Using Location-Based Social Networks To Generate Business

Mobile location-based tools such as Foursquare and Yelp have been a game-changer. They have the ball rolling on a new way to interact with customers allowing for more informed shopping experiences, but they struggle to hit the mainstream because they aren’t always offering enough.Now though, this concept is being taken one step further to build upon the experience a customer has when they’re either in a specific store or just about to visit it. The implications this has for the digital marketer are huge, and it’s important that we’re on top of these developments so that by the time the customer finds them, we’re already there and waiting. With this in mind, here are three new tools we can’t afford to ignore.

Indoor location-based services

Location based services are most commonly used outdoors, and this can be limiting. Now though, as their name may suggest, a new and improved technology is bringing the concept indoors. Byte light tracks the movements of registered customers through their mobile device and then, through dedicated apps, offers them targeted discounts and coupons depending on their whereabouts.It seems like this one is going to be big, and so registering there early will give you a huge edge over your competitors; why shop there when Byte light is providing discounts in your store just next door?

Social neighbourhood demographics

Right now this one is limited to certain parts of America, but it looks set to grow in the future and so it’s something to keep an eye on. The idea of programmes such as Livehoods is to monitor check-ins on websites such as Facebook and Twitter to establish patterns in what different neighbourhoods do differently and how their demographics affect interests and purchase intentions.To the digital marketer, this means more detailed knowledge about the customer and consequently the ability to create more targeted ads which appeal specifically to the demographic of the area in question.

The mobile wallet

As smartphones get more advanced, the ability to incorporate bank cards, coupons and tickets into one device is becoming more and more possible. As this technology begins to get more mainstream, we as marketers are able to interact with customers in an entirely new way and offer promotions directly to mobile devices.

Combined with the technologies above, we can provide hyper-targeted local advertisements to individual customers and ultimately generate more business for our companies.We should be viewing new tools like this as our lifeblood, and embracing them early will lead to huge payoffs in the long-term.

Rob writes for leading SEO agency Vision Media.

Post Tags: apps, business, customers, location-based, mobile devices, social networks