Social media has become a barometer for people’s reaction to events of all sorts. However, tracking and monitoring these reactions has been difficult until this point. Geofeedia seeks to change that.
Founded in 2011, Geofeedia strives to be the market leader in location-based social media monitoring. Recently, Geofeedia has been working with organizations to bring their expertise in social media monitoring into the sports world. Ally Brettnacher, an Account Executive at Geofeedia, experienced her company’s expansion into sports when the NCAA used Geofeedia during March Madness. In a recent interview, Brettnacher provided SportTechie with insights into Geofeedia’s workings with the NCAA.
Brettnacher described Geofeedia as “a location-based social media monitoring platform that allows organizations like the NCAA to draw a virtual perimeter to understand conversations fans are having at an event, without necessarily searching particular keywords.” Geofeedia’s user interface creates a virtual perimeter, allowing users to navigate using a specific address, city, or state. Using the polygon tool, a certain geofence perimeter can be drawn based on the radius or size of an area.
Prior to Geofeedia’s emergence in 2011, Brettnacher explained that there was no market for this type of tool; Geofeedia essentially invented the market space. A handful of platforms offering similar functionality are available now, but since Geofeedia patented their technology, no other companies have the same specific capabilities.
Traditionally, in order to view social media content stemming from an event, users have to search for keywords and hashtags on each service. But Geofeedia departs from the traditional social listening tools by honing in on content based on where the conversations are actually happening—allowing the company to “cut through the noise.” Much on social media actually lacks a caption with the specific keywords most tracking platforms require in order to see the conversation, which is why Geofeedia’s location-based services are so critical.
Geofeedia is able to navigate social media content posted on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Sina Weibo data in real-time within a virtual perimeter. In order to be discovered by Geofeedia, the social media profile has to be public and location services have to be on. Brettnacher explained the process their software uses, starting with looking at all content from the selected location—stressing that Geofeedia’s services are inherently location-based. Then, the content from the selected location is aggregated, sorted based on whether there is a caption. Eventually, the content is further narrowed down by keywords or hashtags.
While preparing for March Madness in Indianapolis, the NCAA was looking for a platform like Geofeedia “without realizing we were in their backyard,” said Brettnacher—since Geofeedia has offices in Indianapolis, as well as Naples, Florida and are headquartered in River North, Chicago. The NCAA was looking for a platform to research and understand the social conversation in the area surrounding the tournament, in order to better cater to their fans and improve their overall experience.
The NCAA utilized Geofeedia to contribute to the “superior fan experience via web, mobile, and social channels.” In the NCAA Social Hub, volunteers and staff used Geofeedia to look at areas of Indianapolis to connect with attendees of March Madness. For example, social media content taken at the airport revolving around March Madness, such as the banner welcoming those coming for the tournament, could be seen by users of Geofeedia. This allowed the NCAA to see some of the consumers coming to their event. Sometimes, the NCAA would “like” certain social media content to interact with attendees. The NCAA could also comment on the content, including comments welcoming attendees. Geofeedia also provided a way for the NCAA to see when attendees posed a question on social media about the event. In fact, Brettnacher said that “ninety percent of the inquiries were responded to within fourteen minutes [of the content being posted].” Overall, Geofeedia provided the NCAA with a level of fan engagement and proactivity that was not available to them before.
From a security aspect, Geofeedia’s platform could also be helpful. By being able to view social media posts from within the arena, those in the NCAA Social Hub could inform security in instances where social media content indicates a fight or counterfeit tickets being present in the area.
In addition to giving the NCAA a way to interact with fans, Geofeedia assisted in capturing content featuring title sponsors. Although Geofeedia did not work directly with title sponsors, Geofeedia worked to showcase these sponsors. In the past, the NCAA has had issues with non-title sponsors going into a “clean zone”—an area given to specific sponsors to showcase their brand—and handing out their own merchandise. By monitoring these clean zones throughout the tournament via social media, the NCAA is able to appease their title sponsors and ensure that those title sponsors are being taken care of.
Geofeedia seems to just be scratching the surface of the sports industry. March Madness provided Geofeedia with a platform to display their capabilities, as shown in a recent case study. In the future, Geofeedia intends to work with more sports organizations like the NCAA and continue to add value to events by cutting through the social media noise and allowing users to contribute to the overall fan experience. Working with more organizations will only provide Geofeedia with more experiences that will help their company improve and evolve. Their improvements and advancements thus far will be detailed during the “Next Evolution of Geofeedia” webinar on August 13.