The Facebook Place Page for Washington Dulles International Airport has 47,220 check-ins, and its foursquare venue has amassed 57,965 check-ins. It is instinctive to check-in at the airport, as this action has become social proof of one’s jet-setting adventures.
Retailers and brand-sponsored check-in venues do not generally experience an airport-like momentum of instinctive check-ins. Brands can begin by offering a healthy incentive to check-in, such as a discount, preferential treatment or insider access to information. However, following a panel on in-store social media and the evolving retail experience at SXSW 2011, several conference-goers realized an extra push is needed to activate those customers who remember to check-in at the airport but are not instinctively thinking “I should check-in” when shopping at their favorite store.
The solution? Prompt check-ins with social signage.
Instructive stickers and signs are the low-hanging fruit of social signage. Wetherspoon, a large England-based chain of hotels, restaurants and pubs, communicates their check-in message effectively with instructive front-door stickers like this one. As the sign indicates, the mayor of each of their nearly 800 establishments receives 20 percent off on food orders. The results? One foursquare venue in London has received 791 check-ins, with the mayor claiming 13 check-ins in a 60 day period of time.
Visual check-in prompts need not be limited to 2D stickers. The University of Kentucky placed gigantic 4-foot tall 3D check-in signs around campus in order to encourage students to check-in via Facebook Places. Since these signs were dramatically enlarged versions of the Facebook check-in symbol, no text was needed to get the ‘check-in here’ message across.
Interactive social displays take social signage to a new level for retailers and special event hosts. Done right, this format can drive increased check-in activity while simultaneously making it more fun to wait in line. One SXSW attendee I met mentioned Toscanini’s (Tosci’s for short) – an ice cream and espresso café in Cambridge, MA. The shop’s owner has fashioned up this interactive flat-panel TV which displays a live feed of tweets containing the hashtag #Tosci, foursquare tips from customers, and a challenge to oust the current mayor. The Tosci's foursquare venue has 3,296 check-ins, or about twice the activity of the nearest Starbucks foursquare venue (1,684 check-ins). Tosci’s espresso must be good, but their social signage has prompted customers to willingly spread the word.
