Foursquare to Release New iOS

It’s no secret that Foursquare’s success story has grown stagnant; and without action soon, the company could join its buried startup brothers and sisters or be forced to sell its wealth of data to a network a bit more comfortable with action.

But Foursquare hasn’t thrown in the towel. According to TechCrunch, Foursquare’s new iOS release will be a game changer.

Instead of simply recording user data of places visited and giving incentives to be mayor or make a visit (a business partnership it’s hard to say they’ve capitalized on to its full potential), Foursquare will now make recommendations before you even make a decision or know what your next destination is.

Not sure exactly how this would look, but I would imagine it to recommend restaurants around your common meal times and current proximity, bars depending on where friends are currently partying or movies pending recent releases and past habits.

It's a brilliant move for Foursquare; a rising concept in marketing that has been pushed since the late nineties with the tech revolution and the influence of social networks--people are making decisions earlier than ever before and with more influence from peers, meaning to be relevant marketers must get inside these communities and appeal to customers before they even know what they need.

We know Foursquare is a data gold mine, but that isn't enough to beat out competitors. Foursquare needs to take action. We just hope they shape and present it to the user in a way that is intuitive and doesn’t freak them out.

Geo-Targeting, It's More than Foursquare

Geo-targeting isn't just about Foursquare. It isn't just about kitschy bargains, loyalty rewards or even becoming mayor of your local coffee shop. The big picture lies within tailoring marketing strategies on a national and international scale.

Just by knowing where someone lives, marketers can predict weather, culture, holidays, nationality, and ultimately, behavior effecting those consumers. Imagine going to Macy's website and before you can even shop, a pop-up says "It's supposed to snow tomorrow. Our store location three blocks from you has these three coats for sale." Or imagine you're a retailer located in different states and have different prices for each state. Now, those prices can change depending on the IP location. Seems simple right? Not exactly.

While it may be easy to obtain IP addresses and develop needs for this asset, to actually make it feasible is another matter. Right now, geo-targeting only identifies a site visitor's true location no more than 85% of the time (according to Geoffrey Hueter, chief technology officer at Certona Corp.). Also, geo-targeting is not the answer to everything. It should still be combined with other information companies have on their consumers to produce the most tailored results.

All-in-all, while geo-marketing isn't perfected, it is undeniably a tool for the future and retailers and marketers alike would be wise to watch its development.