Location, Location, Location
- by Matthew McNairy, March 7, 2011
The “next big thing” on the web is going to be based around location-based services. It’s already easy to see them starting to pop up all over the Internet. Google released Latitude not too long ago. Twitter recently unveiled a location feature that allows users to attach a location to each of their tweets. Other services like Foursquare and Gowalla give users the ability to inform their friends of where they are, in case anyone want to join them. Even Facebook is in the exploratory process. (They referenced it as far back as this blog post in 2008.) None of the services are using location in exactly the same way right now, but it seems like Foursquare’s approach is one of the most interesting. Here’s an example: if you decide to spend a night out on the town for New Year’s Eve, you can update your profile with your current location, and your friends would know where to join you at any point during the evening. You may also notice that one of your friends is at another restaurant, prompting you to change your plans and meet them there.
Here’s how Foursquare describes their service:
People use foursquare to “check-in”, which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we’ll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places – cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.
You decide who your friends are, and they are the only ones who can see where you’ve checked in.
The cool thing about these services, from a business perspective, is that unlike Twitter, everything revolves around the location. Your business can be the center of attention! Foursquare has created a mechanism for venues to add specials to their profile, so customers who visit them come back more often to compete for points, discounts, and/or freebies using Foursquare. One example of this is Scotty’s Brewhouse, which has a pair of locations in Indianapolis. Their special:
Show that you’ve checked-in on Foursquare and get $10 OFF every 10th Visit! Must spend a minimum of $8 per visit.
Foursquare automatically keeps track of how many times users have checked in at Scotty’s, so all they have to do is show their phone to the server to prove this is their tenth visit, and they get $10 off their bill. Meanwhile, they have already spent a minimum of $72 getting to that point (nine visits x minimum $8), and most likely quite a bit more. Bjava Coffee and Tea offers 50 cents off a latte for every Foursquare check in. I’ve never personally been to Bjava, but I know about their special because Foursquare let me know about it when I checked next door at Puerto Vallarta during dinner a few nights ago. Foursquare is advertising on your behalf, to people who are already in your immediate area!
It’s a great time to get involved with these location based services, before everybody else is doing it. The cost is negligible, and your exposure is higher, because none of your neighbors are doing it yet. It’s easy for you to add your business if someone else hasn’t already. If you are interested in integrating location based services into your marketing plan, but aren’t sure where to start, feel free to shoot us an email and we’d be happy to help you out.