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.

Yesterday I was working on a project for another site that required I research several local bands.  Assuming they had a web presence, I started by searching their names on Google to see what I could come up with.  It surprised me to learn that many of the bands did not have much of a web presence and one I wasn’t able to find at all.

Why was I surprised?

Not that I know anything about the music industry but, for whatever reason, I assumed that these bands would have a strong web presence.   That they would be interacting with their fans to, at the very least, let them know where they are going to play next.  How do their fans know where they are going to be if they don’t tell them?  Do they assume that the club they are playing at is going to promote them?  Are their fans supposed to find them by driving by the club and notice that the band’s name is on the sign out front?  Do people find them by accident?  They decide to go out that night and the band just happens to be playing at the club they go to.

A business like any other

Do bands realize they are a business?  No, they don’t have a store front but they are a business.  I guess I can understand that when a band is young, they are focusing on creating music and improving their sound.  But, developing their fan base is what’s going to get them “climbing the charts” so to speak.  It’s what’s going to get them more gigs.  If the club is packed with fans that came out specifically to hear then, the more the club owner wants to hire them.

Every business, including bands, need to have a web presence.  The value of developing relationships with your customers (your fans) should not be underestimated.  Those customers, those fans will ultimately be your biggest asset.  They will be the ones doing the advertising for you.  They will be the ones telling their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends and so on, about you.  It doesn’t matter if you are a band or a t-shirt shop or a small café, it works the same.  The more people you communicate with, the more people that are telling others about you.

Get out there on the social media platforms your fans and customers are on and start developing those relationships.  Developing relationships IS developing your business.

What’s your social media strategy?  Are you where you customers or your fans are?

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