EXPOSED: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare
You’d have to have been living in a cave over the past few months to not have heard about Foursquare, the location based mobile social network. Even more so, if you happen to work in PR/communications, as the platform is being hyped by many as the “next big thing since Twitter” for consumer-savvy brands (for whatever that’s worth).
Foursquare is a really interesting service which has attracted a lot of interest from brands like Starbucks who see an opportunity to tap into friend networks, offering discounts and special deals to loyal and regular customers. Unlike Twitter, Foursquare has been quick to spot the potential revenue streams for marketers looking to connect back with users (see: http://foursquare.com/businesses/)
With this in mind, it’s worrying that UK PR agencies have failed to embrace Foursquare with open arms. Given that registration is free and it is very simple to set-up an account, why have so few consumer PR agencies in the UK ignored location based social networks like Foursquare?
Imagine the following scenario:
I’m the head of a UK consumer retail brand looking for a PR agency to deliver a cutting-edge, smart, creative, engaging campaign which is relies on no/low media spend. I turn up at your agency’s offices to hear you deliver your well rehearsed credentials. These creds will invariably contain some waffle intelligence about social media and community marketing to complement your agency’s experience in traditional media engagement.
However, I arrive early for the meeting and as I’m waiting in your über trendy [insert Shoreditch-esque location] reception area as your pitch-team rushes to put the final touches to their PowerPoint presentation, I check in to Foursquare.
One of five things could happen:
- Your agency is not listed on Foursquare: At best, this can be interpreted as you being ‘behind in the game’, at worst it exposes your social media hyperbole as lies.
- Your agency is listed on Foursquare but nobody has checked in: This tells me that whilst someone recognises that you should be on here, even your staff refuses to engage with this platform.
- Your agency is listed on Foursquare and I am met with some trivial in-jokes from your staff about who got drunk at the office party in the ‘tips’ section of my iPhone App: This shows a disregard for your company’s ‘public image’ and sends alarm bells off in my head about not being able to trust you with my brand’s reputation.
- Your agency is listed on Foursquare but unbeknown to you, a competitor/disgruntled client/ex-employee has posted some negative comments which are now being read by me: This tells me that there are smarter cookies out there who are taunting your ignorance or indifference. It’s like a giant neon sign over the door of your agency which you choose not to see from the inside of your building.
- Your agency is listed and as I check in, I see a message welcoming me to the agency with a link to your website: I know that this is an agency which covers all the angles and knows how to present itself to the world.
Of the top 50 Consumer PR agencies in the UK, not a single one of the companies that made the PR Week List in 2009 managed to tick box number 5.
I’ve been number crunching this weekend, and this is what I’ve brought to the surfaced:
- 60% of the Top 50 UK Consumer Agencies are NOT listed on Foursquare. Surprising, given the recent coverage the site has been getting not just within the marketing trade media, but also within the mainstream consumer press (broadcast, print and online).
- Of the 20 agencies that were listed on Foursquare, only five have had more than five unique users check-in. This means that an average sized UK agency consisting of around 30 staff, only a handful of employees are encouraged to experiment with new technologies which could well be beneficial to their clients. I suspect most agency senior directors are clueless as to whether or not the company has a presence on Foursquare, Facebook or Twitter for that matter.
How can agencies look their clients in the eye and talk about social media when they refuse to practise what they preach on their own doorstep? To add a location, it takes no more than 30 seconds of logging into Foursquare (via the website or on the handset application) and entering your company name and address.
Search:
Only ONE of the 50 companies researched managed to include relevant tags in their Foursquare profile to make the location searchable using keywords. That agency is Consolidated PR who also added their staff’s Twitter profiles as keywords, enabling searchers to associate the agency with its individuals as well as by industry keyword.
As search engines like Google, Yahoo! And Bing place a higher weighting on realtime search results, Foursquare will undoubtedly become increasingly visible as people comment on where they are when they check-in.
Which begs the question of why you would go to the trouble (admittedly, not too much trouble) of registering your agency on Foursquare (allowing you to be found by ANYBODY who is in the vicinity), without letting people know what exactly it is that your agency does?
Foursquare’s latest iPhone application attributes icons to the location depending on the category which has been preselected for it to make businesses like restaurants, bars, retail outlets more distinguishable from each other. Similarly, the tags can help those who are using FoursSquare as a search engine.
Currently, a tag search for “PR” lists the following agencies/organisations in London:
Edelman
105 Victoria Stree
Buckingham Gate
London, Greater London SW1E 6QTEngine
60 Great Portland Street
London, UK W1W 7RTConsolidated PR
22 Endell St
Camden Town, Greater London WC2H 9Publicasity
15 kean street, London, WC12 4AZ
Drury Lane
London, UK wc12 4azChartered Institute of Public Relations
52-53 Russell Square
Camden Town, Greater London WC1B 4HPFishburn Hedges
77 Kingsway
London, UK WC2B 6SR
Brand hi-jacking:
My main concern is that 31 of the Top 50 PR Agencies don’t even have Foursquare on their radar which means that they would be unaware of any negative comments that may have been posted about them. You can imagine the situation where frustrated hacks who have been poorly pitched by a PR exec one too many times could have a bit of fun posting messages on Foursquare at the offending agency’s location. This is worrying only because it shows that if they can’t keep tabs of what damage is potentially being done to their reputation, how can they then safeguard their own clients’ own good standing?
I was highly tempted to expose the remaining 31 agencies on the list who are yet to put themselves on the Foursquare map by adding them myself together with a note saying something along the lines of:
“This agency doesn’t even know they’re on here. If they claim to be cutting edge, don’t believe them”.
I would of course caveat the tip with some text saying that I will remove the tip once someone from the agency comments or indeed, checks in. In my mind, I had even devised a cunning plan to track how long it would take the agencies in question to even notice that the comment was there, and how long it would take them to respond. Think of it if you will, as a modern-day equivalent of a “kick me” sign stuck on somebody who claims to have eyes in the back of their head.
On the point of rewarding your ‘active staff’ who do invest their time in exploring new networks like Foursquare… how about this idea for headhunting digitally savvy PR folk from other agencies? Farfetched, but possible!
What does all of this mean?
For one thing, it means that the traditional PR industry (‘The Old Skool’) still doesn’t practice what it preaches. The last few years have seen many agencies – old and new – jump aboard the social-media bandwagon and use it to bolster existing PR budgets which were already starting to lose ground to more digitally savvy marketers. However, many of these ‘modern’ agencies have yet to grasp Twitter, Facebook and the concept of blogging let alone even more disruptive technologies like location based mobile marketing.
It annoys the hell out of me that PR agencies who claim to understand new trends in consumer behaviour still fear the platforms that they are only too quick to sell on to a client, wrapped up in strategic jargon and disingenuous enthusiasm. Foursquare has added an average of 100,000 users in the past week or so (mainly thanks to SxSW) – surely a trend like this should prompt marketers to check out the service for themselves?
Even the companies that I’ve named as having a Foursquare presence are failing themselves by not having a clear enough identity on the site. A lack of tags, categories, tips, etc. Suggest that the listings are being managed and used by a small percentage of (often junior) staff who may not have considered the wider consequences of their official presence on Foursquare.
If the PR industry wants to take a slice of the social media pie, it must bring to the table a suitable fork with which to eat. Otherwise, emerging ‘social-media’ agencies like We Are Social, 33 Digital and 1,000 Heads will continue to legitimately steal established clients away from digitally paranoid PR agencies.
Am I being harsh?
Yes. Quite possibly. The reaction I expect is one that echoes “We can’t have a presence on EVERY new social network that comes along – we simply don’t have the time”. Rubbish!
My point is about reputation. If PR Week calls you up to offer you a free 1 page advert in next week’s print edition, would your agency be so “meh” about things? Hell no! They’d be on the phone, making sure that the copy reflects the true brand of the company, fussing over correct pantones and pondering over which image to use. Foursquare offers your company the same thing except you never know who’s reading.
My second reason for writing this post is to find out why PR agencies aren’t focusing enough time on R&D. Other service industries are constantly investing time and resource into the research and development of new products which ensures the future-changing media economy we’re living in. We all know that the industry “‘aint what it used to be” and that new technologies and emerging communications paradigms are forcing us all to repackage the basic PR offering. Tools like Foursquare give us a glimpse of what tomorrow’s clients will expect of us. Only by taking the bull by the horns will PR professionals learn the nuances of new marketing disciplines (mobile, search, location-specific) which can be developed into client strategy.
This post could equally have been about Twitter six months ago or about Facebook a year ago. The difference is, as communications experts your agency should be ahead of the game and not playing catch-up.
Finally, I guess if you can’t be bothered, then don’t pretend you are when a client asks you your opinion. Who knows…? They may not even need to ask you. They may already know.
If your agency is mentioned in this post and you have changed the way you present yourself on Foursquare, drop me a line or post a comment below.
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@clustering http://raxraxrax.com/2010/03/21/exposed-uk-pr-agencies-fail-to-understand-foursquare/
Hey Rax,
1) Great post. While 1000heads arent strictly a PR agency, your piece still makes for useful reading (with some handy tips in there too).
NB: Im mobile at the moment, but feel free to check out our foursquare profile (which we also link to from our homepage), would be interested in your opinion. Consolidated’s idea of tagging with usernames makes sense, I’ll get onto that in the week.
2) It’s not just foursquare. I had a meeting last year with a digital agency (who you and i both know) where it became very apparent very quickly that they didnt know what RSS was. Seriously. After much explaining I finally got a ‘Oh, yes. We’ve heard about that, we just dont think it’s very useful…’
Sigh.
Keep up the excellent work
JW
Hi Rax
Great post, and you’re absolutely right – agencies need to have Foursquare on their radar. Apart from being a bit of good fun it’s the catalyst we’ve been waiting for when it comes to usable geo-locational services; finally a meaningful integration of social networks and mobiles. After a few false starts we’re at the point where the tech works, there’s a critical mass of users and a variety of options for brands that want to get involved.
As one of our clients recently put it, “This is amazing, I can see why it is popular. Winning points and badges is like Panini football stickers for modern times. I love this!” Needless to say we’re working on something pretty cool for him…
Oh and LOL at the 71 check-ins at Consolidated PR. Like a couple of schoolboys, Nick Clarke (@prboy) and I are gloves off and in a perpetual battle for the mayorship!
Paul
Not surprising: “UK PR Agencies Fail to Understand Foursquared” http://bit.ly/dlKcWV #socialmedia #marketing
#consumer PR understand & make use of Foursquare http://raxraxrax.com/2010/03/21/exposed-uk-pr-agencies-fail-to-understand-foursquare/
Hi Rax,
Loewy is a group of brand, design and communication companies – see http://www.loewygroup.com. The reference on the PR Week League table is incorrect.
We merged the PR businesses owned by Loewy in March 2009 and launched as PR Week was compiling its tables last year, missing the deadline for inclusion of the new moniker.
Speed is the PR business within the Loewy Group – see http://www.speedcommunications.com. We’re on FourSquare here: http://foursquare.com/venue/332296 with 7 unique visitors and 51 check-ins.
I’d really appreciate it if you could correct our entry in your table. Thanks in advance.
Otherwise bloody good job. Wish I’d thought of this first
Thanks,
Stephen
Rax, some fair points made.
However, I’d be far more interested in seeing how many client venues agency staff had checked-in at – the key element in the agency side is education, and depending on the make up of the agency, using average figures across the board misses this point slightly. Interesting point nevertheless.
Rax,
some good points, but I think there’s a consideration with foursquare (or whatever location service is your choice) that is not present in other social tools, such as Twitter or blogging etc and that is the personal element. Because the tool is all your personal location, there is likely to be a much smaller takeup than others, or at least a slower take up, because of the privacy issue.
So your point 2, about agency being listed and no one checking in could be because there is reluctance to expose their own location information or that they are using it only for social checkins (which was the original driving force behind the tools, not work and travel). This could also be the reason for point 3, you get in-jokes etc as the service is personal rather than public/corporate.
An agency could get how their clients could use it without necessarily having people checking in at work.
@markcridge Never did get you that kitkat caramel: http://raxraxrax.com/2010/03/21/exposed-uk-pr-agencies-fail-to-understand-foursquare/
hi Rax,
We are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, so although we are quite sizable, Hill & Knowlton don’t show up in any lists like the one you mentioned. However, we certainly show up on both Foursquare and Gowalla. (While the former is clearly winning the PR war, I really like the interface and user experience of the latter.)
So, if you are ever near Soho Square, please do check-in
http://www.hillandknowlton.co.uk/Find_us
Great feature Rax. I think there are some fantastic opps for brands in Foursquare and good to see companies like John Lewis and Starbucks getting involved.
I would like to point out that Shiny Red shinyred.co.uk http://foursquare.com/venue/601713 has 98 log ins and 6 uniques which makes us the number one PR agency for Foursquare log ins. We have also written several times about Foursquare on our blog too http://www.shinyred.co.uk/tag/foursquare/
I guess we are not listed as we are owned by The Red Consultancy – even so that gives Red 115 check ins.
By the time you read this the race will be on and we’ll be number nine, but some great points Rax
Hi Rax
that certainly is a brilliant call-to-arms for PR to get hold of Foursquare. Everyone should be engaging with it, due to the massive opportunity. Having said that Lucre are on Foursquare and her sister company Moolah. We’re both there, you can find our Leeds office here and our Richmond office here.
All the best
John
EXPOSED: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Interesting that it ignores tech and digital PR agencies!
RT @DomW: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Interesting that it ignores tech and digital PR agencies!
RT @BazSingh RT @DomW: UK PRs fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Interesting it ignores tech and digital PRs!<2nded
UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Wrong @ Lucre we have been using foursquare for ages
RT @chris_norton: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Wrong @ Lucre we have been using foursquare for ages
Hmm. A good read, but I think bashing agencies who have not picked up on FourSquare yet is a bit short-sighted (and comes across a little bully-ish!). Believe me, they’ll be selling everything and the kitchen sink to their clients in the current market, and if they have not leapt on it yet, then there is probably not much pull from their clients.
True – they should be educating their clients on the potential uses of this new format, but that does not mean to be great at it they necessarily have to be on it themselves.
Foursquare – the debate rages http://tinyurl.com/yhq7b58
Rax-
Interesting post – I think posting a tip for your agency that points people to the agency Website is a great idea.
I’d quibble with the notion that number of check-ins have any bearing on how savvy a PR agency is. I’ve been on Foursquare since the day it launched here in London, but after the first week I stopped checking in at work completely. For me the allure of Foursquare is to check in when I’m out and about in the evenings and let Foursquare show me where my acquaintances are (and for them to see where I am). Ideally, people who are close to each other can meet up for a drink.
With this in mind, I don’t check in when there’s no possibility of getting together for a beer, so why should I check in at work? People checking in on Foursquare when they’re at work is noise, because you can’t do anything with that information.
Cheers,
F
RT @DomW: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Interesting that it ignores tech and digital PR agencies!
RT @chris_norton: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV – Wrong @ Lucre we have been using foursquare for ages
Hi Rax,
Great post. We just wanted to flag that JCPR falls under the Edelman umbrella, and therefore is listed on FourSquare here: http://foursquare.com/venue/154527
Let us know if you have any questions.
Many thanks
Nik
JCPR Edelman
exposed: PR agencies fail to understand foursquare – http://bit.ly/dlKcWV interesting blog post…
@patroclus http://bit.ly/dlKcWV
Rax, a great post. Real-time geo-location is another tool in the communications armoury that PRs need to use. It is a tool that will give support to the rise of the crowd when it comes to defining them and what each community likes and follows.
We’re not in the Top 50, we’re not subject to Sarbanes-Oxley, we’re not under anyone’s umbrella, but Umpf is on Foursquare: http://foursquare.com/venue/700569
Free coffee & cake for the next check in.
Adrian
ps interesting post, nice idea
Rax – great post and well thought out.
Thanks also for the link to my article on the potential for Foursquare at http://L0N.eu/4sqftw – I think Foursquare will shine in 2010.
I’m starting to rate agencies on the basis of their “Foursquare welcome mat” that is laid out for me (or not) when I swing by and checkin for a meeting.
Andrew Grill
http://www.londoncalling.mobi
@andrewgrill
Find and friend me on
Foursquare
Hi Rax,
Graeme here from Brazen. Interesting post, PR’s should certainly be practicing what they preach. If they fundamentally fail at experimenting with new social mediums for themselves, such as Foursquare, what qualifies them to advise clients on the matter?
On another note, just like to add that Brazen is indeed on Foursquare and has been since it expanded ‘up North’ late last year (We’re here!) . Manchester seems to be a little slow on the uptake of users but its launch up here was dwarfed by the publicity generated when it first hit London.
Much appreciated if you could amend the list of shame…
Cheers,
Graeme.
Brazen PR
[...] EXPOSED: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare | raxraxrax.com With this in mind, it’s worrying that UK PR agencies have failed to embrace Foursquare with open arms. Given that registration is free and it is very simple to set-up an account, why have so few consumer PR agencies in the UK ignored location based social networks like Foursquare? [...]
[...] Lakhani recently wrote a blog post about how PR agencies know too little about Foursquare and not enough are signed up or using it [...]
Hi Becca
Totally agree with your well-rounded views here. Your common-sense approach to new technology and platforms should be adopted by others in the industry. Only this week I was talking to a PR Manager from an agency which shall remain unnamed… this individual admitted to me that they had never read a blog.
So what? Well, this PR Manager has been involved in organising at least 3 blogger events this year on behalf of her clients.
I could find similar examples of people within PR who have never tweeted, set-up a Facebook event or indeed downloaded a mobile app.
At times, I think that the PR industry is one big chain-smoking oncologist!
This comment was originally posted on Wolfstar
Agree totally. At SXSW I started to use Foursquare, Gowalla and Rummble properly for the first time… and I’m still waiting to be impressed. For a start Foursquare might be getting the share of mind at the moment, but don’t rule out Gowalla (I think it has more funding/backing or Rummble which is technically and practically far more impressive). I’m staying on top of it because like you say I have to. But to recommend it as part of a communications strategy there must be a compelling business case, which for most businesses/organisations doesn’t yet exist. Remember the hype about Second Life? Virtual worlds haven’t gone away and will be important in the future. The same probably applies to the current generation of location aware services, they aren’t there yet.
This comment was originally posted on Wolfstar
I think the real value add for location-based networks will happen when Loopt arrives in the UK – it takes a completely different approach to the concept of location-sharing and it’s been around for years now (but just in the states).
Loopt could be an echo-chamber game changer.
This comment was originally posted on Wolfstar
[...] principle I like the idea, particularly following on from this week’s “UK PR agencies don’t get foursquare” slapping, which saw the Twitterverse explode with PR people signing up and unlooking the Newbie [...]
I am here to help! EXPOSED: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare http://ow.ly/1uvpF
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
I am here to help! EXPOSED: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare http://ow.ly/1uvql
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare http://ow.ly/1uvpF /via @foursquaregames
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
@PattiBC Example of PR agencies not embracing social media for themselves. Still, you can’t be on EVERY new network http://3.ly/L9bv #bcpr
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[...] EXPOSED: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare [...]
Interessante: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare http://bit.ly/cknt22
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RT @lorinbute: UK PR Agencies fail to understand Foursquare. http://raxraxrax.com/2010/03/21/exposed-uk-pr-agencies-fail-to-understand-f …
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[...] this article on PR Week points out UK agencies have so far been slow to pick up on this new service. Although as the UK in [...]
I made a comment about this post that was courteous and professional. I disagreed with you but that doesn’t seem a reason to censor me. Why was it removed??
Hi Max
Sorry, I don’t recall the comment. Feel free to post again. Thanks for stopping by I welcome all comments!
Its all about time I am afraid. Foursquare, Google+ FB, Twitter, Linkedin.
Hard to balance resources with results….
We **should** be practising what we preach of course..
Chris Warham
Bell Pottinger Manchester PR
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