integratePR blog

Remember back in the day when you were hosting an event or a party and you sent old fashion paper invitations? Afterwards you shared details of the events with friends and family that couldn’t be there. With the increasing popularity of Facebook and other social networking sites, paper invitations and traditional word-of-mouth are fading habits.

Sites like Punchbowl, Evite and Events on Facebook are the new, super-easy way to spread the word about upcoming events. This new trend can be a great asset to any event you may be planning, if you use it appropriately. Since Integrate has definitely used online evites for event promotions a time or two, we want to share with you some tips for getting the most out of event-related social online media!

Establish Your Channel

Make sure in the weeks before your event you identify exactly which sites you are going to leverage and how. Confirm event listings and which sites they will be posted to. Make sure you confirm invite lists and can distribute them to sites like Punchbowl in a timely fashion. Decide if you are going to leverage any word-of-mouth promotions through social networks, for example: offering 10% discount on admission for inviting 20 friends, as well as how you are going to get the word out about this. You want to maximize sharing of the links containing pre-event info.

Give your Publics a Means

Utilize online registration sites like Eventbrite and Eventful to make registering for an event easy and accessible. Sites like these can help maximize your attendance. It also helps spread the word through networks because many of the sites allow you to share events with friends or posts your registration in newsfeeds.

Checking In…the Digital Way

Leveraging check-in services such as Foursquare and Facebook Places will serve as an incentive, especially when there are badges and rewards involved. We all know that person who is OBSESSED with checking-in everywhere they go, why not capitalize on the growing popularity? We’ve previously blogged about the success of check-ins at events like this year’s Super Bowl; as Foursquare’s record check-in event, it proves the appeal check-in services offer an event.

Live Footage, or Rather, Tweets

Increase the effects of your events by updating a “play-by-play” of sorts at the event. Providing live-streaming updates through Twitter can help you reach people who could not attend but may be useful to connect with. Sharing images on Flickr and a post-event recap on Facebook will help get people engaged for future events. Peaking interest outside the actual event increases its shelf life by engaging a wider reach of people.

These are some key elements to think about when planning an event. More and more social media is playing a key role in how you generate awareness and event attendance. You don’t want your event to get left behind in the wake of those who successfully use social media! Stay tuned for some great events from integrate Public relations clients and who knows…  you might just see these tips in action!

Well it’s Friday…no we won’t sing you Rebecca Black’s viral hit…but we will bring you up to speed on the exciting news out there in the digital world. We definitely have some interesting stories to share with you!

1)   April 16^th Declared Foursquare Day

That’s right, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City Declared tomorrow to be Foursquare Day. New York actually became the 13^th state to recognize the day…who knew? Bloomberg stopped by the Foursquare office yesterday in NYC and presented Foursquare founders with a proclamation declaring the day. Foursquare Day got its start after fans took to Twitter and campaigned for a ‘Foursquare Day’. The choice of date is actually quite important. Users decided that since 4 squared is 16, Foursquare Day must be 4/16!

2)   The Campaign Trail Hits YouTube

Potential candidates for the 2012 presidential election have already begun to officially announce their plans to run for office. One of the big announcements this week came from Republican Mitt Romney. The announcement wasn’t the only big news; Romney’s platform was as well. Romney chose to post a video on YouTube on Monday announcing that he was forming a committee to explore a bid for the presidency in the upcoming election. He also proceeded to tweet Obama challenging his plans for the economy. Social media is already a core of the upcoming campaign…and the election isn’t even for another year and a half!

3)   Wii Want to Play Too

Rumors are swirling about the upcoming Wii 2. Nintendo has not made a new console since the Wii released in 2006. Since that time, Nintendo has enjoyed its rank as number one selling console, however with Microsoft’s new Kinect powered Xbox 360, that rank has been challenged. Rumors say Nintendo will release an HD second generation of the Wii sometime this summer, possibly at the E3 Conference in Los Angeles. Little is known about the second-generation console…even the name is a mystery. But gamers alike agree it will be more powerful than even the latest Xbox 360. We’re not big gamers here at integratePR, but hey who doesn’t love the Wii Ftiness???

Those are some of the biggest stories on the web right now. Be sure to check in with our Facebook page for links to more exciting stories throughout the day and into the weekend. And speaking of the weekend…begin your Friday countdown! Enjoy the time off, after a crazy week here at integrate, we know we will!

As the opening keynote speaker at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Foursquare co-founder and CEO, Dennis Crowely, announced that popular venue driven social media site had been translated into five languages.

Previously only available in English, Foursquare is now available in Spanish, German, Italian, French and Japanese. This announcement comes shortly after the release of the latest version of Foursquare (2.2.5) to the iTunes App store.

The new language features could prove advantageous for Foursquare, who already had success with their first global event, Super Bowl Sunday. Users from all over the world check-in to the event to unlock badges and online discounts, events like these paired with language options could boost Foursquare’s numbers.

Speaking of numbers, their stats are already impressive as is. The latest numbers indicate that the site has 6.5 million active users and receives 2 million check-ins a day! That means for the entire 2010 users totaled 420,000,000 check-ins…which, in case you were wondering, is a 3400% growth for the year.

Basically Foursquare has grown leaps and bounds, their new tactics should only fuel that growth, leaving us to wonder, what will they give us next. A large part of their success is credited to the gaming element.

Badges are popular incentives because they make you eligible for more offers and discounts from venues. It will be interesting to see how Foursquare’s numbers look after the first quarter of the year.

Even more exciting would be a breakdown of active users around the globe before and after the release of the new language versions. If it proves successful, we’re sure Foursquare will be touting those in the future!

Many of you may have had trouble checking in to the worldwide Super Bowl Sunday venue on Foursquare yesterday. I know some of us here at integratePR definitely did. Fortunately, after a few error messages, you usually could finally get in and get your badge.

It is no wonder Foursquare was sending out so many error messages, yesterday’s game proved to be their most successful venue. More than 200,000 checked into the venue.

Once they check-in, Steelers vs. Packers shout outs were rampant, as users represented their teams and unlocked access to the coveted Super Bowl Badge. This was Foursquare’s first promoted trending venue and so far it seems successful.

If the sheer numbers alone aren’t enough of a success, the ad revenue brought in will surely be. Not to mention the eye NFLShop.com will be keeping an eye out on its traffics.

Foursquare offered special promotions for select merchandise on the league’s paraphernalia website for every badges users unlocked. Fans that actually attended the game in Dallas could check in to the stadium and unlock even more badges not accessible through the worldwide venue.

This advantage may have been a small comfort to the thousands of fans that showed up at the stadium only to find their seats unavailable because of the snow brought on by the winter storm that hit the city earlier in the week.

Despite the disappointment of Steeler fans, this year’s big game was definitely a major event for the social media site! It will change the way social media interacts with real-time events as well as reacts to trending topics.

We look forward to seeing what future championships and eventually major events in general will be next on Foursquare’s list of promoted venues!

Foursquare has made some big changes recently, one of those being the exciting announcement of a new Foursquare section geared for businesses! For those of us who love Foursquare and recommend it to businesses all the time, this is great news.

The new page explains the various options for businesses to connect with customers. The two options are broken down into “merchant” and “brands”. The merchant section is a remodeled version of an old page; it helps businesses claim venues, post specials and promote them, as well as monitor statistics.

The brands page is an entirely new feature to the business section and it focuses on how brands without physical locations can reach out to potential customers. This section helps brands reach out through badges and branded pages.

Brands can request a branded page to be made by Foursquare, but they say soon they will release a self-service tool that allows brands to make their own branded page. They also advise customers on how to effectively leverage branded badges to get the most interaction with customers.

In another big announcement, Foursquare released a “Foursquare for Universities” program yesterday for every college and university worldwide. The program began as an initial partnership with Harvard a year ago, then grew to 100 universities this past fall. Now the program is official and available to high education institutes around the world.

That means users should be on the lookout for new university badges as well as promotions for venue check-ins. The idea behind the university program is to help students connect with each other as well as professors and potential professional contacts.

Both of these announcements are exciting new features that promise to increase social media activity as well as prove useful for businesses to leverage in future campaigns. If you haven’t taken Foursquare seriously yet, it’s time to.

With it continual innovations, it is proving to be a versatile and useful social media tool. We here at integratePR leverage Foursquare whenever we can, and we strongly recommend it to other businesses!