Social Media is continually changing. It can sometimes seem difficult to keep up. But, because it is so powerful, keep up you must if you want to maximize your business growth. There is a new buzzword in Social media, Geosocial Networking. Geosocial networking is where users of iPhones, Droids and other mobile devices with GPS or similar location functions, buzz other members in the network when they visit a business or use its services.
This isn’t a passing fad. It is an unstoppable phenomenon. The growth of users is staggering. In 2010, 93 percent of people from the ages of 18 to 29 have mobile phones. Thirty nine percent of people use location services like GPS on their phones. Seventy three percent of people use a mobile application to check in to social networking services. As of July 2010 there are two million users on FourSquare. There are 5.8 million businesses and locations on FourSquare. And, in June 2010 17 people checked into FourSquare every second.
With FourSquare, users can rate a business they are visiting, for example, ‘the food is great here at Bill’s restaurant,’ and send out the message to all users in the network, sometimes thousands of people. The tips or reviews of the businesses pop up on other network users’ phones when they look up or are near the location of the business. This is free publicity for your business, and if people like what you offer, it is the best kind of publicity – word of mouth.
One of the biggest reasons you need to be proactive in your Social Media Marketing is because your business’s reputation depends on it. Even if you do nothing, in Social Media, chances are people are talking about your business, either building its reputation or tearing it down. By being actively involved, you can help your CRM (customer relations management) and your reputation. With FourSquare, for example, you can register your company; give badges, incentives and giveaways to potential customers. This creates goodwill and positive social buzz. Often this can be viral, meaning that what starts with a few positive feedback messages ends up being thousands upon thousands of messages about your business being sent out as users of the network send it out to other users, and those users send it out to their friends on the network.
Facebook, Twitter are incredibly powerful platforms for astute business owners. Twitter profiles and tweets, and Facebook profiles and Fan Pages accompanied by consistent updates of fresh content are some of the most powerful and quickest ways to create your presence and positive reputation. But these are not the only mediums. There are new platforms and services like FourSquare emerging seemingly everywhere (here is a link to FourSquare’s page for business owners, http://foursquare.com/businesses/. One of the best parts of Social Media Marketing is that, for the most part it is free. However, it does take time, and must be carried out in specific ways. There are fundamental do’s and don’ts in Social Media Marketing, and it is very different than traditional advertising presentation.
Social Media Marketing can be confusing it is often beneficial to enlist the services of a Social Media Management company. They can educate you on what platforms are available and the best approach for each one you choose. A good Social Media Manager will help you create profiles, pages and show you how to use them. Consistent updates are essential to successful presence. You can do this yourself or have a Social Media Assistant perform periodic updates for you. A good blog with fresh updated content is also beneficial.
Whether you enlist the services of a Social Media Management company, or choose to do it on your own, now is the time to get involved in Social Media Marketing. If you have a presence already, be consistent with your messages and updates. By being proactive, you put the fate of your business’s reputation in your hands.
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Great post as always Carl. I have been using foursquare for about 5 months, some aspects of it are excellent, I like the competitive nature between my friends and I who do use it, however its penetration of Social Media users in the UK is quite limited. Also, I feel it has yet to find a way to encourage business use, very few places offer a special offer and the ones that do offer very limited deals.
Now that Facebook has a geo-tagging facility, im finding more of my friends are using this service.
Thank you Brian.
In larger cities, here in the U.S.A. Foursquare is doing better than in less populated areas where like you say, less businesses use it to make special offers. However, because of this, those that do have a competitive advantage. It will be interesting to see how the cards fall now that Facebook is in the geo-tagging mix.
I’m still trying to figure out how, or if, to use Foursquare with my business. It looks like it’s on its way to reaching critical mass in maybe a few months time. I’ve registered my business, but I don’t have a good idea how or what incentives make sense to offer. Any suggestions for where to look for this, or do I have to hire a social media consultant?
Great post Carl, it is definitely imperative for any social media marketer to take note of these networks.
I also feel that, businesses have to take initiatives by giving discounts or may be sometimes freebies to its mayors to improve the check ins, but at this point in time not many are doing that and people are spending lots of money to become a mayor and end up getting nothing for being a mayor.
For Malaysia context i find foursquare the best.facebook places is disabled here, Google latitude is complicated and not user friendly. Foursquare also has a wide following. Seldom see people update thei places with gowalla.
Excellent post Carl, very informative and useful. Thank you.
What about “Facebook Places”? What are the advantages of “Foursquare” over “Facebook Places”?
Hi Carl,
Nice post – I enjoyed the content and your writing style. I have not used FourSquare yet, Do you think this is gaining traction? In the recent months I seem to see less of my followers “checking-in” to places, or at least announcing check-ins on Twitter.
Justin
Hello Justin,
I don’t know what the latest statistics are, but back in March of this year, Foursquare reported having over 500,000 users, and adding over 100,000 users in just 10 days. It has competition though…Gowalla, and now Facebook has come out with places, a location based application.
There are case studies where establishments, particularly restaurants have used Foursquare to pull in customers with quite a bit of success. Will it continue to grow its user base, or become just a fad? There is definitely a novelty factor, which could wear off over time. But it many smaller it is just starting to take off.
Thanks for your comment!
I have been using FourSquare here in Santa Fe, New Mexico and find it fun. What is your experience of it?