August 21st, 2010 | Location-based network,social media |
Peter Shankman made a very short video to help you guard your privacy within the new “Facebook Places”. I’m a fan of location-based services, I actually use quite a few but there’s one feature in Facebook’s Places that puts me on edge. I don’t want to others to have the ability to check me into a venue without my option to approve or reject. This post shows you how to adjust your settings so others won’t be able to “check in” for you.
How to avoid being “Checked in” by your friends on Facebook’s Places from Peter Shankman on Vimeo.
August 3rd, 2010 | Location-based network |
A recent study by Forrester showed the the number of people using location-based networks is too small for major marketers to bother with for now. If you’re a forward thinking business who continues to look for growth you should note the following reasons why you SHOULD use location-based networks to promote your brand/product:
People are already visiting your establishment
Why not track this information and offer benefits to your existing customers? Besides sales transactions, most establishments don’t have a way to track who enters their store. By registering your business with Foursquare you can track these early users and offer them incentives to come back. This also allows your visitors to evangelize your business to their friends. These users tend to be more influential and vocal about their favorite venues/products.
Major brands have already partnered with Foursquare
Companies have already establish partnerships with Foursquare and implemented incentives for people who use the application. Some have even added Foursquare to their advertising. Vh1 offers you a chance to win a year’s worth of concerts
Wouldn’t you rather be a brand that’s known for rewarding early adopters/trendsetters?
These are the people who will help evangelize your brand if they like what you have to offer. The typical marketing curve goes like this:
It’s more advantageous to be on the front end of this curve than behind it. To quote Sarah Hofstetter, “Size doesn’t matter. Influence Does”.
It doesn’t cost you any money
Web 2.0 offers so many tools to help companies reach millions of people without spending a dime. With a little bit of planning and effort, you can promote your brand and actually track the results. Once you’ve registered your business, you can track each day when a visitor checks in and how often. If they have a twitter linked to the account you can even communicate with them through twitter. You can also create “specials” to entice people to visit.
Invest in growth
Again, I have to credit Sarah for this subtitle. Foursquare started in March 2009. In one year they grew to over 1 million users. In five months they are now over 2 million users. Major companies like Facebook and Google are looking to expand in this area which helps to increase the vast marketing potential in this area. Since the barrier to entry is low for businesses it’s extremely easy to establish early and grow with this explosive trend.
Foursquare is the most popular brand in this space but there are several location-based networks that are competing with them. The three biggest behind Foursquare are Gowalla, My Town, & Loopt. Foursquare seems to be the most business friendly at the moment.
