SXSWi in March with the most offline collateral and banners for all bars, restaurants, keynotes, panels etc will probably be the clear winner for 2010. Let’s see if Mashable’s poll will shift then… What App do you use to Check-In and what do you think of the new Yelp app?

Social Media Starts with Strategy, not Solution

Don’t be fooled by the all time high of Social Media Hype.  Coming from the tech world of Solution Based Selling I can see how easy it is to rush into using Social Media platforms before strategically building a Digital Strategy (aka Shiny Object Syndrome). Of course you need a Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr page for your company … right? I get it.. you might assume that by jumping on the Social Media bandwagon you will drive a good amount of traffic to your site… That’s not realistic unless you put a strategy in place first.  SXSW Interactive and Blogworld opened some eyes to a new breed of “Social Media Agencies” and “Social Media Experts” who primarily speak and consult about what they are doing for clients on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc.  Typically these “Experts” have a Tech, PR, or traditional marketing background which led me to the question a few things… Have these “Experts” ever run a successful business before? Do they even understand fundamental business processes? It seems so often that “Social Media People” talk up the Social Media Fluff but lack a understanding in key business principles and objectives.  Our Digital and Social Strategy always starts with Forrester’s POST Methodology.

P is People. Don’t start a social strategy until you know the capabilities of your audience. If you’re targeting college students, use social networks. If you’re reaching out business travelers, consider ratings and reviews. Forrester has great  data to help with this, but you can make some estimates on your own. Just don’t start without thinking about it.

O is objectives. Pick one. Are you starting an application to listen to your customers, or to talk with them? To support them, or to energize your best customers to evangelize others? Or are you trying to collaborate with them? Decide on your objective before you decide on a technology. Then figure out how you will measure it.

S is Strategy. Strategy here means figuring out what will be different after you’re done. Do you want a closer, two-way relationship with your best customers? Do you want to get people talking about your products? Do you want a permanent focus group for testing product ideas and generating new ones? Imagine you succeed. How will things be different afterwards? Imagine the endpoint and you’ll know where to begin.

T is Technology. A community. A wiki. A blog or a hundred blogs. Once you know your people, objectives, and strategy, then you can decide with confidence.

(Thanks to Jeff Bernoff of Forrester’s Groundswell Blog)

I tend surround myself with business and thought leaders, along with a great mix of Digital Strategy Rockstars. These business leaders and Rockstars leverage Social Media to help grow both their business and their clients businesses.  At the same time I run into daily “Social Media People” that talk all about “Social Media Stuff” and don’t understand business principles behind their message. So before you go out and build a Facebook fan page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account, make sure you know where your audience is and have clear defined objectives. That way when you start diving into your strategy you be able to leverage the right technology to help your business grow.

Monetizing in the Blogosphere

Technorati’s CEO Richard Jalichandra released a preview of their annual State of the Blogosphere report at Blogworld 2009.  The  ”New Technorati” was announced which would allow bloggers to publish content directly to Technorati. This will allow the slightly less known bloggers to have the opportunity to get more recognition.  Some of the highlights from this years report included:

Monetization and Revenue

Professional bloggers monetize their blogs via:

• Display Ads: 40% (up from 28% in 2008)
• Search Ads: 39%
• Affiliate Links: 36%
• Paid Postings: 8%
• Self-Employed Bloggers are the most likely to sell their inventory through a blog ad network & use affiliate links
• 2 out of 3 Part-Timers and Self-Employed bloggers use self-serve ad platforms

17% say blogging is their primary income

68% increase in the number blogs with ad tags from 2008 to 2009

• 2008 67% of ad tags were Google
• 2009 47% of ad tags are Google

Brands In The Blogosphere:

• 70% of all bloggers blog about brands
• 80% of Part-Timers & Self-Empleyed blog about brands

One in three post reviews at least once a week

Corporates get paid to write for their companies

40% of Professional Bloggers have worked in traditional media

Top 10 Social Media Handbooks and Online Communication Guideline Examples

Do you need to establish Social Media Guidelines for your company? Establishing a Social Media Handbook, Online Communication Guidelines, and Training employees on the appropriate use of social media within those guidelines, are fundamental in running a successful company. The following provided Social Media Policies and Online Communication Guides are meant to be used as a starting ground for your organization to ensure you are protecting your companies integrity through Social Media efforts. As you know these guidelines will continue to evolve as web participation and interactions evolve.

American Red Cross

One of the most admirable published Social Media Handbooks and Online Communications Guidelines was created by Wendy Harman of the Red Cross. They have divided their guides into two parts which include the Communications Guidelines and Social Media Handbook but actively reference each other within the documents:
The Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units

The American Red Cross Online Communications Guidelines

Gartner

Gartner Public Web Participation Guidelines

Greteman Group

Greteman Group Social Media Policy

IBM

IBM Social Computing Guidelines

Intel

Intel Social Media Guidelines

Kodak

Kodak Social Media Tips and Guidelines

Mayo Clinic

Participation Guidelines
Comment Policy
For Mayo Clinic Employees

Porter Novelli

Porter Novelli Blogging and Social Media Policy

SAP

SAP- Social Media Participation Guidelines 2009

Telstra

Telstra (Australia) – Social Media Guidelines

Please let us know if there are any that you feel are left out of this list?

Video: Shift Happens in Social Media.. Did You Know?

Just when the “Social Media Revolution” YouTube video is peaking at generating massive buzz, the highly respected Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod step in and release a video called “Did You Know 4.0″ (Shift in Social Media).

In early 2007, a version of this video was released called “Shift Happens”, which received over 4.8 million views. Although the music is not as trendy on the video as the Social Media Revolution video, it does a superb job in tracking the Shift in Social Media and the extreme coverage it has over traditional media outlets. More than anything its full of fun facts and figures including such things as “The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper and a thousand times more powerful and about a hundred thousand times smaller (than the one computer at MIT in 1965)…” Great job on this video guys! (and look forward to an Erik Qualman followup video….Social Media Revolution II)

Social Media Team: The Builder and the Nurturer

The last few months I have been running into more and more companies that have a so-called Social Media Rockstar or Expert on their team which seems very intriguing. One of the first questions that I always ask them is what their daily routine looks like. I get a few different answers but most revolve around different Social Networking Platform tactics and creating conversation/engaging their target audience blah blah blah. But a commonality with the more successful Social Media campaigns always involves a minimum of two people, which fit into the following categories: The Builder and the Nurturer.

The Builder:

The person who develops the framework and overall Social Media strategy.

The Nurturer:

The person and/or people who promote/engage conversation, drives the brand and generates awareness.

If you have one person in your company that holds both of these positions then chances are they are lacking focus. In order to effectively create a voice for your brand online you must leverage a minimum of two people no matter how great of a rockstar you may have on your team.

Socialnomics: Coming to a Classroom Near You

The term Socialnomics was coined by Erik Qualman @equalman who also wrote a book this year titled “Socialnomics”. It talks about how social media transforms the way we live and do business. If you haven’t picked up a copy of the book you should, as it does a great job of describing the massive socio-economic shift that is fundamentally changing the way consumers and companies communicate/interact with each other. We all understand how everyone leverages Social Networks to post comments, updates, upload pictures, videos, etc etc but many younger people truly lack the understanding of the amount of power Social Media has on businesses. Socialnomics inevitably will be one of the next classes added to accredited school curriculum but the time is now for students to learn how to leverage social media as it relates to business. This allows this generation a clear opportunity to leverage Social Networks that they are already familiar with and taking that to the next level of engaging audiences from a business prospective. Time to put together some curriculum for Socialnomics 101.

Confirmation: BuzzShift Kicks Ass (via Alltop)

(Don’t worry we are not tooting our own horn…) If your looking for all of the top headlines from topics around the web, look no further than Alltop.com.  From Social Media, to SEO, to Photography- AllTop.com is by far one of the best places to find the information you are looking for. Guy Kawasaki created Alltop to help answer the question, “Whats Happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you. It is different than a search engine as it gives you a new perspective on the question “what is happening now?” It is thought of as Online Magazine Rack of some of the best content you can find. Buzzshift.com is proud to be Best of the Best on Alltop.  Feel free to check it out at http://social-media.alltop.com .

News Flash: Social Media Isn't a Fad.

Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental Shift in the way we communicate. Special thanks to @equalman for this video.

Social Good Conference on BuzzShift.TV

Mashable is holding its first ever Social Good Conference on Friday, August 28 at the historic 92nd Street Y in NYC. The event is being covered on Livestream and BuzzShift.TV is your exclusive behind the scenes live pass.   The Conference is celebrating the finale of the Summer of Social Good charitable campaign. BuzzShift.TV will be covering the event Live with some of the biggest names in social media and fundraising including Pete Cashmore (CEO, Mashable), (Adam Hirsh, Mashable), Randi Zuckerberg (CMO, Facebook), Beth Kanter (Beth’s Blog) and more. Mark you calendars now for Friday August 28, 2009 9am-7pm and join us Live on BuzzShift.TV for full coverage and interviews.