Professionally (I work for goldenpages.be) I am astonished about the time and effort we invest daily in the contact details of our business owners. We have a long lasting data partnerships with the biggest Telecom provider in Belgium (Belgacom),  we have dedicated content teams that have aggressive content KPI’s , we give every Belgian business owner the opportunity to update his/her business information (free of charge), we call our customers if we don’t have the correct details, our sales force is trained to update wrong data if they encountered it,  basically it is a huge effort in which we invest time and money on a daily basis. And we still don’t get it perfect. So I am not surprised to see all the wrong data that is out there.

Assumptions are that when consumers search for business, they find listings across many directories of which 40% are incorrect. So make sure that when your business information is shown, it is accurate! 

social listening platforms

For many business owners keeping up with all these sites is a big challenge. You need to invest time, money and know-how, and these components are not always available for everybody. Managing all these accounts/interactions can quickly become a full time job, even when using some of the social media apps available (check out the social LUMAscape). It becomes even less interesting if you lose the overview and have no idea about what is being said (positive of negative) about your business.

So what should you do?

First you need to focus on what your vision is, what you want to achieve, what your target groups are and how much time and effort you can invest. Based upon that you can define your online strategy.

Some of you just want to make sure that your business information is distributed correctly across the entire network. So your goal is to find out where your business is mentioned and manage your business information.

Others want to take it one level further and add a social component to your online activities. It is always important to engage in a correct way with your different user channels. Based upon your needs you can set up a business page on Google +, or Facebook places, develop a corporate blog, or create a Twitter, and/or LinkedIn account.

And maybe there are a few of you out there that want to take it even further than that, making these digital campaigns the cornerstones of your marketing strategy and thus expecting not only to have clear goals set, but also to have clear KPI’s (per channel), and have a clear overview of every click/interaction so you can investigate what works (and what doesn’t).

Steven Princen is an Online Product Manager at Belgium’s biggest local search company, GoldenPages.be. His passions are online marketing, digital media and (historical) evolution’s.

Steven Princen has over 5 years experience in digital media, social media, online community, and related technologies. He always focuses on the big picture during strategical activities using a logical and analytic approach. He synthesizes all information in clear priorities, and finds a balance between user and business opportunities.  Over the years he obtained strong project management skills using clear communications and focus on the end goal when working with vendors and customers.

you can find an overview of Steven Princen his profile on LinkedIn.

What is this update about?

Foursquare desktop version

easy, two words: map integration. Foursquare  changes the map integration, making it larger (and even more when you select to expand the map)

Within the map Foursquare has made use of their user intelligence.  It shows your friends on the map indicating their avatars where they made their last check in.

“It shows everything interesting nearby – your friends, places that are trending (in yellow), places on your lists (green), places with Specials (orange), and places that are popular (blue). You can even drag the map around or zoom in and out and all the interesting places update automatically. “  blog.foursquare.com

This combination of user intelligence, friends and trending places, all with a local and time sensitive label creates a unique map. Great to explore (or discover as per Foursquare) you own region, or the region you are planning to visit. With this information a treasure of information is made available, and that treasure will only become richer and richer due to more usage, more places, more offers, … My time spend on this page will increase drastically.

Foursquare place page

There is of course more included in this update besides the map integration. The place pages also got an update.  Photos, tips, and information are presented better and improve the user experience.

Also included in this latest release there is the list discovery.

What are you waiting for? Go and check it yourself:  http://foursquare.com

Google street view In Belgium

Finally it happened, Google Street View is launched in Belgium.

There were some indications yesterday (there seems to be an official Google press event at Brussels city hall later today).

The street view pictures are taken in 2009, but because of legal issues the launch was postponed. Legal issues because Google was also collecting data on wifi networks. This drew the attention of the Privacy commission that took legal action.

There are of course quite some privacy remarks related with this product. So it isn’t a surprise to notice that google dedicates a specific page on the privacy topic.
http://maps.google.be/intl/eng/help/maps/streetview/privacy.html

I must admit that tough I saw it happen in other countries, I didn’t expect to have such strong emotions when experiencing Google Street View in my own neighborhood. I still felt quite surprised about the level of detail shown.

And yes, my first thoughts were about my privacy. And I didn’t feel at ease. I felt more at easy when I noticed you couldn’t see any details of my apartment. Strange reaction when you come to think of it. I shared my complete interior with all my Facebook friends…

Street view Antwerp

We live in a world were our privacy is redefined, and having images of the houses and streets we live in accessible to everybody,  is something we will have to accept. And I must admit it, I like it. Who wouldn’t.

This new world of ours makes information available in ways we could have never imagined 10 years ago.

And while we entered this world where we are not only making all sorts of information available to everybody, but we are making our voices noticed. The next step should be to make them count.

what is it all about?

when a user shares a product on Twitter or Facebook, he can influence the price of that product. Each tweet or facebook post drops the price with 1€.

The campaign will last for three weeks, and each week a new product will be promoted.

Of course there are some restrictions.

• Stock influenced to this pricedrop is limited, the first offer is only applicable to 100 pieces.
• Secondly prices can’t drop infinite. For the first product, a Samsung 43 inch Plasma TV, a pricedrop of 20,8 % is possible.

We have seen some alternative methods in the market before, for example those where users can decides what kind of price the want to pay for the meal they were served but this is a great way of making use of social media. Although I am surprised to see that Saturn doesn’t asks to become a fan of their brand,  there is no way to maintain any kind of customer relationship.

http://www.deeldeprijzen.be/

And I do like it.

http://agoogleaday.com/embed.html