Yes, I know it’s a made up word – I made it up! It’s the combination of Location and Integration. Why would I be writing about this subject? Allow me to explain…
Remember when real estate was all about location, location, location? Well, these days the internet has gone local. In essence, the internet is the new real estate (actually, it has been for over a decade now). The next step in going local is obvious; Integration. It’s already evident in popular media. Facebook comes out with Places and nabs a geolocation patent. What’s next?
Austin based Gowalla grabbed headlines this past week for integrating “Check Ins” with Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook Places and Tumbler with their latest version, 3.0. I’ve been using my Footfeed iPhone app, which includes Gowalla, Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Latitude, Facebook and Twitter for weeks to integrate all my check ins across multiple networks.
I can remember, less than a year ago, when I started to see the strange location check ins appear on my Facebook newsfeed and Twitter stream. There were so many. Did it intuitively know where you were or did you have to manually check in? Why were you telling me about your footlong at Subway? Do I really need to know these details?
But then the light bulb came on! This is brilliant! So many uses, so much potential! I started consuming everything I could about the subject; reading blog after blog and researching news services. I called up my friends who were using it to pick their brains. Not long after, I had exhausted my own personal study of the top LBS’s (location-based service) available. Then, I attended a Social Media Club meeting where the renowned Simon Salt (@incslinger), author of Social Location Marketing (Available at Amazon.com), gave a wonderful talk on the subject and its future potential. This talk validated everything I was already thinking.
So this brings me back to Logration. We already know that LBS’s are going to be a very effective marketing tool (if they are not already), and with the use of mobile phones (getting smarter every day) all developers need to do is continue improving the integration piece so that business owners will be able to tap into this remarkable marketing resource.
Savvy marketers are already tapping in to the potential for little or no expense. Creating deals for their customers to check in for all manner of discounts. How does this assist the business? Well, if you have not figured this out already, when the customer “checks in” at your business, then broadcasts that information across multiple social networks, at the very least someone will hear about you.
When you take a percentage of your marketing budget and apply it to your customers in various ways to benefit them, they are more inclined to check in more often, which in turn garners more business and more great buzz about you! This in turn encourages the customers friends and neighbors to also come to your business, check in, get a discount and broadcast your brand across an entirely new network of untapped potential customers…and the process goes on.
I think you see where I am going now. So what are you waiting for? Get going! Let me know about your successes. I always love to hear what’s working out there in the emerging world of Logration.
(Look for part 2: Mobile-Logration or Mobilogrationization)
Check out my most recent blog post: Alchemical