If you’re on Foursquare, you’ve probably seen me, I’m the mayor of the Iowa Memorial Union and the Pentacrest (still working on winning back the Pappajohn Business Building). Foursquare is a location-based social network that allows users to “check in” virtually to real places. Each place has its own page with user-submitted pictures – and insider tips from the people that frequent it. The following are some of the best tips that Foursquare users have left for University of Iowa students.
Sony is a company that is well represented on many different social media mediums. They are tech-savvy to a fault and make sure that the Sony brand is constantly under watch. One of the biggest tools they use is HootSuite, which allows monitoring of many different social media platforms including, but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and LinkedIn. Hootsuite allows for keyword tracking and helpful analytics to judge the effectiveness of campaigns.
According to an article on RavenTools.com, Sony listens to its customers and changes their marketing in response to what people are saying online. The Sony VAIO was previously sold in terms of technical specifications, but customers responded better to features described in ways that evokes emotion. Words like “love” and “style” created more sales than talk of disk space capacity or amount of RAM. People also like the ability to customize their laptop and Sony responded with accessories and colors – an additional sales opportunity. The results meant a significant increase in sales for the VAIO line.
In another instance, Sony responded to customers Facebook and Twitter questions about how to do certain things with the Cybershot camera by creating easy to follow Youtube videos. This resulted in less Cybershot returns and cut costs in customer service calls. The Youtube videos represent an innovative response that ended up saving the company a lot of time and money.
Keyword monitoring turned up word associations between the Sony Reader and “moms” – the purchasers of the product. Sony repositioned its advertising to feature this group which again resulted in increased sales.
Sony listens. The company also has a Twitter just for product support questions. Being proactive about solving customer complaints is another way that Sony manages its brand and handles what people say on social media.
They also sell great products! And if you’re a student, you can receive an education discount by going to the Sony Education Store. The aforementioned Cybershot and VAIO are some products I physically have to demonstrate if you’re interested in checking them out. Just respond to this post with a comment!
For the past year or so, I’ve been working as a Student Ambassador for Sony. I started late, so I missed the annual “Sony Retreat” training in San Diego, California last year. This year, I was invited to continue my ambassadorship, and as a result, was finally able to attend!
Sony Pictures
Sony sure knows how to treat its employees right. We were flown in and Escaladed (Is that a verb? Probably not) to Sony Pictures in LA for some fun before getting down to business. It was a great way to start getting to know the other ambassadors and check out some of the sets where Sony Pictures movies are filmed. We had dinner and were welcomed by the founder of Volt and some Sony executives. Afterwards, we headed to the Century City mall to check out a Sony store in action and see good product demoing in action. By the end, everyone was tired and most collapsed in our hotel rooms when we arrived in San Diego.
Products!
The next morning was our first glimpse at the Sony Electronics corporate headquarters. The morning session was filled with informative lectures about Sony as a whole by executives that know it well. After lunch, the secrets surrounding what products we would be given were revealed – PS Vita, VAIO S Laptop, V20 iPod Sound Dock, Digital Voice Recorder, TX20 Digital Camera, and Walkman W Headphones. Obviously, we needed some time to play with our new toys, then had product knowledge training for the rest of the work day. We wrapped up the day by going to an Italian restaurant for dinner (all 100+ of us), and saw the new Spiderman complete with snacks in 3D afterwards.
The Patio where we ate lunch
Day three was about event planning, networking, and social media – my specialty. I was given the opportunity to represent the student ambassadors on a social media panel with Sony’s social media experts. From thereon out I was known as “that social media girl” and I’m still getting questions! After work was done for the day, we were bussed over to a place called the Wavehouse where you could ride a fake wave. We also had fun on the beach playing volleyball while some other ambassadors were testing out their nifty new cameras. Smores topped off a great night on the beach.
Chris Rene
The last day was bittersweet, because we knew we soon would be heading home. However, everyone was filled with adrenaline because there was an ambassador-wide competition to win. Each team (about 10 people) was given an hour to put together a demo to give in front of judges composed of people who had been giving lectures or product knowledge training. Our group decided it would be smart to demo more than one item and try to tie them together in some way. It wasn’t hard getting people to agree on the products or the vague situation, but it was hard getting people to agree on the details. Eventually, we threw together a video of two situations involving the Walkman W Headphones and V20 iPod Dock. We didn’t know what to expect from everyone else, but we put our best feet forward. While half the team was editing, the other part was doing mock demos for Sony employees who stopped by for a fair of sorts. It was fun practice and crucial for the newcomers. The day went by slowly after that going through more administrative stuff – we were anxious to see who won. The day ended with mocktails and a gourmet dinner on the 11th floor. Third place was called – winners got an Xperia Ion phone and smartwatch. Second place was called, with an Ultrabook as a prize. FIrst place – my team! We won NEX-7 cameras which are just about the coolest most BA cameras, ever. We were so excited. After all that, we were ushered downstairs for a private concert from X-factor’s Chris Rene. Like I said – Sony knows how to treat their employees right.
Wise words from the Sony wall
My favorite part of the week has to be meeting all the other ambassadors and putting faces to the names of some of the returning ambassadors. I also gained a new confidence in my job after comparing experiences with others and being able to share my failures and successes with the newcomers. One girl even told me that she stumbled upon a blog I had written and reading it helped her decide to take the job! There’s no greater compliment than that.
Unfortunately, this will be my last year (semester even) as a student ambassador, but I’m hoping that Sony isn’t done with my quite yet
Mayors, badges, tips, specials, points… I can see how it could be confusing for a newcomer. But Foursquare is something worth figuring out. If you’re a business owner, using Foursquare can provide another platform in which you can draw in customers. If you’re a shopper, Foursquare directs you to the best places, products, and deals. It is a hub of information and opportunity if used correctly. So let me break it down for you…
Checking In
Checking in at the place I ate dinner tonight
One of the most fundamental actions of using Foursquare is checking into places. Basically, if there’s a place, someone has probably created it’s equivalent on Foursquare. All you do is find your place, and click “Check In.” Other options include sharing your check ins with Facebook and Twitter, but I advise you to use these options sparingly. No one wants to know everything you’re doing all the time, and you probably don’t want to invite stalkers if your profiles are public… Other people can comment your check ins, and you can upload pictures to places you’ve checked in. Foursquare is really a lot like Facebook, but it’s niche is location-based social media.
Being the Mayor
Here's the bottom of a Foursquare "place" page
Foursquare is first and foremost about brag rights. Being the mayor means that people see your picture and name pop up every time they check into a place you’re the mayor of. It can help you build a reputation for yourself in a community among other Foursquare members; if you’re mayor of a lot of academic buildings, you must be involved and studious. If you’re mayor of a lot of bars… you like to have fun (maybe at the expense of studying). So it might be worth being selective of what you strive to be the mayor of.
Badges
Badges are basically proof that you get out and do various activities. Each badge is centered around a certain activity… whether it be academic, entertainment, food, drink… you get the idea. My campus has it’s own badge you can earn after checking into certain places. The more badges you have, the more you obviously use Foursquare.
Points
Points are probably the most blatantly competitive part of Foursquare. There’s a scoreboard that pits you against your friends, and there’s an all time high score that you can try to beat for yourself. Other than that, they don’t serve much of a purpose.
Specials
Specials are one of my favorite parts of Foursquare. They are little known and under utilized. One special almost anyone, anywhere, can use is a special for free chips and salsa at Chili’s. All you have to do is check in! In my college town, there are a lot of bar and food specials – either a free item or a percentage off of your bill. Specials are denoted by an orange rectangle that says “Special” when you check into a place. You can also find them under the “Explore” tab.
Tips
You can leave tips at places you’ve checked in at to warn someone about bad service or praise a place for doing something right. Tips are also a great place to do a little self-promotion. If you’re the mayor of a place, your tips pop out at people when your friends check in.
Annnnd those are the basics of using Foursquare. Do you have any tips or tricks for the Foursquare beginner? Or any questions for how to get the most out of it?
I went to Lollapalooza for the first time in my life, and it was every bit as amazing as everyone who’s ever went told me. I’m so beat from the three day experience that I took off work today to recover.
I’ve been to other music festivals (Warped Tour, Projekt Revolution), and one thing I love is that there are always freebies. Sometimes they’re are free music tracks, or keychains, stickers, etc., but at Lolla, the freebies were items of actual use. State Farm gave out a “Survival Kit” in exchange for your email and a few survey questions. The Survival Kit had sunscreen, hand sanitizer, chapstick, and earplugs – everything a Lolla-goer could ever want. Google was giving out battery powered squirt fans to promote Google+. There was a radio station with a phone charging station, Toyota handed out iconic Lolla headbands… the list goes on. My boyfriend packed a backpack filled with the essentials… but we didn’t need half the stuff we brought after raking in the freebies.
All I could think about was how awesome of advertising that was for those companies – especially the ones that successfully captured people’s information. Their potential customers will remember the friendly staffers and the awesome freebies when considering their services. State Farm sent me an email almost immediately following my visit to their tent and offered me additional freebies – MP3 downloads. Even though they had to put forth money to supply the freebies, the festival-goers became their walking billboards. I remember seeing things that people were carrying and immediately setting forth to get my own.
For people that follow Lollapalooza on Twitter or Facebook, there was an additional chance at free merchandise. They would announce a giveaway every hour or so during the festival if you met Lolla staffers at certain locations. One popular giveaway was for Camelbacks. I didn’t even know what those were prior to Lolla, but now I’m seriously considering getting one for future music festivals. I saw people with them everywhere. They were selling them for an unheard of $60 at the (free) Camelback-sponsored water bottle filling station. I figured no one would be crazy enough to blow $60 on a glorified water bottle (especially when you can get it for $40 or less online), but I couldn’t have been more wrong. They sold out. Such is the power of walking advertisements.
So companies, embrace the power of freebie marketing. It works, makes people happy, and produces results.
