As 2012 comes to a close, I’d like to extend a hearty congratulations to all of our clients. Why? Because you’re ahead of the curve. Because you’re prepared for the social-local-mobile revolution that has been building for the past several years and is ready to dominate in 2013.
As a MomentFeed client, your locations are claimed and optimized for “search, engagement, and discovery” via PinSync, which gives you a competitive advantage. How? Because Facebook just announced a major update to its mobile apps that puts local “search, engagement, and discovery” at the center of the mobile experience…at the center of the most popular mobile app on the planet.
According to Facebook, its updated Nearby tab “helps people discover places near them based on their friends’ recommendations. People can explore by category (ex: restaurants or hotels); connect to businesses directly from their phone (by liking, checking in, calling, or getting directions); rate the places they visit via a five-star system; and share their recommendations with friends.”
Of course, in order for this to work, those places need to be claimed and managed with proper branding and accurate metadata including the all-important lat/long (geocode). Naturally, the popular places i.e. those with the most customer engagement will rise to the top.
Also on the horizon, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a partnership between Apple and Foursquare for Apple Maps/iOS integration. “The discussions with New York-based Foursquare come as Apple has been talking to a number of companies that collect local data to improve its new mapping product. Foursquare has amassed business listings and collects data about the relative popularity of places as well as user-generated tips about them that could help Apple’s mapping service stand out.”
All of which points to local optimization on these platforms as a strategic imperative for any brick-and-mortar brand. So here’s to our clients! Thank you for sharing in our vision and for leading the way into 2013!
- Rob Reed, Founder & CEO, MomentFeed
