Foursquare Day, the first Global Social Media Holiday, will be celebrated across the world in over 100 major cities. Foursquare Day founders are enticing users to attend special Foursquare Day events, by promoting special offers at venues and the likelihood of attendees earning a Swarm badge. Foursquare is rumored to be offering a brand new badge, The Foursquare Day badge, for the occasion as well. It’s unclear what exactly you would have to do to earn the badge, but it would probably include checking in at one of the designated Foursquare Day party venues during the designated times.

Rumored Foursquare Day Badge

If you’re in Boston, drop into The Good Bar for Boston’s Foursquare Day Party between 6pm and 9pm tomorrow night and meet some fellow Foursquare users.

What do you think of this idea? Do you think other companies will use this idea in event marketing? What else could companies do with Foursquare?

I remember when I updated my Interests at least once per month, was invited to events by non-promoters, didn’t have to sort through twelve page suggestions every day and could write on someone’s wall without worrying about it showing up on mutual friends’ news feeds. Those are definitely some things I miss, but I enjoy some of the new features as well. Now, the design is more user-friendly and search results are far more comprehensive. I can comment on other people’s wall posts and I can block certain parts of my profile from certain people. The site is certainly different.

I think it’s interesting how much social networking sites change in a short period of time and I’m excited to see what comes next. I’d assume a lot of the social networking sites will focus on mobile integration in 2010. What do you think? What’s next for social networking sites like Facebook?

-@cristinalepore

With the launch of our new website, and the current marketing initiatives we have in place, I know Q1 is going to be a busy one. One of the lessons learned from 2009 is that creating partnerships between non-direct competitors can be very fruitful. We are entering the time of “co-ompetition,” where agencies are joining forces to strengthen combined service offerings to win larger accounts.

Now, I am not saying that competition between firms isn’t still fierce. However, maybe now it’s more of a “bird-eat-bird” world instead of a dog-eat-dog one.

(In case you are wondering, yes, this is a picture that I took of a bird eating another bird with my iPhone. Yes, it is gross, but I can imagine a picture of a dog eating another dog to be 1000 times more disgusting).

What do you guys think? What are your plans for 2010?

-AJ Gerritson @ajgerritson

The truth is, we have elements of all of these pre-existing terms and categories, but we are really much more than that. Further, the term “marketing agency” makes most people think of the stodgy traditional shops, which we are not. On one hand, our expertise can easily be categorized – lead generation through new media. But one might ask if that categorical description is something that people can mentally digest…quickly? After all, if we are going to label ourselves shouldn’t we do it in a way that is straightforward and potentially unique? Maybe we could go with – “Lead generation through the strategizing and execution of social media campaigns, traditional public relations, PR 2.0, search leveraged public relations, search engine optimization, mobile marketing, advertising, and branding and positioning”… I know, way to long.

How about, “451 Marketing, the agency that makes a lot of money in a short amount of time for their clients by using quantifiable techniques?” Getting closer, but still think people would probably want something a little more refined. We could try something that talks about our commitment to being at the forefront of our industry, describes our constant efforts to know more, apply more, and educate each other on the latest and greatest in new media. We need to create some way to convey how we bring better ROI’s for our clients compared to our competitors? Maybe, “451 Marketing, constantly working to be at the forefront of new media and delivering ROI’s like no one else?” Nah… not in love with it, still to long. I think we need something that captures it all in one succinct impactful statement.

Maybe something like… 451 Marketing, “The Leader in New Media Communications^TM“. I like it!

AJ Gerritson, Founding Partner at 451 Marketing

More and more companies are turning to Mobile Marketing to reach new and existing customers. Recently, QuickMobile, a mobile technology and services company, released a Version 2.0 as part of its Contextual Mobile Marketing Platform. By using QuickMobile, companies can send text, audio, video and graphics to mobile phones. Some new features of this program are Mobile Polling and Mobile Results in addition to enhanced security and preferences. Mobile Polling allows presenters to create and ask questions to audiences in real time and have them answer the question on their mobile phone. This interactive tool will add a new dimension to how presenters can keep audiences’ attention and collect data at the same time. The other new device, Mobile Results, allows Mobile Marketing Firms to track their activity in order to test its effectiveness. Both of these tools were utilized by the Presidential campaigns, as mentioned in Nick’s previous post.

With new tools being created all the time for Mobile Marketing Firms and Interactive Agencies, this technique is growing in popularity among companies. The fast and direct communication it provides to consumers appeals to businesses looking for innovative ways to reach their target audiences. Shopping, for example, can also be done through Mobile Marketing, with new innovative technologies that allow shoppers to engage in text ordering, as well as receive text messages about different upcoming promotions of the respective store.

All the new media technology involving Mobile Marketing is revolutionizing how consumers complete their every day tasks and activities. As the future unfolds, Mobile Marketing will continue to grow as a front-runner in new media communications.