{"id":5048,"date":"2009-10-19T08:58:01","date_gmt":"2009-10-19T15:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.web-strategist.com\/blog\/?p=5048"},"modified":"2009-10-19T17:02:53","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T00:02:53","slug":"how-local-businesses-can-benefit-from-mobile-social-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/19\/how-local-businesses-can-benefit-from-mobile-social-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"How Local Businesses Can Benefit From Mobile Social Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local Businesses Can Benefit From Mobile Social Networks<\/strong>
\nThe nearly mainstream social web is now evolving and graduating to mobile devices. \u00a0This emerging space of mobile-based social networks are empowering customers to find the best venues and prices, and offering savvy companies unique ways to cater to this new medium. \u00a0Yet, despite the emergence of applications like FourSquare<\/a>, Yelp<\/a>, and recently launched GoWalla<\/a>, there are risks as customers talk directly to each other and opportunities for businesses who harness the tools. \u00a0Local businesses should approach the mobile social networking space by first listening to their customers, responding to commenters, provide special offers to advocates, and prepare for pricing to be impacted.<\/p>\n

Mobile Social Network Offers Discounts Based On Location<\/strong>
\nUsing FourSquare<\/a>, a location based social network, I ‘checked in’ to the movie theatre indicator to my friends my location. \u00a0Immediately after the application identified my approximate location it offered a ‘special nearby’ which I clicked. \u00a0The Savvy Cellar Wine Bar<\/a> offered me 50% off a wine flight to a store 2 blocks away.\u00a0Using both my general location using 3GS on the iPhone and my explicit checkin to the location, it was able to serve up advertisements based on my physical location. \u00a0We should expect FourSquare to evolve and eventually offer advertisements based on your friends interests “John, Amy, and Allen all like Los Taqaritors, invite them now for a 20% off discount”. \u00a0Location based ads will soon connect with social information.<\/p>\n

Catering To “Top” Customers Spur Word Of Mouth<\/strong>
\nThe opportunities aren’t just focused on location based, but also provide opportunity for developing an unpaid army of advocates. \u00a0Take for example Foursquare’s point system, those who ‘check in’ the most to a location can become the ‘mayor’ of their particular store, indicating they’re the top customer. \u00a0Some savvy restaurants provide free drinks or other services to the mayor<\/a>, who will continue to spread their affinity for a restaurant using social networks.\u00a0\u00a0 A few weeks ago, I spent time with Yelp’s marketing team and their community manager Connie<\/a> who oversees many of the community facing events. \u00a0I learned that many local restaurants cater to Yelp Elite<\/a>, and will likely provide them with quality service above and beyond, in fact, Yelp has launched a program for restaurants to offer a prix fixe menus for Yelp users<\/a>.\u00a0Expect to see Yelp’s mobile application advertise these special deals for Yelpers as they search for restaurants online using mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Empowered Customers Check Prices In Real Time –Impacting Buying Behavior<\/strong>
\nEven if you don’t have a physical store, but offer a consumer good, consider RedLaser<\/a>, which is a real-time bar code scanner that allows any phone to scan UPC codes and find them cheaper online. \u00a0This means that retailers with higher priced products may miss out as consumers can quickly buy it from a competitive store down the street or find it online. \u00a0If this trend continues, manufactures may shift their supply away from high-priced retailers to compensate for the change in demand. \u00a0(Thanks Andrew Hyde<\/a> for the tip)<\/p>\n

Innovative Market Dependent On Adoption<\/strong>
\nDespite the innovation, location based marketing and advertising has its limitations as it’s dependent on: total number of consumers with mobile devices, adoption of mobile social networks, and their desire to find location-based offers.<\/p>\n

Key Takeaways For Local Businesses:
\nLocal businesses should approach these mobile social networks in a four part strategy –not simply reacting without a plan. \u00a0Companies should approach this space by: <\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n