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Social Media Tips
Social Media Tips
Location-Based Marketing – How Small Businesses are Leveraging Foursquare
Oct 15th
Posted by charles in Social Media Tips
Maybe you’ve noticed a trend lately on Facebook or Twitter where certain people “check in” at wherever they may be at the time-perhaps the local Starbucks, their neighborhood bookstore or even the post office. At first glance you may have seen some of your friends and followers doing this and thought, “who cares where you are?”;)
If you are a small business owner yourself, however, you might want to take a closer look at what’s going on.
In most cases, these location-based “shout-outs” are being done via an application called Foursquare. While there are other similar apps out there (such as Gowalla), Foursquare has emerged as the most buzzed-about geo-location tool, and the application you’re most likely to see pop up in your Facebook News Feed or Twitter stream.
What Is Foursquare?
As the official website explains, “Foursquare on your phone gives you and your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points and unlock badges for discovering new things.”
While you will often see it integrated with social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Foursquare is not used in the same way as these sites. Whereas you might sign into Facebook or pull up Twitter to see what your friends are talking about, people use Foursquare, primarily via mobile phone, to make a “game” out of letting others know where they are at any given time.
For example, say you’re out and about downtown. You would take out your phone (be it an iPhone, a Droid or a BlackBerry), click on the Foursquare app, and via GPS, you would see a list of all the nearby locations. You would then click on the business where you happen to be and then “check-in,” adding a custom message and posting it to Facebook and/or Twitter if you’d like.
As you check in at new places, stop at multiple places or make repeat visits, you earn points and unlock “badges” in the game. Check in to one place regularly enough, and you get a chance to be named “mayor” of that location.
Sound silly? While on the surface Foursquare may seem easy to dismiss, many small businesses are already embracing it to engage with customers and build loyalty. Foursquare recently passed the milestone of 100 million check-ins, and it even made Entrepreneur Magazine’s annual List of 100 Brilliant Ideas.
How Local Businesses Are Using it
Geo-location is huge in social media, and will continue to boom in the coming years. In fact, at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference it was announced that spending on global location-based services is on track to exceed $7 billion over the next three years.
Realizing this, savvy local businesses are taking advantage of Foursquare by using it to offer specials, discounts and rewards programs to pull in new customers.
To illustrate, here are just a few examples of current offerings by businesses near me:
* Sports Authority in Cherry Hill, NJ: Get a $10 Cash Card towards a purchase as a thank you for being Mayor
* Exit Skateboard Supply in Philadelphia, PA: Get a free T-shirt for your first check in on Foursquare
* Whole Foods Market in Marlton NJ: Free small coffee for the Mayor anytime; plus a free reusable bag on your 10th check-in
* Tortilla Press Cantina in Pennsauken, NJ: Free appetizer on your first visit; Mayor at end of month gets a $20 gift card
Another bonus for business owners using Foursquare? Access to venue analytics tools that will let you explore some pretty cool stats. For example: who the most frequent visitors are, the total number of unique visitors, what times of day people check in, who the most recent visitors are, and more.
What About Online Businesses?
While virtual businesses may not benefit the same as brick and mortar ones, online business owners can still use Foursquare to make connections-the same way they do via other social networking sites.
One example of a virtual biz owner using Foursquare successfully is a Facebook connection of mine, Rebecca Thompson of CLR Virtual Connection. Someone she “ousted” as mayor of a location ended up hiring her after becoming aware of what she did for a living in the process. In another instance, a Twitter follower engaged her after noticing that they often both checked into the same places. That conversation led to a request for Rebecca’s services.
It just goes to show-you never know where your next client or customer is going to come from. And while cutting-edge applications like Foursquare might not yet be as widely used as a social media behemoth like Facebook, with the exploding popularity of smartphones and location-based social networks, business owners would be wise to take a second look.
Why Social Media Marketing for Chiropractors?
Oct 15th
Posted by charles in Social Media Tips
When the economy began to falter and the GNP began to slide, there was a great deal of concern for the middle class. As jobs became less abundant and unemployment reached double-digit numbers, another sector of society began to see hard times, too.
Doctors, dentists, and all other caregivers began to understand that they too were in a recession because health insurance was becoming more expensive than many could afford.
Never could there be a better time to get involved with social media for chiropractors than right now. The average patient-base is much smaller than a few years ago, and the number of people in the profession is larger based on new people going into the field. Being a professionally run organization does not guarantee that there will be continued business and growth.
With the decrease in business that many professionals are experiencing, putting more money into the mainstream advertising venues is not an option. Social media for chiropractors is a popular way to attract new business because it costs little to implement, and when it is run successfully, the results can be very encouraging.
At the risk of appearing too commercial, many chiropractors have begun to look for low-cost advertising on late night television. This attempt is usually a doomed venture because the pool of clients is so small. Putting the time, money, and energy into a social network has the capabilities of reaching so many more prospective patients/clients.
Professionals have long realized the importance of good press, and that has never been truer than it is now. The chiropractors who get the business must be pillars of the community and blow their own horns some at the same time. The way the public perceives any professional organization is crucial to its survival at this time.
It comes down to this; if social media for chiropractors is not used to attract people, there are few other viable options for the small office. It’s a simple process to start, and it can be as easy as the questionnaire that each new client fills out. Ask for an email just to break the ice and get a contact list started.
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Get Off To A Good Start With Twitter
Oct 14th
Posted by charles in Social Media Tips
Twitter has many different professional uses. You can use it to make solid professional contacts, you can use it to promote your site, and you can use it to learn what your customers think of your products. Before you can do any of that, you have to do a few things to get your account off the ground.
Set Goals
What do you plan to use Twitter for? Networking? Customer service? Promoting your site? Before you even sign up for Twitter, take a minute and think about what you intend to do with it. Different goals will require different strategies, and some goals might require multiple Twitter accounts. For example, if you’re interested in promoting two different sites in two different niches, it’s better to set up two different Twitter accounts.
Fill Out Your Profile
Be sure to take the time and fill out your profile completely. Make sure you include your name, some information about yourself, and your website. Twitter users want to get to know each other, and filling out your profile is the first step to having someone get to know you. Be sure to put information in your bio that will appeal directly to whatever audience you’re trying to reach.
Keep It Short
Twitter only lets you post messages that are 140 characters long. If you want to convey a complex message you’re going to have to find ways to do so without going over the character limit. Start by getting familiar with some of the most common acronyms people use on Twitter. For example, AFAIK means “as far as I know”. A well placed acronym can save you quite a few characters in a tweet. Also, get familiar with link shorteners. There are a lot of link shortening services out there, but they all do the same basic thing – they shorten your link. When you enter a link into a link shortening site, it will automatically generate a short link for you that will redirect anyone clicking it directly to the link you provided. Most shortened links are less than sixteen characters long, so you can usually save a lot of characters this way.
Twitter can be a great addition to your marketing arsenal, but only if you have the proper tools to set your account up the right way. Be sure to keep these tips in mind when setting up your account, and you’ll be off to a good start in no time.
