How will Foursquare win the check-in battle? SPECIALS

Posted on Apr 26, 2010 in Mobile, Social Media

How will Foursquare win the check-in battle? SPECIALS

In case you’ve missed it, there is an all-out geolocation battle going on between Foursquare and Gowalla. Both mobile apps were represented well at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. Personally, I thought both apps did a great job at SXSW, but if you’re looking for a winner from SXSW- check out this Mashable blog post, which has some very interesting results.

I’ve blogged about the reasons why I like Foursquare and have debated with others on whether or not apps like Foursquare and Gowalla will survive when the likes of Twitter and Facebook roll out their own check-in platforms. The competitive advantage that I think Foursquare has on other location-based apps – -> SPECIALS. Recently, I’ve noticed that my checking-in behavior has decreased, but what’s brought me back to using Foursquare are the promotions and specials.

Last week, on April 16, was the very first ‘Foursquare Day’ and was touted as the “first global social media holiday.” Foursquare Day was celebrated across the world in more than a 100 major cities. Here in Atlanta, we had our own website to keep track of all the specials that were going on throughout the day, Foursquare Atlanta. The Enguage DIG team decided to have a team outing and celebrate Foursquare Day by taking advantage of one of the lunch specials at Spice Market. We had the opportunity to interview the general manager at Spice Market Atlanta on Foursquare and the promotion:

Following Foursquare Day, Foursquare launched a do-it-yourself tool for businesses to claim their venue and start offering promotions and specials. Venue pages now include the message, “Are you the manger of this business?” and a link to begin the process of claiming the venue. From there, business owners can confirm ownership, create a special, and submit for verification. Foursquare business owners can even request to have official Foursquare window clings and stickers to advertise their specials.

What are your thoughts on the geolocation battle? Who will win? Foursquare? Gowalla? Facebook? Twitter? None of the above? Let me know what you think.

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  • http://www.jeffhilimire.com Jeff Hilimire

    After being at F8 last week, I think Facebook is going to win everything. They are going to take over social on the web and definitely overtake the location-based check-in game. Don't be surprised if they win American Idol this year, plus I think they've got a good shot to beat the Cavs this year and win the NBA title.

  • brandopolis

    My money is on Gowalla. If you want the full argument, go here: http://www.brandopoliscentral.com/2010/04/3-rea…

    I agree with you that specials are the key to Foursquare, but the issue with this is that it requires work by the individual business owners to manage their specials. This would be great if it were integrated with Yelp. Gowalla's platform allows brands to provide relevant and engaging experiences by branding the consumers' experience within the game. I think ultimately this will be more impactful – if only Gowalla can get their usage numbers up to rival Foursquare…

  • http://twitter.com/iMediaMichelle Michelle Batten

    Josh –

    Agree that the specials are an enticement (glad to see mechanics in place for businesses to start taking ownership, which is sorely needed), but I believe more is required in order for either of these players to sustain long term. Utility for both consumers and brands are crucial (Jeff knows my opinion well on this which you can view on my blog at bit.ly/a8KTvg ;)

    Facebook appears to be doing everything they can to win this battle and they have much fo the resources and platform to do it. Hopefully Foursquare, Gowalla will innovate just enough to stay elusive and at the forefront of this fast-changing space.

  • Josh Martin

    I believe Facebook will come out with something where you can tag your location when you make a status update, but can they pull off the promotion/specials piece? Smaller businesses aren't going to pony up $10,000 so they can offer a special/promotion to fans – that's why I think Foursquare has a competitive advantage, at least with smaller venues.

  • Josh Martin

    I like the Gowalla app (especially the user experience), but the problem is majority of my friends are using Foursquare. Plus, I've never seen any specials on Gowalla. I've checked-in to Shout multiple times on both Gowalla & Foursquare – on Gowalla, I get nothing – on Foursquare I get updates on their mayor special, I can see tips from other Foursquare users. I think the branded experience is nice, but when it comes down to it, I think users are going to care more about what's in it for them (i.e., the specials).

  • http://twitter.com/sjchalk Steve Chalk

    I actually broke into the geolocation game with Gowalla. Then I decided to check out Foursquare. For several months, I've been using both, but I find myself making Foursquare the priority. There aren't a lot of Mayor Specials in my haunts (unfortunately, since I'm the mayor of quite a few places), but the interaction with friends and the fight for mayorship keep me with Foursquare. Gowalla is more graphically pleasing, but I still haven't figured out what to do with that latté or avocado that I picked up.

    I really just use Gowalla to update my location to Facebook. If I want to 'announce' what I'm doing to my Facebook friends, I'll use Gowalla. If I don't, I just don't check in. Number of check-ins on Gowalla don't really have any value for me.

  • Josh Martin

    Couldn't agree with you more. I think Gowalla has a lot of potential, but the thing that's keeping it from really taking off is the lack of a large user-base. However, they did beat Foursquare to the punch with an iPad app (http://ow.ly/1Fj20), which was a smart move on their part. Definitely will get them some press and it looks great on the iPad.

  • Josh Martin

    Great points, Michelle. Let's say Facebook rolls out a check-in option for all of the users, will Foursquare still be able to stay relevant? I think they can – and like you mentioned – by innovating just enough to still be interesting to businesses and consumers. If they focus on providing tools for the small businesses this is where I think they can gain an advantage.

  • Josh Martin

    Great points, Michelle. Let's say Facebook rolls out a check-in option for all of the users, will Foursquare still be able to stay relevant? I think they can – and like you mentioned – by innovating just enough to still be interesting to businesses and consumers. If they focus on providing tools for the small businesses this is where I think they can gain an advantage.

  • http://ilikebigputts.com Josh Martin

    Great points, Michelle. Let's say Facebook rolls out a check-in option for all of the users, will Foursquare still be able to stay relevant? I think they can – and like you mentioned – by innovating just enough to still be interesting to businesses and consumers. If they focus on providing tools for the small businesses this is where I think they can gain an advantage.

  • Josh Q

    one year on, facebook still hasn’t used the promotions and specials to the extent that foursquare has. hmm.