Mar 16, 2010 - Comments: 2

Where the Customers Are - Is Location-Based Social Media Right for Your Business?

Posted by Lisa King under Social Media , Technology

With Twitter and Facebook both adding location services in addition to existing location-based services such as FourSquare, Gowalla and Loopt - many of which have corresponding mobile applications - clearly location-based social networking and social media is poised to be the next big thing. But what does that mean for you and your business? Should you jump on the bandwagon?

The short answer is "it depends."

Evaluate your business goals and the type of visitor you are attracting or hope to attract (to your business, not just your site). Do you depend on repeat visitors? Are you trying to attract new, drop-in visitors? Does your demographic participate on location-based social media? Don't assume your initial instinct about your audience is correct and automatically rule it out (or in). You can check your website's analytics tracking to see how many users are accessing your site through a mobile platform. And once you've decided to test the waters, don't forget to promote it by reminding people to check-in once they've arrived.

For example, on a recent client visit to New York, when I arrived at my hotel, I checked in on FourSquare to let my friends know where I was. I soon had a note in my Twitter stream from the hotel welcoming me and another after I checked out hoping I'd return soon. I followed them back on Twitter so I'm now receiving specials and updates. 

Foursquare On my way to visit the client I decided to check out a new coffee shop. Diligently checking in, I discovered that they offer a free drip coffee to their mayor. Unfortunately I'm probably not there enough to become mayor, but it's a great way for a new shop to differentiate themselves and help build a regular clientele. With the proximity feature I also discovered that a local restaurant offered a discount for every 5th check-in.

We've seen a bar in Washington, DC encourage locals to all converge on one night by saying "If 50 of you all check-in tonight, you'll receive the Swarm badge" which we thought was a clever way to encourage a crowd on what was probably a slow night.

In addition to options for adding customized specials, FourSquare is also developing dashboard tools for business owners to provide insights into the types of people who check into your business and when so you can tailor specials to them.

Gowalla has focused more on a virtual scavenger hunt - checking in at various locations let you collect virtual goods that can be exchanged for real gear or gadgets. This has proved particularly popular at conferences where attracting attendees to specific venues and keeping track of your friends makes a location based social networking particularly handy.

Have you tried any location-based social networking promotions for your business? What information would you need to see in a dashboard or what demographics would you want to know about your typical users before you considered it?

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