Movers & Shakers at Gilt City, Foursquare, Maine Today, Quoin

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Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry — like Sarah Chubb (pictured) leaving Condé Nast Digital to join Gilt City. Plus: job openings at Yext, TripAdvisor, Telenav, and Red Bricks Media.

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Discover, LevelUp

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss Twitter’s shut door on developers; everyone and their mother joins the In-Location Alliance; and Paypal jumps on the Discover bus. Plus the usual funding and M&A activity, our resource of the week and special guest Michael Hagan, COO LevelUp.

SFD: Groupon’s New App, Amazon Snubs Google Maps

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Groupon’s New App Hints At A Change In Course (Fast Company)… Amazon Teams with Nokia, Snubs Google for Maps (Reuters)… Facebook to Allow Targeting by Telephone Number? (Screenwerk)…

Block-by-Blockers Respond to Borrell’s Revenue Prescription

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“People are beginning to figure out that the display advertising model is a bad carryover from mass media,” says Gordon Borrell. “What does that mean for the future of hyperlocal websites? I think there’s value in them, but I honestly don’t think there’s enough value to sustain the business model in any single market beyond being a very small niche.”

How Real Estate Agents Are Using LBS to Connect Buyers and Sellers

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Real estate has always been about “location, location, location,” but that maxim is truer now than ever. Mobile apps and location-based services are increasingly becoming an important part of a real estate agent’s marketing arsenal, and an important part of the way prospective buyers find places to live…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Surges, Google Monetizes Third-party Maps

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Yelp Surges as Growth Potential Counters Lockup Expiry (Businessweek)… Google Launches New Ad Formats To Help Developers Monetize Google Maps (TechCrunch)… Square Extends Its Retail Reach, Now Sells Its Card Reader at 1k AT&T Stores, 20k total (The Next Web)…

Why Are Local Search Results Polluted With Bad Content?

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Really good local is half Q&A, half search and includes enough activity and ratings and comments to provide more than temporal relevance. But many sites that come up high in searches have few ratings, and don’t provide me with particularly useful or relevant information. And there is rarely a social graph overlay…

6 Ways to Encourage User Contributions on Hyperlocal Sites

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Encouraging readers to comment on stories, share news tips, and contribute content involves more than adding a commenting widget or slapping a “Tips” button on the header of a site. Here are six tips from successful publishers and editors about how independent publications can solicit feedback from their readers online…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Bulls Get Bearish, Google Wants More Wallet

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Yelp Traders Brace for Lockup Expiration; ‘Better to Be Safe Than Sorry’ (Wall Street Journal)… Google Wallet Aspires To Hold All Your Cards and Tickets (GigaOm)… How The Web ‘Check In’ Is Growing Up (Forbes)…

Where Do Business Listings Come From?

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At some point in the future, local data must become purely digital, because the phone book will not be around forever. But until a critical mass of U.S. businesses understands the rationale for managing online data, this fundamental problem will continue. We need the concerted effort of all local search players to educate the local business community and advocate for the transition to digital data…

Clif Bar Uses Foursquare’s API for Geo-Targeted Twitter Campaign

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By restricting advertisers from targeting users at specific locations, Twitter has made it difficult for big brands to use its platform when running geo-targeted campaigns in the past. Clif Bar found a way around this challenge earlier this summer, when the company began asking customers with GPS-enabled devices to voluntarily tweet their locations for the chance to win coupons and prizes…

Street Fight Daily: iPhone Leaks Show NFC, LivingSocial Sued

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Here Comes Passbook: Latest Leak Points To NFC-Equipped Next-Gen iPhone (TechCrunch)… Marketer That Sued Groupon Now Targeting LivingSocial (CNet)… Marketer That Sued Groupon Now Targeting LivingSocial (CNet)…

Data That Thinks ‘Big,’ But Acts Local

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Local media is increasingly colliding with the emerging super-sector known as “Big Data.” This will define the “mobile+local” promise we keep hearing about — that location targeted ads will boost relevance, performance and thus monetiztion. But one thing often missing from the discussion is what the heck we mean by “location targeted?”

Can Mobile Technology Fix What’s Broken in Loyalty Programs?

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New mobile and in-store technology allows merchants to utilize relatively low-cost devices, such as an iPhone or an iPad, to take advantage of data-driven programs that do more than simply count down the punches until a customer’s next free sandwich. Here are two ways in which mobile tech has improved loyalty programs for small merchants…

SFD: LivingSocial’s Groupon Problem, Delivery ‘Land-Grab’

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Groupon’s Stock Slide Weighs on Rival LivingSocial (Washington Post)… Delivery Hero Fuels Up for Acquisitions with Fresh $49m Round (GigaOm)…
‘Thunderdome’ Takes Shape at Digital First (NetNewsCheck)…

6 Strategies for Promoting New Mobile Apps

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Businesses large and small are increasingly relying on branded apps to promote their products and engage customers on their mobile devices. To find out what marketers, publishers, and brands should do to promote these apps, we turned to the experts. Here are six tips that anyone can use to promote a new mobile app without spending millions in the process…

Echoer App Compiles and Curates Real-Time Feedback About Locations

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Four months after its wide launch in iOS, the crowdsourcing, location-based service app Echoer has announced an expansion into Android and a new content partner program with more than 500 media, blogger and event partners. Street Fight caught up with Daniel Cowen, Echoer’s co-founder and CEO, to discuss the app’s progression, the difficulties associated with continually generating real-time content, and how it distinguishes itself from reviews sites like Yelp…

Street Fight Daily: NYC Digital Toolkit for SMBs, Groupon Senior Exec Out

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology...

New York City Launches Digital Toolkit for Small Businesses (Mashable)…

Groupon Senior Sales Executive Leaving (Reuters)…

Mobile Traffic Tops Desktop for Major Deals Sites (MediaPost)…

Case Study: Taco Del Mar Sends Time-Specific Offers With Pirq

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As the owner of eight Taco Del Mar franchises in Washington and Oregon, Jeff Masterjohn has to be careful that the promotions he runs don’t interfere with any campaigns being handled by his corporate bosses or fellow franchisees. One way that he has been able to do this is by running day-parted discounts with Pirq, a mobile deals platform that consumers use to find geo-targeted offers on their smartphones…

LBS Marketing Spotlight: Restaurants

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Restaurants that want to stay ahead of the curve need to utilize their mobile apps as a source for offering programs for loyal diners. According to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Industry Forecast, 57% of adult consumers are more likely to choose restaurants that offer a loyalty rewards program. Meanwhile, 40% are using smartphones to look at menus and order take-out…