Well, it’s time to get off the fence and join the party. Geotagging is here. It’s hot and it’s driving revenue into small “local” businesses right now.

Geotagging uses GPS technology and basically adds a location to media, such as photos, posts, websites, RSS feed, etc. Geotagging is used by mobile social networks. Foursquare is the leader, Gowalla is in the mix and Facebook and Twitter are fast adopting this hot new way for people to communicate, share and connect. Instead of spending big bucks worrying how your business places in a “global” search engine such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, you now have a tool which allows you to use the internet on a local level. Local search, local tweets, and local coupons are all part of how you can use location based services to reach your potential customers and reward your existing ones in new and fun ways! Location based social networks are all about real-time connections.

Let’s say you own a pub and business is slow tonight. You have a band coming in at 10pm with a cover charge. I’m visiting your small town from Dallas with 6 friends. We’re across the street at a different restaurant and bored. You “tweet” a 2 for 1 special on all drinks and free cover charge for the band later tonight to anyone who mentions your tweet. I happen to be using Foursquare to check in and I “view tweets nearby” and see your post.  My 6 friends and I head over to your establishment and spend the rest of the night and a lot of our vacation cash in your pub.  All you had to do is post an offer on Twitter, at no cost to you.

Maybe you own a hotel and occupancy is down tonight. You know there is a huge concert in town. Locals may not want to drive home. You post a deal specifically playing to that crowd. You sell 5-10 rooms that night.  You didn’t spend any marketing dollars and you had a positive affect on your revenue. All you did was send a tweet.

Starting to see your opportunity?

You can post a coupon, offer loyalty programs, even reward the person who checks in with you the most with the title of “Mayor” of your business. (And believe me, as a user of Foursquare, I can tell you that we fight ruthlessly to be the Mayor or just about every place we love to frequent.) This week, I got 10% off my purchase at Coldstone, 2 for 1 at a local water slide and the satisfaction of being the “Mayor” of a ski lift right before the season ended, meaning I’m the mayor until next season.

Think of it as a form of gaming, and the primary players are adults 24-55 with a healthy income. Wouldn’t you want to engage these folks?

Foursquare

Yelp, Twitter and Facebook are joining the game, but Gowalla and Foursquare are strictly location based mobile social networks and are the leaders. Foursquare offers Foursquare for Business, a program which keeps track of activity related to your business and even lets you know who your best customers are.

Let’s Play.

If you have a smartphone, you are in the game. Just download the application to your phone.  Obviously, I’m a fan of Foursquare, so we will be “playing with Foursquare”. As you go through your day, you just check in anywhere and everywhere. Foursquare is user driven, which means you can add places, provide tips for others, and make a list of things you really want to do. You can’t cheat.  Your phone has to BE where you are checking in, or the application will let you know you’re fibbing. You can check in, but you won’t get any points (or credit for checking in) and for those of us using location based social networks, it’s all about the game.

Foursquare awards badges for various achievements such as “Super Mayor” for being the “Mayor” of 10 places at once and “Local” for visiting a place more than 3 times in a week. You can even get a badge for visiting too many bars, or staying out “past 3am on a school night”. Accumulating badges is part of the fun and new badges are constantly being added.  There is even talk of allowing businesses to create their own badges.

Get Your Business on the Map.

You don’t need a smartphone – you just need to take a few minutes to sign up for Twitter and for Foursquare for Business. Both companies offer you lots of helpful advice and ideas to use their services to promote your business.

Foursquare is very new and growing rapidly. In the past THREE weeks, users have grown from 500,000 to over 725,000 and there is no sign of slowing.  This growth has made it hard for Foursquare to keep up with demand, so right now, only business “where people gather” (coffee shops, bars, restaurants, etc.) are allowed to join the party.  However, in the very near future, more “foot traffic” businesses will be invited to participate.

gowalla

The cell phone is the future laptop… well, not completely, but you get the picture.  People are demanding more and more of their mobile device and smartphone companies are delivering the goods. As people rely on their cell phone as their main contact to the planet; your deals, offers, reviews and information can literally be available 24/7 to your customer. Now is the time to ask yourself: Is my current website “mobile friendly”, as in – can people easily navigate my site on their phone? Am I represented on location based social sites?  Do I have a “social marketing strategy”?

Need help? Contact me. I love this stuff.

build brand awareness…engage your customer…join the conversation

…utilize the power of community…create buzz…

You have no doubt heard these terms and are aware of or have visited sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. But how do you, the small business owner, utilize Social Media to improve your bottom line?

I’d have to write a book or two to cover that one! In the meantime, here’s one tangible way you can use social media to connect with your customer and increase traffic to your business. “Push Pull Marketing, Twitter-Style”.

A “push” promotional strategy usually makes use of a company’s sales force and trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product.

A “pull” selling strategy is one that usually requires high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product.

The beauty of social media marketing is there is little or no monetary cost for most of your campaigns. Time is your primary investment. Take the time to learn how to utilize social media (such as reading this post); then take action. Yes, there is a learning curve, but once you start using Twitter, you realize how easy it is!

1. Sign up for an account at Twitter. Be sure to use the real name of your business and the town and state you are located in. You want people to find you easily in a search. Fill out your profile and post a picture. You must post a picture if you don’t want to look like a creeper.

2. Next, search your e-mail address book for people you know who are already using Twitter.  Then use one or more of these great third party tools to find potential customers to follow as well as list your business. TwitterLocal, Twellow,TwitterPacks, Just Tweet It, WeFollow, Who Should I Follow

3. Push, Twitter-style by scheduling a promotional tweet through EasyTweets. This is “push marketing. You are “pushing” your message out through Twitter, making people aware of a particular offer, such as “free wine with dinner tonight, just mention Twitter!”

4. Pull, Twitter-style by utilizing engagement tweets! This takes a little more time, but is just as important as push marketing.  Look for people who need help with an issue, or have had an issue with your company and you need to resolve it. Engagement is the soul of social media marketing (SMM). You help someone with their issue, you share your expertise, you reach out and empower someone and suddenly you are sought after. Helping people and showing genuine concern creates loyalty. How do you find people to help? Read your tweets each day, people you follow may tweet something that you can assist with. You can also use the search box on your Twitter homepage, type in a subject you believe you have expertise in – such as #webdesign and read the tweets on that subject.

Basic Twitter Help ~

WHEN sharing a link, use a service like TinyURL to shorten your link, allowing you more space to write your message.
WHEN addressing someone on Twitter or mentioning them in a tweet always use this format: @personsusername (@joesmith).
WHEN you read a tweet you like, share the love! Pass it on by retweeting: RT @joesmith (then copy and paste his post here).
WHEN posting on a subject you want people to know you mentioned, use a hashtag: #websitedesign or #livestrong. Then others who are interested in this subject will see your tweet grouped with all tweets regarding the same subject.

So, now you have one way to “join the conversation” right now. There are so many ways to use Twitter and numerous “shortcuts” and useful applications. A great place to find info on “all things Twitter” is mashable.com, supplying a plethera of social media information.

So, go create some buzz about your biz.  Your customers are waiting!