Beyond Check Ins: How Social Media Apps Are Driving A Boom In Location-Based Data

Location-based services will become ubiquitous, but not with a wave of killer location apps that will move them into the consumer mainstream.

Instead, location data is being used to power location-sensitive features in the background of more and more apps — across the social media landscape.

Facebook, Google, Yelp, Instagram, Groupon, Twitter and dozens of other popular apps offer location-enabled features.

Those mobile properties, and many others, have moved way past the "check in" concept, which in any case never really caught on with users. They may still offer the ability to check in, but are also trying to be more imaginative with location-based notifications and location-aware services. This is also known as the SoLoMo, or social-local-mobile nexus.

In a new report from BI Intelligence on local-mobile marketing, we explain how social media apps have encouraged location-sensitive features that often run in the background.

We also take a look at key stats on the location-based services marketplace that indicate its supremacy in mobile marketing. We interview top location-based industry experts, and explain how the most important techniques work (geo-aware, geo-fenced, DMA-focused and audience-based local-mobile campaigns). We examine the cornerstones — such as data- and audience building — to a successful location-based mobile strategy, look at who has the valuable location-based data, and analyze the six most effective local-mobile marketing tactics.

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Here's an overview of the social-location-mobile marketing explosion:

• Some apps, like FourSquare, and Path offer ambient tracking of a smartphone so that users can share their location with friends in real-time and receive push notifications that guide them to nearby events, deals, or gatherings.
• Another popular app, Life 360, allows families to track one another. In December, Life 360 introduced a feature called "Places," which allows families to receive automatic geo-tagged notifications. For example, a teenager's mother may receive a note, "Alice Has Arrived At School," every time her daughter makes it back safely at her boarding school.
• One big problem with ambient tracking and location-enabled push notifications: the battery drain of always-on GPS. One company, Geoloqi, has created a development platform that aims to allow coders to easily build powerful location-sensitive features that are battery friendly. In October of last year, Geoloqi was acquired by mapping technology company, Esri.

In full, the report:

• Explains how location is the new cookie and can give marketers a way to identity and track mobile audiences
• Showcases data that show how money and investment is flowing into location-based mobile marketing
• Shows how location-based data is driving much of the interest and success in mobile marketing
• Shows how location is extending beyond the smartphone
• Takes a look at key stats on the location-based services marketplace that indicate it's supremacy in mobile marketing
• Explains how the most important techniques, such as geo-aware, geo-fenced, audience-based local-mobile campaigns, work
• Examines the cornerstones - such as data and audience building - to a successful location-based mobile strategy
• Looks at who has the valuable location-based data
• Analyzes the six most effective local-mobile marketing tactics

To access BI Intelligence's full report on Social-Local-Mobile Marketing, please sign up for a free trial subscription here.