The Buzz & Beyond Blog
Archive for February, 2012
Location-Based Platforms: Bringing Social Media Marketing to the Doorstep of Your Business
Posted on February 7th, 2012 By Roland Cailles No Comments So Far
One of the things that keeps social media marketing interesting is that it is always changing. New platforms and features—and new ideas for how to use them to engage with customers and prospects— are continually arising. Location-based marketing, one of the latest tools for your social media marketing program, is one such example.
You may have heard of location-based platforms, like Foursquare or Facebook Places, that allow users to ‘check-in’ to the business locations they frequent. Thanks to the widespread adoption of the smartphone, and its GPS tracking capabilities, apps can track when your customers are visiting your business. To avoid privacy issues, these location-based platforms use an incentive-based model to encourage users to share their location and consumption habits openly with their social networks.
Here’s how location-based platforms work. Let’s say a customer visits one of your business locations. At your business, they can open Foursquare on their smartphone and a list of businesses in the area will appear. The user picks your business, hits the ‘check-in’ button and can make a comment. When the user checks-in, they receive points from Foursquare and they also let their social media network know they are at your location.
What’s the incentive for the user? That’s where you and your business come in. Foursquare allows you to manage your company listing on the site, similar to a company Facebook Page. You’re given a range of promotions to offer your customers as incentive for visiting and checking in to your business. You can offer a coupon for first-time visitors or a percentage off during slow hours to generate more foot-traffic. There are also group discounts or loyalty programs like 10% off on your 10th check-in.
Another great feature of Foursquare is the metrics it collects. Foursquare keeps track of who has checked in at your business, how often they visit and provides demographics like age and gender.
Location-based platforms have obvious applications for business-to-consumer marketing, but what about business-to-business?
Here’s one idea. In addition to helping your brand awareness efforts, Foursquare could have an impact on your next tradeshow or company event. As a complement to your tradeshow marketing efforts, Foursquare can be used to promote a tradeshow booth and generating booth traffic. For example, you can create a venue page for your booth, and then reward visitors who check-in on Foursquare with freebies or special demonstrations.
Foursquare and similar location-based platforms are one more tool you may want to consider for your business’ social media marketing. They have a unique ability to provide incentives in the moment and at the point of sale, will build your brand awareness because of their social aspect and can complement your tradeshow or company event marketing efforts.
Tags: apps, b2b, facebook places, foursquare, location-based, Mobile, Social Media
Posted in Social Media |