Friendticker, which describes itself as the first mobile customer loyalty platform to apply virtual check-in technology exclusively for brands and small-scale advertisers, has announced the impending launch of its iPhone application in public beta mode at Mobile World Congress on 15 February.
The company says the app enables advertisers and marketing managers to identify the most useful data for a specific individual at a specific time and place. The platform provides advertisers with the ability to increase customer retention rates by adding virtual check-ins to a brand or venue.
Friendticker says it transforms the social media check-in concept and applies it as a marketing tool to directly interact with brands, and rewards interaction with the brand instantly. The app adapts the game-based, virtual check-in technology of current social applications to make it specific for a mobile marketing platform that brands can use to target their own customers within their virtual local community.
The company notes that in current social network companies that focus on virtual check-in, a badge has no real-life value. In the Friendticker model, instead of badges, the platform lets advertisers provide items of the advertisers choice. With Friendticker, each user receives items for his action and interaction with the brand, and the item becomes a representation of the real-world item. This allows the advertiser or marketer to define what the user receives and which items are exchangeable for real-world goods. There is no limit to the amount of items that a user can receive and the items could represent a free drink n a cafe, for example, or a money-off coupon. Friendticker is sold on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPL (cost per lead) model.
Current virtual check-in applications are only scratching the surface of what's possible for local businesses through mobile, says Friendticker Co-founder, Florian Resatsch. Friendticker gives real-life value to a customer's mobile actions beyond the gaming aspect of first generation virtual check-in technology. By combining social networks, geo-placement and real-time search to add value on top of who you are,
what you are doing and where you are, local and small scale advertisers can create and launch mobile campaigns that reach their target audience.”