Some notes about, and context for, the latest weekly Trendrr chart, a collaboration between Advertising Age and social-media tracking service Trendrr Pro:

 
• This is the “Year of Location,” everybody in the tech media keeps saying, as geo-focused social-networking services like Foursquare and Gowalla keep growing their user bases and grabbing VC dollars. (Check out my colleague Edmund Lee’s take on Foursquare’s recent $20 million infusion.)

 

• “None of us have 30 million users,” Loopt CEO Sam Altman told USA Today yesterday, in a rather deft understatement (Loopt has 3 million users). “But we’re just at the beginning of breaking into the mainstream.” 

 

• But what counts as mainstream? Will the growth of location-focused services fuel the trend — can your average, middle-American mobile consumer really be convinced of the value of constantly “checking in” to locations? — or will the seamless inclusion of location capabilities into the likes of Facebook and Twitter do more to drive adoption? In mid-June, for instance, Twitter formally announced the launch of Twitter Places. In the thick of World Cup mania, the official Twitter blog noted, “It helps to know where a Tweet is coming from — is that person watching the game on TV or is he actually in the stadium?” 

 

• So, where are most tweets coming from so far? Twitter hasn’t revealed how many users (as a proportion of the total user base) are electing to reveal their locations, but among those that are, well, no surprise: Tweets classified as being “near” New York City are dominating, lately showing twice the volume — roughly a million geo-specified tweets a day — of the next runner up, Los Angeles. Chicago’s in third place, and San Francisco’s in fourth.

 

• Let’s dwell on that for a moment: Urban hipsters (and de facto tech early adopters) want the world to care where they are at any given moment, and marketers are being told that it matters. But consider the average daily life of an average American, which might not involve prideful trips to the new “it” bar or hot party or recently opened boutique. I’m thinking it’s more like: back and forth to work, one weekly trip to Walmart, a couple trips to the Shop-Rite, a stop at Walgreens to pick up a tube of antifungal cream, a back-and-forth to the mall multiplex on Friday night, a back-and-forth to the kids’ soccer practice Saturday morning, etc.

 

• Let’s step back a moment and just admit it: Location is interesting when it’s interesting … but usually it’s not. Sorry, Twitter, but the vast majority of people tweeting about the World Cup weren’t actually in the stadium.

The location-based applications Foursquare and Gowalla–which reward users with points for “checking in” at different places–are all the rage in some social groups. But many other people balk at sharing their precise location and struggle to see the point of doing so. A new location-based application for mobile phones called face2face hopes to attract new types of users by offering more filtered, useful information and providing more privacy controls.

“Location is more a platform than it is a particular service,” says Hameed Khan, CEO and lead developer of face2face. In other words, simply sharing location information isn’t enough–it also needs to be incorporated into a useful application. His application doesn’t require people to sign up to a new social network in order to use it. Instead, users can tap into their connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter–then see if any of their connections are nearby.
Unlike some services, which bombard users with the location of everyone in their social network, face2face only notifies users when a contact is nearby, and it does not give out that contact’s exact location. This is a subtle difference, but an important one, according to Khan. “We want to look just at what’s within walking distance, so oversharing doesn’t ruin it,” he says.
The application also comes with privacy settings that let users decide if they want to be invisible to others, and who they want to share their information with. Once users know they’re near each other, the application lets them communicate, by text, phone, or messages on a social networking site.
Khan says users need a good reason to share their location information, and developers need to assure users that their location will only be shown to people they trust, and that this will be done in a way they can understand and control. Khan adds that social and location information can also make advertising more relevant. For example, in the future, instead of simply offering coupons to nearby coffee shops, his app may offer coupons to a coffee shop where a friend is already sitting.
But some say proximity-based services could make targeted advertising feel more invasive. “We’re gallivanting into finally commercializing one of the last parts of life that isn’t filled with ads: friendship and hanging out,” says Michael Coté, an IT industry analyst with the research firm RedMonk.

Others, notably in the music industry, offer location-based applications that are more clearly useful. An early example was an iPhone app for the band Nine Inch Nails that filtered posts from users based on proximity. Fans at the same show could use the application to communicate with each other and the band. Rob Sheridan, the band’s creative director, says: “It was perfect for us as a band on tour, because we have events where our fans gather together in close proximity, and I’ve found that events really are the best use for this type of thing.”

Swipe is a brand-new service that will let anybody start (and become part of) social conversations around purchases. The idea is to let people who love shopping talk about the best deals that they have come across, and tell each other exactly where they have found them.

The site’s most distinctive feature is that such information is not walled in any sense, unlike other social shopping resources that prevent those who are not close friends and acquaintances from seeing the shopping history of others.

By having access to other people’s shopping habits in such an immediate way, then, you will be provided with a true idea of where the best spots to buy anything are. You will not be limited to these stores your friends always shop at, you will actually see what shoppers on the whole are doing. And the site also makes it very easy for people to discuss different stores until a consensus is reached concerning where to buy not only at the best prices, but also where sales teams really care for customers.

Foursquare is a location-based social network—and the current “it” thing for local business promotion. It’s used by retail shops, cafes, hotels, and even libraries. It’s a great way to find your customers, attract new ones and reward those who frequently visit your store. It capitalizes on the fact that many today use their smartphones and mobile digital devices to log into social media networks. And if you want to promote your business, this is exactly where you want to be—at the palm of your market’s hands.

Foursquare encourages customer shout outs.
Each time a customer visits your store, they “check in” and announce to friends where they are. Since you can link your Foursquare account to your Facebook and Twitter profiles, this shout out goes a long way. What’s more is that customers can give tips to their friends and followers.

This is a great strategy to promote your store. Remember, peer recommendation and word of mouth is the name of the game in social media.

Reward loyal customers with perks.
Foursquare makes it easy for you to keep tabs of your most loyal customers. And the one that visits you the most one earns the distinction of being your store’s Mayor. Many businesses take advantage of this by giving away freebies and discounts to frequent visitors and Mayors—they get free drinks, free meals, and other exclusive items and offers.

Make a mini-game out of it.
What’s fun about Foursquare is that you can engage your customers by creating a list of things to do while they’re inside your store. Whether it’s a mini treasure hunt, the top 5 things to order off the menu or a list of quirky things to do during their visit—it’s a fun way for your customers to interact with you. Best of all, if done right, this goes a long way to attracting new customers to your business.

If you’ve tried Foursquare already, share your stories here and let me know how it’s working for you!

The news of Facebook’s new game application, Retail Therapy (app, site), fits perfectly on Shopbabbles. It combines social networking, big brands, and shopping (albeit virtual and pretend) all in one. 

If you ever wanted to set up a fashion store selling top labels such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Gap, Barneys New York, Juicy Couture, Banana Republic, Tory Burch and TopShop.  Now you can.

The Sugar Inc. blog network (ShopStyle, PopSugar, FabSugar, BellaSugar) targeting 18-40 women, has just partnered with leading fashion brands to launch a Facebook-based game app, pitched as the ‘FarmVille of shopping’, called Retail Therapy where you set up and manage your own virtual store (a bit like the Fashion World and Mall World Facebook apps, but with heels).

The idea is simple and familiar; manage inventory from in-season fashion items, and build your clientele.  Upgrade your retail store with Facebook Credits that you win, earn or pay for – and build the best store in Facebook.

What’s different about Retail Therapy are the brand partnerships, which effectively transform the Facebook game into a vehicle for in-game advertising, and a Facebook promotional platfrom for exclusives, scoops and promotions for brand fans.  What would be really interesting is if the game evolved to include a social affiliate program – whereby visitors to friends stores could actually purchase items for sale – and the store owner receive an affiliate commission.

Virtual social commerce is an interesting twist on social commerce – with many marketing opportunities, and if you are a fashion brand, it’s perhaps worth investigating.  And for non-fashion retail brands too, there’s the opportunity to set up your own Facebook game for in-game advertising and promotions – perhaps a virtual social commerce game for your category…

Now excuse me, please, I have a delivery of Banana Republic Cotton Military Jackets to see to.

Retail Therapy promotional video

Tech Crunch interview with Brian Sugar

Research from PSFK Consulting on the Future of Retail  recently concluded that whether physically or through connected technologies, shopping is still best experienced socially.

A relavent but not brand new example of social shopping online is found at MattelShop.com  which debuted in 2009 and features an innovative tool called ShopTogether, a social shopping platform from DecisionStep that allows anyone to browse the site together with family and friends regardless of whether they are across town or around the world. Find out the details by clicking the ShopTogether link above.

There is a plethora of other social shopping sites such as Select2Gether and others which have been reported here on Shopbabbles. Shoppers have always requested the second, third or even fourth opinion when deciding on purchases together with friends or shop clerks. Now, online companies are accommodating this desire and are more accutely recreating the in-store shopping experience.

This video explains more about the ShopTogether tool by Decision Step and its favorable ROI.

Nielsen and Facebook joined forces to develop a study where they examine social media ad effectiveness.  The study surveyed 800,000 Facebook users. Not surprisingly, the results show an increase in ad recall, brand awareness and purchase intent in social ads, especially when users see friends becoming fans of a brand.

The study also reveled that ads with socially conscious messages tend to be more effective than other types of ads. Social ads perform better because they are a more personal, useful, and trusted form of advertising. The positive effects of a social campaign can be felt months after it’s over because the brand’s image is already marked by that social message.

Today, the 35-54 demographic represents more than 30% of the entire Facebook user base. This particular group is part of generation X, a group characterized by an inherently skeptical attitude and that prides itself on its high level of responsibility for all its actions. In other words, they like to feel they’re supporting social causes.Along with generation Xers, generation Yers—ages 18 to 25— are more environmentally conscious than previous generations. More than 75 percent of them reduced water consumption, more than 61 percent reduced energy consumption and nearly 39 percent have already purchased green products.Dream Factory Production’s own experience and research shows what Nielsen and Facebook study also demonstrates, there is greater brand awareness, brand favorability, and purchase intent among groups shown a social ad versus a non-social ad.

After the study, the Facebook team got to work and found innovative ways to apply their findings. In case you haven’t noticed, Facebook ads now show when a friend likes the brand. Why? Because it’s more likely that a person likes or tries a brand if his friends like it. People trust it more because the message is perceived as more transparent—even if the ad was originally placed by the brand being advertised.

Social media has taken industry by storm.  Initially put off as a novel communication game for ‘kids’, social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Myspace (although MySpace has been marginalized by the others), have developed real business applications.  So much so, that marketers are trying to figure out how to apply it at all the various consumer touchpoints, including retail.  The question is, how do you make Twitter, and other such technologies, relevant in a store experience. 

In March of this year, Arc Worldwide conducted a survey of shoppers examining how they connect social media and shopping.  They found that at this point social media is more of a pre-shopping device.  It influences brand perception and provides product information from trusted peers before the shopper gets to the retail outlet. However, social media is slowly making it’s way into the store.  Manufacturers and retailers are already experimenting with shopping assisted by smartphones.  Wall Street Journal reports that Best Buy will be employing the Shopkick app this summer which pushes advertisements through to shoppers’ phones while they’re in the store.  “With the Shopkick app, the retailer will know who individual shoppers are and can communicate, ‘when you need it, and how you want it,’ says Rick Rommel, Best Buy’s senior vice president of new business.’ Mobile retail is evolving in the US but has yet to catch up with Japan who has been out front with what they’ve coined ‘m-commerce.’

PSFK reports on multitouch displays that resemble Wolf Blitzer’s touch screen wall panels.  These life-sized screens would allow “groups of people to simultaneously engage.”  Shoppers could pull up product opinions  and information without having to talk to a sales associate. Future Of Retail: Massive Multitouch Displays – PSFK.

Instore Marketing Institute has reported on many of the technologies being explored to integrate social media and retail.  The implications are vast and growing as technology begins to catch up.

Post courtesy of Inside the Aisle.com

What will you get when you have a combination of a Barcode Scanner by ZXing Barcode, Google’s Google Goggles and the Shopping Tab on Google.com.

Google Mobile Shopper

Google Shopper

“Shopper lets you find product information quickly by using your phone’s camera. It can recognize cover art of books, CDs, DVDs, and video games, along with most barcodes. You can also speak the name of the product you’re looking for.” via

Google Shopper Android App is slightly different, its goal could be more a direct hit against Amazon.

Google Shopper Android App will save your history that you can store easy the product and price information. You can favorite items but you also can share your selected items with your friends. Google Shopper helps you to find product information quickly by using your phone’s camera.

View everything you have purchased in the past, you can track your orders and your deliveries, you also can contact the sellers and this from one one web page.

Will Google Shopper revolutionize Online Shopping?

Shop with your Android Phone wherever you are make a picture of a pair of shoes you like and get the address of the next shop where you can buy it.

Manage all Online Stores with one account.