Performance Indicators: Foursquare 2011/08/02 Samuel-f Parent Measurement, Foursquare, Location based marketing badges, foursquare, mayor, mayorship, geo location game

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We talk a lot about the digital revolution that traditional media is being put through: upheaval, readership and audience shrinkage, bankruptcy, pay walls… This post is part of a major update to a host of previous ones published in 2009 and 2010 on this blog.

What’s the situation really like in 2011? Traditional media are not dead – not yet at least. But many newcomers have made their entrance on the marketing landscape in the last 10-15 years. Let’s look at the situation with newcommer Foursquare a bit:

Description: Where am I?

Foursquare was created on March 11, 2009 in New York.

  • Gowalla was created in 2007
  • MyTown was also created in 2007, by Booyah

A brief explanation of Foursquare:

Reach

  • 10 000 000 users worldwide ((Foursquare 2011/06)
    • 4.7 million check-ins on “Main Street” across the US
    • 169 countries visited by American users
    • 358 million check-ins outside the US
    • 1,150 beer halls visited in Germany
    • 6,230 Sake bars visited in Japan
    • 30,500 check-ins at the Rally to Restore Sanity event on The Mall in Washington DC last October 30th 2010
    • 1 check-in from the International Space Station October 22 2010
  • There were 2 700 000 users worldwide on August 15th 2010 (Social Media Today, 2010/08)
    • Approx 14 000 new users weekly
    • 8 million registered users on Google Latitute, but only 3 million regular users
    • 2 million users on MyTown
    • 340 000 users on Gowalla
    • 11 000 users in French Canada (comScore Feb 2010)
  • Over 38,000 mentions on social networks generating interest in Foursquare.
  • 35% of The Zimmerman Agency is active on Foursquare to :
    • find their way around campus
    • see where other employees are
    • discover new clients
  • 17% of smartphone users check-in with their phone on either Foursquare, Facebook Places or Gowalla. (comScore 2011/05/12)
  • Foursquare Day 2011 generated 3 million check-ins including 19 real city mayors participating (4sqDay & About Foursquare)
    • 7 of the top 10 cities are outside the US, including Toronto, Canada.
    • 3.07M check-ins in 2011 vs 550k check-ins in 2010

User profile

  • 64% men = 2x more men on Foursquare than women (The Metric System), the distribution is similar on Gowalla
    • 55% use a real photo on their profile
    • 28% have linked to their Facebook account, vs 38% for Gowalla users
    • 53% of Gowalla have linked their Twitter account
    • 57% of Gowalla users don’t have any friends, 13% have 1.
    • Top 5 most popular names : Chris, Michael, David, John and Jason
  • 6:1 users are happy – ratio of “Yay!” to “Ugh!”(Foursquare 2011/06)

Usage

  • 1.4 million venues to check-in to (and growing daily) (Mashable 12 March 2010)
    • 15.5 million checkins to date in early March 2010
    • 22 million checkins at the end of March (Mashable)
    • 40 million achieved in early May (Mashable)
    • 100 million achieved on July 20 2010 (Mashable)
  • 86% of users check-in daily (Austin & Williams 2011/05/13)
    • 48% of users find badges very important
    • 42% are somewhat likely to return to a place more often to win back a mayorship
    • 22% are not likely to visit a place because they know the mayor
    • 51% of users are somewhat or very likely to visit a venue where lots of other users are currently checked-in (curiosity wins)
  • Where do they check-in? (Foursquare 2011/06)
    • Apparel : Old Navy, H&M and Victoria’s Secret (available badge)
    • Banks : Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo
    • Convenience : 7-Eleven, Circle K and Wawa
    • Home : Home Depot, Ikea and Lowe’s
    • retail : Target, Walmart and Macy’s
    • 225 weddings at city hall, 840 in parks, 5,321 in churches
    • 1,061 birth announcements on hospital check-ins
    • 78,787 mayors ousted daily

Marketing Usage

  • If you are either manager or owner of a venue, you can now identify yourself as such and create custom specials for people who check in at your location(s).
    • 2 000+ offers currently active on Foursquare when people check-in
    • You can now access your « business dashboard » and manage your own specials.
    • You can also download and print decalcs to stick in your store window to encourage your clients to check-in, or advise them there’s a Foursquare special inside.
  • 5.6 million « venues » on Foursquare, vs 1.4 million on Gowalla (The Metric System)
    • 1 in 3 venues (32%) has been checked-into only once on Foursquare, vs 1 in 4 on Gowalla
    • The most popular venue is « Home » (user’s house), followed by Subway, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Burger King and Walgreens
    • Users create 3 venues on average on Foursquare, they create 4 on Gowalla
    • 18% of venues have at least 1 tip
    • 3% of venues offer some type of special
  • Foursquare is valued at over $250M (MediaPost 2011/01)
  • 59% of users search for local businesses on Foursquare weekly (Austin & Williams 2011/05/13)
    • 58% of users are likely to visit a venue to get a badge
    • 40% of users are somewhat likely to be influenced by a Foursquare special to visit a venue
    • 45% of users find tips somewhat or very important

Follow me on Foursquare – Samuel Parent

While you’re waiting for my future posts on other media’s performance indicators, please consult my previous posts:

 

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