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Infographic: F Check-Ins

Jeremi Karnell, President & Chief Marketing Officer

July 11th | 2011 By AdminAdmin

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Category: Blog, Connect, Corporate, Interactive   20 Comments comments

 Download Infographic 1100 x 880 72dpi (PNG)

Last week, One to One’s Andy Walden wrote a fantastic post titled “A Facebook Approach: Content Strategies for Travel Destinations“.  In that same week,  Socialbakers published a list of the Top 10 Facebook Places.  The list was interesting because all but one place (Las Vegas) were airports.   This led me to ask the question, how are these airports supporting this check-in demand with Facebook Places and Deals?

It has been almost a year since Facebook introduced Places.  This mobile product focuses on three objectives:

  • Allow users to share where they are with their friends
  • Allow users to see who is near them
  • Allow users to discover new places around them

In November 2010, Facebook announced “Deals”, a subset of the Places offering, which allows for users to check in from restaurants, supermarkets, bars, and coffee shops using an app on a mobile device and then be rewarded discounts, coupons, and free merchandise.

 

Facebook Deals Example

List of Facebook Places
Facebook Deal Example

 

I decided to cross reference the top 5 Facebook Places with available Facebook Deals.  This revealed an interesting discovery. Regardless of the fact that the top 5 Facebook Places in the world generated a total of 1,436,090 check-ins, not a single Deal was available at any of the airports listed (see below).

 

Facebook Deals at Top 5 Facebook Places:

#1: LAX
#1: LAX
#2: SFO
#2: SFO
#3: ORD
#3: ORD
#4: DFW
#4: DFW
#5: ATL
#5: ATL

Note: Deals are indicated by map icon. Screen caps were taken on July 10, 2011

In my opinion, this is a massive missed opportunity by the entire air travel value chain (airports, airlines, airport shops/restaurants, car rental companies, hotels, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), and even travel related web sites, etc.).   A strong social crm strategy from any of the brands within this category would certainly benefit from the almost 1.5 million people that are willfully announcing that they are either leaving or have arrived at these specific destination via their smartphones.

  • The airport facility could offer free parking for every 10 check-ins.
  • American Airlines  (LAX, DFW,ORD), United Airlines (LAX, SFO, ORD), Virgin America (SFO), and AirTran (ATL) could adopt a universal check-in promotion that allows passengers to earn free air miles, earn upgrades, or access to club lounges if they check into the Terminal via Facebook at the same time they are checkin-in to their flight.
  • Burger King (or any other food vendor) could offer group discounts for 8 or more travelers checking-in together.
  • The Sun Glass Hut could mash-up the local weather report with Facebook check-ins to offer “Sunny Day ” discounts on sun glasses.
  • TSA could offer a free pat down or private body search with every check-in.  (JOKING)
Last time I checked, American consumer confidence with the airline industry was not that hot. By using Facebook Places and Deals as a mobile loyalty card or coupon where a customer gets rewarded for loyal/local buying behavior, they could make air-travel a little more palatable…and/or affordable.

 

Additional Infographics by Jeremi Karnell:


 

  • http://www.donmartelli.com Don Martelli

    Great post Jeremi. Airports are totally missing the boat on a number of levels, especially when it comes to building stronger relationships with vendors at their locales. FB Deals is a no-brainer. People are there, waiting, killing time. Deals — big or small — would most definitely drive engagement.

  • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

    Totally agree Don! American Airlines and United Airlines have an enormous opportunity here! Those are the only two major airlines with significant presences at 3 of the 5 top Facebook Places. Hell, both should pull in their Alliance partners (OneWorld and Star respectively) and cultivate both domestic and international travelers via Facebook Deals.

    • http://www.donmartelli.com Don Martelli

      And think about it like this…there’s really no other place in the world, other than our places of work, homes and hotels, that brands will have a captivated audience — an audience who is begging for attention because there’s nothing else to do in airports other than work, eat, drink, call home or call the office. It’s not quite shooting fish in a barrel, but darn near close to it.

    • http://twitter.com/Bonifer Bonifer

      GameChangers is working with United’s Media division. We should talk.

      • http://www.donmartelli.com Don Martelli

        What are you guys doing? Would be interested to hear deets. I’m @bigguyd or donmartelli at gmail so we can connect.

      • Anonymous

        Don / Bonifer – Please feel free to include me on these discussions. I’d love to brainstorm around how we could leverage both your approach and our social media management platform to provide valuable info for customers that check in via tools like this.

      • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

        Mike, lets chat as we have been cultivating relationships with another part of United on this end.

        • http://twitter.com/Bonifer Bonifer

          i have a call w UA tomorrow morning, will know a lot more after that, i’ll ping you on FB tomorrow re scheduling a call

  • Mike Langford

    Nice piece. I would love to have Facebook or other LBS give me the info I am likely to be looking for when I check in at an airport. Example: The nearest Starbucks is over near gate 18, the closest bathroom is near gate 12, the area with the best wifi reception and most power outlets is near the food court and such.

    It would also be smart idea for the travel industry to start integrating with LBS platforms. That way when I check-in after my plane lands they could help me navigate. Tell me how to get to the rental car counter from my gate. Have my car waiting for me, you know I’ve landed.

    In fact, why aren’t LBS actively moving into the travel planning industry? Foursquare seems a natural to help me plan my trip. “I’m flying to New York. I have meetings here, here and here. Help me book the best hotel in relation to where I will be, help me plan my dining and coordinate efficient transportation.”

  • Peter Twombly – Boston

    Provocative Piece – Something the travel industry needs to do: Integrate! As Mike points out below, how great would it be to have -the airlines for example- guide you through the entire process – all the way from booking online, to your hotel room or final venue – with check points, add-on values & promotions along the way. Travel planning is currently one-dimensional, indeed old school. Both Don and Jeremi are correct: Facebook Deals would go a long way re driving loyalty for airlines and other industry players. Dare I say….IF we were marketing the airlines – we would prob advise installing Facebook Fan Page kiosks at the gates ; )

    • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

      @MikeLangford & @PeterTwombly, Airlines integrating Facebook Places check-ins within their actual ticketing kiosks would be epic #socialcrm

  • http://www.stephendill.com Stephen Dill

    Bummer, I was hoping the post title was leading me to an article telling me I could stop feeling obligated to check in (as in, “Frack Check-Ins”), because I am friggin’ tired of it! Aside from letting my peeps know where I am, and who I am with, and some idea what I am doing there, and giving them the opportunity to tell me what they think about all that – check-ins have been totally worthless for as long as we have had them. I have yet to redeem the few bennies that Gowalla, SCVNGR or Foursquare have ever alerted me to, and I have only seen one Deal on Facebook and it was of no interest to me. If anyone asks me, LBS so far has FAIL written all over it.

    And who is to blame for our underwhelm-ment? I always thought that LBS held the most promise for local merchants, a huge demographic and everywhere present. Here was a relatively low-cost incentive program that capitalized on the mainstream’s fascination with mobile to the SMB owner’s advantage—limited only by their creativity and attention to what motivated their prospects and customers. But it soon became apparent that with no one helping the small business owner with deal ideas, stickers to put on their doors (“Don’t forget to check in on Gowalla!” or “Check-in on 4Sq for a chance to become the mayor” or “We love our 4Sq mayor!”) or even an e-newsletter telling them how others were succeeding in their use of LBS to meet their business goals, they were not going to spend the time to figure it out. The burden to create value in a check-in fell back on the service user, who has no shortage of LBS providers to choose from with no clear distinction among them. (Then there is the social media consultant who must use ALL of them, lest a client ask for their opinion on one they don’t know anything about…but enough of my whining.)

    Sure, Virgin has check-in leader boards at its new terminal in SFO. PR like that just tells me that a few of the large brands have been able to put ten people on the task of figuring out how to leverage LBS, but I still doubt that Foursquare offered to consult on how to best use their technology!

    So Jeremi, please put us out of our misery. Tell it’s time to say “Frack You, Check-ins!”

    • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

      @srdill, your points are partially why I titled the infographic F Check-Ins. I could not agree with you more! The LBS industry has a ton of hype around it without a lot of depth. I think the problem exists at all levels.

      I believe large corporations are still trying to get their minds wrapped around Social CRM and understanding how to tie social profiles into their customer information files. As it relates to airlines, their systems that record status, provide upgrades, etc are pretty robust. Indeed, I have grown increasingly impressed with the sophistication of ticking check-in kiosks (as well as airline web sites) and how I am afforded different experiences based on how much I paid for the ticket and my overall relationship with the brand. There is just painfully obvious disconnect with the idea that HUMANS are driven to check-in socially at the same time they are checking-in to a flight. Its not that big of stretch to merge both activities and reward even the first time flyer with no status for telling their friends they are flying your airline.

      When it comes to the actual shops and restaurants, I think your point about the challenge facing small merchants is spot on. But they are sitting next to heavy hitters like Burger King, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Sun Glass Hut, Victoria Secrets, etc. All of those brands have MAJOR agency support and where the hell are they in this mix?

      I believe social check-in ‘s will continue to grow in volume, especially ones that are travel related. The urge to update your social-graph on your whereabouts (either to alert peeps you are in the area or to simply brag) is to strong. Whether or not brands can take advantage of that opportunity remains to be seen.

  • Kristin Shaw

    Really interesting, Jeremi. My company creates technology for the air transport industry and launched a Facebook app for Malaysia air not too long ago to allow people to book a flight with the airline, integrate trip details into their social graph, identifying friends who might be sharing flights, or who will be at their destination. I sent your infographic to our SITA Labs division for review.
    Thanks!

  • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

    @srdill, @AustinKVS, @MikeLangford, @Bonifer, and @BigGuyD This conversation has led me to know what my next infographic will be: F Deals! :) I actually took some time this morning to survey the Top 50 Metros in the US and counted up the available Facebook Deals (http://www.facebook.com/deals/checkin/). The average is around 4.5 FB Deals per city. More interesting is that there does not seem to be a major francise in the United States that is covering any more then a single metro (and thats a stretch as most US FB Deals are from small merchants/restaurants). Juxtapose that to what is going on in Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal). American Eagle Outfitters, Town Shoes, and Aerie have coverage in two or more metros….and they are the ONLY ones using FB deals in those cities. Look at London, UK and Domino’s Pizza is KILLING it. So that begs the question…..what the hell is going on in the US?

    • http://www.donmartelli.com Don Martelli

      @srdill, @AustinKVS, @MikeLangford, @Bonifer, and @jkarnell I think the bigger issue here is that big brands, despite budgets and decent content, STILL haven’t harnessed best practices in social never mind exploring how to really penetrate their markets with mobile (never mind LBS technology). Consider this, myspace was king just a handful of years ago. Not 20 years ago. It was like 6 or so. Despite advances in technology, social, marketing, etc., brands still seem hesitant to take risks, explore, etc. Now, that’s a gross blanket statement, and I realize that, but look at the case studies in social. We can all name them off the top of our head. Comcast, Old Spice, Starbucks, etc. The list isn’t that long. Wonder why?

      • Kristin Shaw

        Very true, Don. I was discussing this with an air transport industry association yesterday in DC and they don’t even have a Facebook page yet. The staffer who has built a social media plan for them is trying to get the executives to understand this is not a “oh, yeah, that would be cool” item. It’s a must-have to reach the audience, cast a wider net, and capture the attention of anyone who might be interested.

  • http://www.agirlsgottaspa.com/blog Shannon Nelson

    This is a great post on missed opportunities with Check-ins! Has anyone ever done the math on exactly how many people are checking in total and breaking it down by area?

    I also agree with Stephen’s sentiments. Only 1 time has a discount been available to me for checking in that I was able to use (I mainly use Foursquare). This has discouraged me from checking in more often because I find it a waste of time. Not sure why most businesses in my area are not using it.

    • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

      Thanks Shannon! My next post will be titled “F Deals” and will start to dig into some of that data. I will ping you when its published.

  • http://www.jeremikarnell.com Jeremi Karnell

    Another infographic that I found that is relevant to this conversation. Details the different check-in apps, the places that draw check-ins, and motivations for checking-in.

    Although Airports are not listed specifically, I am making a guess that they fall within the “new city check-in” classification.

    Take a look at the #1 motivation across the detailed segments. The main motivation for using check-in services is to get discounts/coupons.

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