With growing excitement around the potential of geo-location, geo-social media and location-based services, large brands and local businesses alike have an opportunity to tap into the phenomenon to boost customer loyalty and sales.

With check-in platforms such as foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt Star, Facebook Places, Yelp and Waze continuing to gain in popularity, consumers are sharing more location data than ever before. The key for marketers to overcome privacy concerns is to offer a clear value exchange, some sort of incentive for consumers to interact with a brand and share valuable data.

?The long-term opportunity of geo-social and LBS has more to do with consumers out and about doing things and interacting with location-aware platforms, which enable connections with the long tail of 23 million-plus small businesses in the U.S., which companies think of as the Holy Grail,? said Michael Boland, senior analyst at research firm BIA/Kelsey Group, San Francisco. ?Platforms can integrate local businesses running promotions driving users to retail locations, which is a juicy prospect.

?The Yellow Pages is a $16 billion business because they have owned local spaces for a while, but [mobile geo-social media] is a no-brainer for local businesses to drive foot traffic into their stores,? he said. ?Technology is getting better around location-awareness, and location is the ultimate proxy for relevance?that plus time of day and day of week lets marketers get so much granular than blunt targeting metrics.

?Advertisers are getting excited about not just slapping a CPM on these ads but going to more action-oriented, cost-per acquisition metrics, or coupon redemption at the point of purchase?the proximity to the point of purchase of location-based campaigns makes them more trackable.?

Foursquare
The History Channel?s campaign on foursquare is a great example of how to properly execute a mobile geo-social campaign.

The campaign asked foursquare users to follow The History Channel to get history tips when they check-in.

For example, if users checked-in near Times Square, they were told: ?This area was originally named Longacre Square but was renamed in 1904 when the NY Times moved to the skyscraper now known as One Times Square at 42nd St., famous for the Times Square Ball drop.?

?This campaign is relevant because consumers already expressed their interest in history, and expressed their location by checking in?receiving an historic tip gives the user a real value,? said Siobhan Quinn, product manager at foursquare, New York. ?When people are out exploring the world, as opposed to sitting in front of a screen, you need to present a strong enough proposition to capture their attention.

?As a marketer, you need to respect that ? every point of contact via the mobile device should be creative, relevant, and useful. Aim to delight the consumer,? she said. ?With every mobile touch-point, you should aim to build a long-term relationship with the consumer by delivering a delightful experience, leaving a positive impression of your brand.

?Campaigns that do this well are creative, relevant?surface in the right context, like the right location?and give the user real value.?

Gowalla
Location-based services such as Gowalla have given people a way to highlight their favorite places and spread the word across their social graph that there is something special worth experiencing.

Brands have an opportunity to connect with these people on geo-social platforms such as Gowalla, which is geared toward giving businesses a way to take ownership of their spot, interact with customers and monitor what is being said.

Gowalla provides tools to businesses that encourage them to communicate with their customers.

One option businesses have on Gowalla is the ability to claim their spot, with the idea of giving them more control over the messages they send.

The owner can create a custom description, add a check in message and create a deal.

?These tools help businesses add value to their visitors? check-ins,? said Andrew Waldrup, culture evangelist at Gowalla, Austin, TX. ?Businesses are looking for repeat customers who will recommend them and spread the word to their friends.

?Gowalla gives businesses the ability to create and foster these types of relationships,? he said. ?When a person checks in, they are essentially recommending a business to their network of friends and followers.

?The better their experience, the more likely they are to return and share it with their network.?

So whether it be updating the check-in message with the special of the day or informing people of an upcoming event, for marketers it is all about adding value to their visit.

The check-in should be viewed as just the beginning of the interaction, per Gowalla.

?Everything that happens after that remains most important,? Mr. Waldrup said.

Despite the many successes, location-based services are still ripe for innovation. The space is still relatively new and constantly evolving.

The overall impact businesses will have with services such as Gowalla is still yet to be determined.

Loopt
Loopt worked with various brands at South by Southwest, integrating them into the Loopt Rewards wagon.

Participating brands included Southwest Airlines, Microsoft?s XBox, TiVo, Jawbone and Altec Lansing.

One piece of advice for brands, retailers or agencies that are new to geo-social services is to think non-linearly, per Loopt.

Yes, there have been some cool campaigns in the geo-social space already, but this area is still relevantly new and brands still have a lot of cards to play.

?Don't make the mistake of trying to replicate what's already been done,? said Steve Boom, president of Loopt, Mountain View, CA. ?It's way too early?there's a ton of innovation left to happen.

?Brands and agencies need to understand that, at its most basic level, geo-social is all about connecting online to offline,? he said. ?That makes it totally different than traditional online social media, which carries the conversation across the Web.

?Innovation accolades will go to those agencies and brands who figure out how to make the most of the online-to-offline-to-online circle. Online activity should influence offline activity, which should in turn influence online activity.?

Waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application for Apple?s iPhone and Google?s Android that lets drivers to build and use live maps and get real-time traffic updates.

A Waze executive seconded the notion that brands, retailers and agencies that are new to location-based services and mobile social networking should experiment.
 
?This is a very exciting time and there are a number of services that cater to a variety of objectives?awareness, drive to store, sales, loyalty, etcetera,? said Diann Eisnor, community geographer and vice president of platform at Waze, Palo Alto, CA. ?And there are no clear winners?this year will be about experimentation and trial.

?I would choose a few applications with proven traction that drive the desired behavior that is important for your business,? she said.

For example, Nintendo recently partnered with Waze for a recent campaign promoting its 3DS launch, which drove people on the road to retail locations for a chance to win the device.

?It?s all about the right incentive,? Ms. Eisnor said. ?Another great example is our friends at foursquare, who have proven that they can build, track and facilitate loyalty.?
 
Brands, retailers and agencies should think about their campaign objectives in advance and optimize in real-time.

Ms. Eisnor said that people are on the go and connected to their social networks constantly, introducing serendipity as a new kind of opportunity for brands?for example, real-time inventory brought into a campaign in specific regions or time-based offers based on traffic or friends nearby.

?Time of day and real-time context are exciting new innovation levers to explore that can show amazing results and real value to customers,? Ms. Eisnor said. ?Is there a coffee shop nearby during morning commute that could save drivers from terrible congestion?

?Are there several friends in one area who could be offered a chance to meet up?? she said. ?There has to be a good fit between the service or application, the brand, the user base, the incentives and thinking about context in real-time.?

Final Take
Loopt at SXSW