Ok, I’ve got a new one for you.  Karen often is telling you that you should be developing your web presence and developing a relationship with your customers.  Well, I bet you have yet to hear of Foursquare.com, Gowalla, Britekite or Google’s Latitude.  These are all examples of the new geo-location social media network.  Using the GPS technology in your phone, these applications allow people to share with their friends where they are hanging out.

Some of these are more popular than others and the cream will definitely rise to the top.  But they are really becoming very popular games people are playing.  In a nutshell, you click on the app. on your phone and check in when you reach a new destination.  The application keeps track of how many times you have been here; it lets others know where you are and tells you if there someone you know is near to your location.

The games are all different in how they work, but you can leave a virtual gift at the location that one of your friends can pick up when they visit this same location.  In Gowalla, if you are the first to check in at a new location you will be known as the founder of this location.  With Foursquare, if you are the person that has been to this location more than anyone else, you will be crowned Mayor.

All of this may seem trivial or even a bit silly.  But what if you are a restaurant and were to offer a free beer to any Mayor.  Or send out a tweet on twitter that you will give a free entrée to the founder of your restaurant.  What if you throw a party at your bar this Tuesday, 5-7pm, for all Gowalla fans, have your customer show the server their phone and receive half-priced drafts.

Not only playing with your customers like this is fun and good for business, but because this is a social media platform, everyone that is at your bar is automatically telling all of their friends that they are hanging out with you.  THIS, is a lot of free advertising and it is the best type of advertising; word-of-mouth from friends.

Whether you get involved with Gowalla, Foursquare or any other GPS based application, this demonstrates the power of social media.  If one person says something good about your business on a social media platform they may be telling 100 – 300 others.  If 15 people show up to take advantage of your half price beer, how many are they telling?  Social media advertising has an exponential component that should not be ignored.

If your establishment is using these technologies, let us know.  If you are not, check them out.  And if you need help, send me an email.

Social media marketing is one of the most exciting, interactive forms of advertising around today.  It is easily measureable, extremely focused and very effective, not to mention affordable.

The basis of social marketing is building and strengthening your brand while developing relationships with your customer base.   It demonstrates to them your knowledge of your business, your care and concern for them as customers, and by your willingness to share a little of yourself makes you reachable and real to them.

When social marketing is executed properly, customers come to trust you personally and become loyal to you and your business.  It is all about relationship building.  It is this customer that will always think of you and your business first when they need something that you provide and will be quick to recommend you to their friends.  Developing these relationships, the trust and loyalty, is priceless when it comes to strengthening your brand.

I mentioned earlier that this was an interactive form of advertising.  While you are conversing with your audience, they are able to comment on what you are sharing with them.  They are able to express their experiences, both good and bad.  This line of communication is what’s going to make your business stronger.  You will be able to learn about customers experiences and be able to make adjustments where necessary.  The fact that the customer can express all of this to you and you be able to respond to them in a forum that allows all readers to see, will show your audience that you care and as a result, build trust and loyalty.

One last point that I would like to share about this form of advertising is that it is sustainable.  The relationships that you develop have the potential to last for many years.

You might say that this sounds too complicated or too time-consuming or maybe you just don’t get it, all of which is completely understandable.  At first, it does sound complicated and seems to have the potential for being extremely time-consuming but once you start a program, you will find that it does not really take much more than about 20 minutes per day, but the benefit can be enormous.

Take the plunge and get your program started today.

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