That makes the latest rumor that Facebook will be adding a tool so that people can add their locations to their Facebook page to be quite exciting to us. The applications for how our clients can use that information are plentiful – as this would be a feature that can help to improve almost every B-to-C business.
If you haven’t heard, Facebook announced in a blog that they would include a location-based feature to their 400 million (+) members.
Right now, most of the mobile applications that are gaining popularity are tied to games, such as the FourSquare site that lets people “check in” at certain spots so their friends know where they are and to gain popularity with repeat visits (such as by becoming the FourSquare ‘mayor’ at a certain restaurant.)
It’s grown in popularity, as it seems to be a logical fit for social networking to include someone’s actual location.
Facebook had hinted that they would be adding this type of ‘location’ feature in the future, when the last updated their Privacy Policy. Just think about how you can use this as a business. If you’re an ice cream shop, perhaps you could recognize that many people are at the restaurant ‘next door’ and send them a note with an online coupon to visit your facility for dessert. Or, you run a local entertainment facility and see that you have a lot of people in the local area (convention, sports event, etc.), so this is your chance to run a ‘special’ to drive more customers to your facility. Along these same lines, you can update your own Facebook business page to reflect customer comments or reviews or photos.
Mobile marketing and the use of location-based information in social networking is changing the way we live and consequently how we market and do business. We’re just on the brink of this very exciting transition, and look forward to hearing your input on how the use of location/place can benefit a business. What are your ideas on how a business can benefit from location/place information?
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