How can location based social networking help my business?

Gone are the days of an organisation having total control over the marketing information that is placed on websites. What if I told you that the majority of your companies marketing was done by people outside of the organisation. Scared?

Image provided by Renjith Krishnan

With the dot.com bust a number of start up companies went under. This forced IT professionals to develop new models to making the internet profitable. A new revolution of how users would engage the internet was born. The era of Web 2.0 had arrived. Web 2.0 applications provided a platform that enabled collaboration and empowerment to its users.

This paradigm has been coined Harnessing the Collective Intelligence by Tim O’Reilly. There are two key principles that allow this process to prosper. The first key principle is that the users add value. Through the users participation on the web 2.0 platform by creating content, uploading and sharing their ideas and thoughts they are can both directly and indirectly add value.

The second principle is that network effects magnify this value.

Web 2.0 thrives on network effects: databases that get richer the more people interact with them, applications that are smarter the more people use them, marketing that is driven by user stories and experiences, and applications that interact with each other to form a broader computing platform.

By involving users both implicitly and explicitly the interaction will become more meaningful and enjoyable. Web 2.0 technologies should facilitate emergence by allowing the particular application to transform to suit the users needs. The ability for the application to be fluid and less structured will enhance the experience by the users. Web 2.0 applications have been developed to allow users to create web pages and content with little or no understanding of HTML.

Foursquare

Foursquare is a location-based social networking service which is avaliable on smart phones to allow its users to “check-in” to venues they are currently at. This allows users to share their current location with other users they are connected with their foursquare account. There is also a game aspect to the service which allows users to receive reward points and “badges” for each check-in they do. For users check-in the most to a venue, become the “mayor” of that location. Users are also able to leave comments on a particular location they have check-in at. Some businesses have embrassed this social networking service by providing specials and discounts to the “mayor” or other users of foursquare.

Businesses have seen the advantages of customers using foursquare as it shares their business name with other users of the platform and lets them know if they frequent a particular location (eg: coffee shop) which in turn may attract further foursquare members to visit, especially if a positive comment is left

The face of buisness marketing has changed with the use of social media. The inaugural Nielsen-Community Engine 2010 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study found that 70 per cent of all Australian businesses intend conducting some form of social media activity this year, compared with just 40 per cent in 2008. (read more here).

Users that connect on platforms such as foursquare can read people’s personal opinions on a particular business which could influence a customer’s decision more than having that customer exposed to a traditional marketing campaign.

Businesses need to use platforms such as foursquare to connect with these niche markets to discover what the perception is of their buisness. It is a great source of information and is another way that businesses can market to a specific customer base.