Location Based Social Networking at NY Fashion Week

Location based social networking at New York Fashion Week was all the rage, with more than 100,000 fashionistas checking-in, indicating clear winners and losers with respect to where the action and excitement was.

In a report, Joost van Dreunen of SuperData Research analyzed the check-in data and shares his findings. Smart communications strategies embrace location based social networks as tools to drive customer retention, repeat visits and foot traffic, according to van Dreunen, who also did a second geo social networking study comparing Whole Foods to Trader, revealing significant insights about how each grocer’s customer base differs.

Joost van Dreunen PhD is managing director of SuperData Research, a research firm focusing on interactive entertainment and technology industries. Prior to founding SuperData, he held senior analyst positions at Nielsen Online and DFC Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES
01:05 Joost’s describes the experience that led to him to look for location-based social networking traffic patterns among the crowd attending Fashion’s Night Out, a promotional event held during New York Fashion Week 2010.

4:06 A closer look was taken at total Foursquare check-ins in the Village and Soho. Which fashion house had the biggest crowd and some of the opportunities location based networks present to event planners and communicators.

8:24 The Foursquare analysis reveals that 31% of geo-based check-ins by Fashion’s Night Out participants continued into the wee hours of the morning, long after the participating retailers had closed, indicating further opportunity for event planners. Top-ranking retailers from Fashion’s Night Out are listed, and s a discussion of why prominent fashion designer Marc Jacobs did not rank.

11:35 What promoters, event planners and participating vendors can learn about from the numbers behind the use of location based social networking apps on smart phones on Fashion’s Night Out. Why were certain retailers successful while others were not? Joost discusses the benefits of location based social networking to local businesses.

14:48 A seprate study of grocery store check-ins within a five-mile radius of a Whole Foods store. When were customers checking in? Were they at Whole Foods or at a competitor? Foursquare’s location based app allows Whole Foods to see who’s getting the lunch crowd, the after-work crowd, etc. and see where the opportunities are for the store to do better. Location based networking gives a point of comparison and a sense of market share.

19:53 The quantity of raw geo data generated by location based apps can be immense and that creates a barrier to meaningful analysis. Research firms like SuperData have the infrastructure to deal with the high data volume, however companies that aren’t in a position to hire a professional research firm to crunch the number can work directly with Foursquare.

24:57 End

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ABOUT THE PODCASTER
@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and social media governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage.

His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, NORAD Northcomm, Southern California Edison, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies.

Eric is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the Social Media Boot Camp and the Social Media Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US.

His book "Social Marketing to the Business Customer" with Paul Gillin about B2B applications of social media communications is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders.

These podcast show notes were written and optimized by @SandraBurrowes.