April 2010
Fancy the idea of your friends knowing where you are at all times? The recent explosion in GPS-based mobile phone apps proves that many people do.
Popular apps of this kind include Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and Brightkite. Most are US-based, but have global reach. These apps, touted as the future of social networking, allow people to:
- meet up with friends when out and about
- rate venues
- see how friends have rated venues and see other recommended venues in the area
- get rewards from participating venues.
How might this benefit business? The main benefit is great exposure to potential customers who are social influencers with disposable incomes.
An example of a small business that’s done this well: The Marsh Cafe in San Francisco. The cafe is signed up to Foursquare and offers other Foursquare users free drinks or discounted theatre tickets. This has led to:
- lots of coverage for their innovative marketing campaign, including on mainstream media outlets, such as CNN
- a surge in demand (the cafe’s had to hire extra staff and extended opening hours)
- great word of mouth among customers (source: mashable.com).
Foursquare opened up in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and other Australian cities late last year, so it’s not too late to become one of the new breed of Foursquare discounters in Australia if you’re willing to try a different approach to traditional marketing.
Contact icemedia if you’re interested in introducing more social media into the way you do business.