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MEET THE NEW<br />
CONTENDERS<br />
Social media upstarts<br />
who want a piece of Mark<br />
Zuckerberg’s mojo<br />
Facebook and Twitter are hogging most<br />
of the buzz when it comes to social networking<br />
tools, but they’re not the only games<br />
in town. As a number of exhibitors, there<br />
are other tools that can be just as—if not<br />
more—effective at reaching customers.<br />
But for selecting right one for your cinema<br />
chain depends on your target market, strategy<br />
and overall goals for your social media<br />
campaign.<br />
One of the hottest trends right now is<br />
location-based social networking applications<br />
that allow users to “check-in” to<br />
venues, places and events on GPS-enabled<br />
mobile devices like smart phones and<br />
iPads—users can say where they are and, in<br />
turn, see where and what their friends are<br />
up to. While there are a number of sites like<br />
Gowalla, Brightkite and even a service from<br />
Facebook, the most popular is Foursquare,<br />
a geo-location application that turns the<br />
check-in process into a social game rewarding<br />
users with discounts, rewards and<br />
“badges” marking certain achievements.<br />
For instance, after checking into more<br />
than 10 movie theaters, users are given<br />
the Zoetrope badge. Through the mobile<br />
application, users can see which of the their<br />
Foursquare friends are nearby and be alerted<br />
when one shows up. Users who frequent a<br />
specific establishment can even become its<br />
“mayor.” More importantly, when a user<br />
checks-in they are often presented with a<br />
list of special offers for either that venue or<br />
ones nearby.<br />
Recently Foursquare expanded their<br />
check-in information to include more detail<br />
and in the process launched an events platform.<br />
Movietickets.com, the web ticketing<br />
company, saw this as a perfect opportunity<br />
to partner with Foursquare. “Instead of just<br />
checking in at a particular movie theater,<br />
now you can check into the theater and<br />
you can let your friends know what movie<br />
you’re going to see,” says Joel Cohen, Movietickets’<br />
CEO. “What we’ve integrated into<br />
their platform is the ability to actually purchase<br />
tickets from within the Foursquare<br />
app. Not only can you let someone know<br />
that you’re making plans, but the actual<br />
transaction component now exists within<br />
their app.”<br />
Running promotions and marketing<br />
through location-based social networks is<br />
still very much in its infancy. Most exhibitors<br />
have yet to fully embrace the platforms—they’re<br />
still in the early stages of<br />
investigation. But just as it took Facebook<br />
four years and Twitter three to become serious<br />
social media forces, Cohen believes that<br />
as Foursquare continues to grow, the special<br />
opportunities they offer will become much<br />
more relevant and contextual. “There are a<br />
lot of interesting promotions that I’ve seen<br />
Foursquare do that would be really beneficial<br />
to the theater chains,” he says. “One<br />
that I saw locally is a mayor of a particular<br />
retail establishment got their own parking<br />
spot, which I thought was really innovative.”<br />
Due to the many competing locationbased<br />
social networks, Anita Newton, Vice<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>2011</strong> BOXOFFICE PRO 33
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