The Emergence of Social Search

Earlier this year I predicted that this would be a breakout year for social search. It seems I was right—however, it’s unfolding differently than I expected, with Google leading the charge.

It turns out that Google is not going to sit back and allow Facebook to eat away at their search advertising revenue. Instead, Google has recently made some bold moves that all online marketers should be responding to.

What’s happened is Google recently changed its search algorithm that determines what type of online content is the most relevant—specifically placing greater emphasis on original social content.

While Google didn’t specifically announce a focus on social content, the handwriting was already on the wall. Prior to the recent changes, Google co-founder Sergey Brin commented that Google has only touched 1% of what they’re capable of with social search.

Indeed, you may have already noticed that socially shared content is rising to the top of your Google search results. So, if you want to earn higher rankings with Google, you not only need to be creating high-quality content, but also actively encouraging its sharing on the social networks.

Social Content Matters for Search

Why so much emphasis on social content? For one, there’s so much of it. Google can’t ignore the fact that social content is being created at a breathtaking pace. And because search is all about content, they have to go where the action is.

The second reason is that social content is contextual—rich with original perspectives that result from sharing on the social networks.

Unfortunately for Google, one of the largest sources of social content is within Facebook—a place that Google can’t access. To acknowledge that would be tipping their hat to archrival Facebook. Instead, they’re just quietly going about the business of aggressively indexing what’s available—with blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Quora as leading sources.

Social Search

Search is what drives the web, and Google is still the leader with nearly 65% of the market. However, Google recognizes that Bing is a viable competitor that happens to have a partnership with Facebook, as well as with Yahoo. To maintain their dominance, they’re making adjustments. You’ll have to do the same to keep your business relevant online.

The following three practices will help you focus your online marketing efforts to maximize your relevance for social search.

#1: Create fresh and original content

Google’s internal name for the recent changes to their search parameters is the Panda Update. If you Google that phrase, you’ll find numerous rants regarding how particular sites lost up to 90% of their traffic following these recent changes. The reason for this is Google downgraded not only specific content, but also domains where there was an abundance of it.

So, if you happen to be a blogger who has been creating high-quality, original content for your community, Google just gave you a big thumbs-up. While there are a number of places to create your online content, a blog that you control is arguably the best place.

Thus, your primary objective is to strive for originality. If you’re going to republish the words of others, do so only to the extent required for supporting your original perspective. And of course, always ask for permission and provide attribution.

Here are some guidelines for creating original content.

1. Provide your unique perspective—If your perspective is truly unique, it adds something original to news that’s available elsewhere. This is why fans tune in to Howard Stern or David Letterman, and why your community will do the same for you.
2. Curate only the best content—Do your research and learn from other experts first, then personalize only that content that’s highly relevant to your community.
3. Learn from your community—Regularly engage with your community to learn and discover the unsolved problems. The solutions to unresolved problems by definition have to be original.

#2: Share to build social context

To better understand how sharing builds context that enhances your online presence for social search, it’s helpful to understand social graphs. This earlier article gives you a full description, but for now it’s enough to know your social graph is a digital map that describes you from the context of your relationships with your connections or friends—and from the content that you all share, which includes links to articles, photos, videos and more.

A powerful step you can take to help Google find all of your social content is to establish or update your Google Profile. The recently updated Google Profile interface has been simplified, making it easy to aggregate all of your social networks, as well as other online news sources relevant to you or your social network.

You can add links to other sites you network on.

For example, in addition to the major social networks, I’m also able to link to all of my articles here on Social Media Examiner by simply plugging in the RSS feed. Because your Google Profile is personal to you, bringing in feeds from your business blog or other news sources elevates your social influence in your business communities.

Another important reason for maintaining a Google Profile is that it’s required to use the new Google +1 button. The Google +1 button is Google’s answer to the Facebook Like button. It’s a vote of confidence that adds more social context to your original content.

You may have noticed how Bing is more frequently showing pages in their search results that are Liked by your Facebook friends. Google +1 will do the same on Google search results for your friends across multiple social networks.

To recommend something, all you have to do is click +1.

How does Google know who your friends are? From all of those feeds passing through your Google Profile. Google +1 is still experimental, but you can start using it now by going here.

Your +1s can help friends, contacts and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.

Here’s a list of actions you can take to encourage sharing that builds your social graph and the relevance of your business for social search:

1. Update your Google Profile—Update your bio and verify the accuracy, relevance and completeness of your social and news feeds.
2. Include social sharing in your newsletter—Most email services now allow for social sharing. Whatever is digital can be readily shared.
3. Start using QR codes—QR and other 2D codes make real-time sharing with mobile devices easy.
4. Create social objects—Social objects such as photos and videos have a tendency to be shared more often than printed news because they’re instantly engaging.
5. Share and share alike—The more you share, the more others will share your content.
6. Make a call to action—Your community may not understand the importance of sharing, so don’t hesitate to ask them.

#3: Use location and time to enhance relevance

In response to the many comments regarding the changes to their search formula, Google simply affirmed that their objective with search is the same as it has always been: to return the most relevant information as quickly as possible.

While we live in an increasingly global business environment, what’s most relevant is what’s happening in our own environment—or the one we happen to be visiting. Fortunately, optimizing your location is now practically unavoidable thanks to the prevalence of geotagging.

You may think that location isn’t relevant for your business if you don’t have a location that your customers regularly visit. However, consider that if you’re a technology expert who has any kind of association with Palo Alto, your influence is instantly enhanced.

Thus, there’s more to location than just proximity. Location is just one example of context. Another is time. In their effort to provide relevant content for search terms, Google and other search engines make an assumption—right or wrong—that real-time news is more relevant than what happened yesterday.

This means you have to make an effort to use real-time networks such as Twitter to keep your content fresh for Google and your community.

Here are some best practices for making the most of location and time for social search:

1. Claim your business on Google and Facebook Places—If you’re a local business, claim your location on Google, Facebook, Foursquare and anywhere else where your prospects and customers may be active.
2. Turn on Twitter Location—Location adds context to your Tweets, and it pinpoints your business for those using Advanced Twitter Search.
3. Check in with Facebook, Foursquare and Picplz—Use social check-ins to communicate that you’re actively engaging with prospects and customers.
4. Monitor your brand with real-time search—In addition to Google, SocialMention is one of my favorite real-time search tools because it also tags influentials. When you see a spike in your traffic, use Social Mention to learn more.

The most important thing to keep in mind regarding search is that Google has been and will continue to strive to emulate human tendencies. Social networking logically makes that objective much easier, and to a great extent, explains why search is trending in that direction.

If you search for identical terms on both Google and Bing, you’ll notice dramatically different results, although both are now increasingly favoring social content with contextual recommendations. At the very least, you may want to give strong consideration to developing a two-pronged marketing strategy to be relevant for both search engines.

What are your thoughts on social search? Are you ready? Leave your comments in the box below.

You know that the Internet puts your business within a few keystrokes of people anywhere around the world. But did you know that social media tools, especially Twitter, help you pinpoint people who live and work in your neighborhood?

Twitter allows you to locate people who live or tweet in your city or neighborhood, people you know, as well as people you don’t yet know. This makes Twitter the ideal tool for infiltrating your neighborhood.

How to Search for Local People

Most Twitter users occasionally tweet about the things around them. This means that you can find local people by searching tweets for things in or near your business location.

For example, you can search for:

• City name
• Neighborhood or community name
• Local landmarks
• Local businesses
• Event venues, museums and public locations
• Local fairs, parades and community events
• Hashtag identifiers for a local community or event

When you search for your city name on Twitter, you have to look for all of the possible ways people may type it. Experiment with the options to figure out which ones give you the best search results. You can also use Twitter’s search operators to string together multiple options in one search or exclude items from your results.

From this list you can fine-tune your search query.

#1: Find Local People Using Tweets Near You

Twitter lets you search through current tweets to find the name of your city, a neighborhood name, a local landmark or a business. You can narrow the results to only the tweets posted near your location.

Search Twitter for your city name.

Use the Twitter search box to find tweets about your location. Twitter shows the most recent tweets that match your search on the Tweets tab.

The Tweets tab shows current tweets that contain the city name "Tempe, AZ."

View the tweets posted near you.

Click the Tweets Near You tab. Twitter shows a list of the most recent tweets that match your search posted by people near your current location.

Click the Tweets Near You tab to find tweets in your results posted by people near your location.

Review the list of tweets and follow local people.

Read the tweets in your search results. When you find a tweet from someone who might be in your target location, click the account name. Twitter shows you a brief account profile in the flyout in the right pane. In the flyout, click Follow to add this person to your Twitter community.

The flyout shows a brief Twitter profile with the Follow button.

#2: Find Local People With Your City Name in Their Profile

Twitter allows you to search through profiles to find people who list your city name. Unfortunately, Twitter only shows a few people, not everyone who lists your city in their profile.

Search Twitter for your city name.

Search for your city name (and its variations) in the Twitter search box. Twitter shows the most recent tweets that match your search on the Tweets tab.

Search for your city name in profiles.

Click the People tab. Twitter shows a list of people whose profile location contains your city name.

Click the People tab to find people who list your city name in their profile.

Review the list and add local people.

Review the people in your search results. Click the account name to display a brief Twitter profile in the flyout. Click Follow to add a person to your Twitter community.

#3: Find Local People With Twitter Advanced Search

Twitter’s advanced search page allows you to add geography to your search. For example, you can search through the most recent tweets posted within 1 or 5 miles of a city by name or zip code. The search results are current tweets, so every time you do this search, you get different results.

Display the Twitter advanced search page.

Set your geography range.

In the Places box, identify your city by name or zip code, and select your range using the drop-down options.

Twitter lets you search for all tweets near your city by name or zip code.

Review the list of tweets and follow local people.

Read the tweets in your search results. When you find a tweet from someone you want to follow, hover your mouse over the account name. Twitter shows a brief account profile in a hovercard.

You can follow a Twitter user from the hovercard or expand it to see more profile information.

Click More to see the expanded hovercard with more profile details. Click Follow to add this person to your Twitter community.

You can follow a local Twitter user from the hovercard.

#4: Find Local People Using Twitter Grader

There are many Twitter search tools developed by other companies that help you search through the tweet stream and Twitter profiles to find people in your locale. Twitter Grader evaluates the effectiveness of Twitter users by calculating a grade from 1 to 100. They list the top 50 people in each city as the Twitter Elite.

Display the Twitter Grader Top Users by Location page.

Search for people in your city.

Twitter Grader is a free tool that allows you to check the power of your Twitter profile compared to millions of other users who have been graded.

Review the list of people.

Twitter Grader shows the Twitter Elite list for your city. When you find a person you want to follow, click the Twitter account name.

Locate a person you want to follow and click on the Twitter account name.

Click on the full name.

Twitter Grader shows an account summary. Click on the full name. Twitter Grader pulls up the Twitter profile for the user.

Click on the Full Name to display the Twitter profile for this user.

Follow the user.

In the Twitter profile, click Follow to add this person to your Twitter community.

#5: Find Local People Using Twellowhood.

Twellow is a public Twitter directory. The Twellowhood feature allows you to find people by location.

Display the Twellowhood map page.

On the Twellowhood map, click your continent, then country, then state or province.

Twellow lets you drill down to a city from a world map.

Select your city.

Twellowhood displays a list of cities with Twitter users for your state or province. Click on your city name in the list.

Twellow displays a list of cities with the number of Twitter users in each city.

Review the list of Twitter users and choose people to follow.

Twellow displays a list of Twitter users in your city. Review the people in your search results. When you find someone you want to follow, click the account name.

Click on the Twitter name to display the Twitter profile for this user.

Follow the user.

Twellow pulls up the Twitter profile for the user. In the Twitter profile, click Follow to add this person to your Twitter community.

How do you reach out to new people on Twitter? Have you tried any of these tools? Do you have other strategies that work for you? Share your successes in the comments box below.

Bryan shares how he built a 5,000 strong local community organically thanks to social media. You’ll also discover how Bryan uses a mix of live events, social media and geo-location services for hyper-local marketing.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

How social media impacts at the local level how people stay connected on both:

• Real life events
• Social media

How on a local scale social media:

• Connects people in a more powerful way
• Helps buyers find sellers, or businesses, on a hyper-local scale
• Gives small businesses a cost effective tool to find local customers

Bryan also shares how Seth Godin’s book Tribes inspired Bryan as he built the Orange County community.

Connect with Bryan and find out more about his new TV show, 24 in the OC, which showcases local businesses doing things that matter.

How does Bryan’s experience of hyper-local marketing with social media inspire you? Please leave your comments below.

This article will reveal five ways you can build meaningful relationships on LinkedIn that will lead to business opportunities.

Is LinkedIn Not Working For You?

Up to this point, you’ve probably focused on building up your connections to grow your online influence and visibility. However, the greater challenge lies in actually going deeper with those connections that you’ve made online. If you’re simply connected to someone but have no further dialogue, what have you really accomplished?

The lifeline of new and existing business is relationships, and having meaningful conversations and in-person meetings are crucial in order to move from the connection phase into the relationship phase.

How can you leverage your professional presence on LinkedIn to connect on a deeper level with people and turn those connections into more meaningful relationships?

#1: Timing Is Everything

The time to go deeper with a connection is when you’re top of mind; after you’ve made a new connection, an introduction, received an introduction, answered a question, received an answer to a question and even after someone has commented on your status update or group discussion!

Action Step: All of these situations give you a reason to take the next step and initiate a related conversation. Give a compliment, ask a question, ask for a favor, ask for advice, or ask for an introduction soon after you’ve had a basic interaction with one of your first-, second- or third-degree connections. Conversations can lead to phone calls, ongoing dialogue and potentially even in-person meetings!

#2: Leveraging Events

If you’re paying attention to what your LinkedIn connections are up to, you may be able to see if they’re planning to attend an upcoming event if it is highlighted in the LinkedIn network. Look for events in your area that you’re also planning to attend or may possibly attend. Live events provide an excellent opportunity to meet and converse with online connections even if they’re second- or third-degree connections!

Action Step: Visit the event RSVP page, determine who’s attending and reach out to one or two of those individuals. You can either send a message (if you have a first-degree or group connection) or an InMail^TM (if second or third degree, or no group connection) letting them know that you’ll also be in attendance and that you look forward to the opportunity to meet them in person. This is a very nonthreatening way to get face-to-face and go deeper with your connections of every degree.

Find events in your area and reach out to connections that you can potentially meet in person

#3: Sync Geography With Travel

Perhaps you have clients in several geographical locations. Where does your network live and work? Under the “My Connections” tab, you can see the location of all of your connections. Let’s say you have a business trip planned to New York City to visit one client, but 15 connections are there whom you might also be able to get in front of. Or perhaps there are a number of connections within the same city whom you can bring together for a special lunch or dinner!

Action Step: Contact connections to let them know you’re going to be in their area soon and ask them if they’d like to meet for coffee or lunch so you can spend a few minutes learning more about their business. Or contact several connections who have complimentary businesses and live in the same area and invite them to a small-group networking dinner!

Reach out to connections based on your travel in order to arrange for face-to-face meetings

#4: Ask for Advice

Most influential people don’t like to have their brains picked, but everyone loves to give advice whether they admit it or not! People love to give their opinions when asked, and asking for advice can actually endear you to people because it makes them feel important.

When you reach out to an influential connection, first explain who you are, reference a common thread, give a genuine compliment, ask for advice, and explain your reason for doing so. Always have a reason when asking for advice. You’ll be amazed at how you can open the door to building a deeper relationship around common personal and professional interests by asking for advice!

Action Step: For example: “Hi John, we connected recently here on LinkedIn and I noticed that you commented about the upcoming technology event taking place next month in Seattle. It appears that you’ve attended in the past and you really seem to have a grasp on the subject matter. I’d like to ask whether you think it’s a good fit for a marketing team to attend, as I am thinking about taking my company. Thanks so much in advance for sharing your thoughts!

#5: Be a Resource

Going beyond basic listening and serving as a resource to your connections is a powerful way to stay top of mind and develop more meaningful relationships on LinkedIn. Review status updates, discussion topics and questions from your connections frequently to determine where you can add value, provide insight or resources, or help promote your connection through a key introduction.

Once your connections see you as a resource, they will classify you as a valued relationship in their network. Acting as a resource can create opportunities to move from online social networking to offline conversations and face-to-face meetings.

Action Step: Look for opportunities to reply to connections’ status updates, questions or discussion topics publicly, and then send a more detailed message to them privately with additional tips and resources that can help accomplish their goals.

Take time to reply privately to connections where you may be able to offer more detailed resources, tips, or guidance to them

If the purpose of social media is to build your network of connections, you must also think about how to engage those connections to turn them into true relationships. As you build solid relationships, you’ll create more opportunities for introductions and referrals into your own business.

There are plenty of resources available to help you grow your influence on LinkedIn. Here’s a great resource for learning more about the basics of LinkedIn and also some top marketing tips that can help you gain greater visibility on this powerful, professional social network.

Challenge yourself to go out and participate on LinkedIn with a strategic focus on getting to know your connections better, and use the steps mentioned in this article to help you generate conversations and face-to-face meetings. You stand to gain a greater return on your social networking investment if you can turn connections into relationships. Good luck!

What do you think about these tips? Have you tried any?  How is LinkedIn working for your business?  Please leave your comments in the box below.

Once you find time for social media and move from social chatter to using social media for a purpose, you’ll see firsthand how difficult it can be to get noticed.

You might be using social media for marketing, campaigning or bringing attention to a worthy cause, but you’ll be battling against every other person who has the same intention or is just there for a fun time.

How do you cut through all the social media noise and get people to notice what you have to say?

Fact is, it’s not always easy.  To help you, here are 10 ways to make your message more likely to get noticed …

#1: Simplify Your Message

If your message is complex, don't expect it to spread.

Your first job is to edit your message down to the bare essentials. What are the facts? Can you use the most simple language to get your point across? Could it be misinterpreted?

This doesn’t necessarily mean you should be super-brief, but it does mean that you can crystallize your ideas and make sure you’re very clear on what the recipient should understand, take away and do.

Develop a hook. Why is this interesting, why should anyone care and what’s different in a beneficial way?

Test your message to make sure it’s understood. A complicated message isn’t going to be fully understood, won’t be remembered, and therefore will certainly not be forwarded or acted on.

#2: Find Your Space

If noise is getting in the way of your message being noticed, don’t add to your problem by choosing the most busy times and locations!

Yes there will be more people who might potentially see your messages at peak times, but you have to weigh that against the fact that there are more competing messages at those times too.

The same with venue. If everyone else is competing for attention on a certain site, in a certain group, presenting in a certain way, you need to test to see if an alternative time, location or format is going to work better for you.

#3: Use Appropriate Channels

Following the previous point, where and how you present your message is as important as what you say.

Rather than just stating your facts, perhaps you need to tell a story. Pulling at the heartstrings with a human interest narrative often has more impact than a set of bullet points.

It might be that all you need to do is zig when others zag; for example, use short headlines when others are wordy, or a long headline when everyone else is brief. Perhaps others only use text and you can use video. Break out of the mold and find your place to breathe.

#4: Spread Your Message

When you've honed your message, don't be afraid to spread it.

Don’t think you have to stick with one medium.  There’s no reason why you can’t go with all of them. Re-purpose your content into whichever packaging is required.

Get it into the hands of colleagues, contacts and friends. These are your seeders and sneezers who will start the viral process.

Tell people you want them to share, email and retweet your message far and wide. Tell them why it’s important and exactly what they need to do.

You need to make it as easy as possible and remove barriers such as opt-ins or logins. Just give them the content and the tools to share it. Make it as easy as one click with an obvious benefit and they’ll do the rest.

#5: Get Help

Ask for help. You can't do this on your own!

Stop thinking solo. You’re not going to be able to get much reach on your own.

Reach out and ask for help. Pitch your message directly to key influencers.

Yes, some will reject you. Some will listen, then not follow through. But it’s a numbers game, and worth the effort.

Don’t make it about you or your mission, make it about them and their audience.

Explain briefly what the hook is and why they should care, tell them how to take the next step and leave it for them to come back to you.

#6: Appeal to Ego

People are most engrossed in their own self-interest, so play into that.

Use “you” and “your.” Make it about them, their needs, goals, wants and desires. Relate it to their own history, situation, reputation and behavior.

#7: Cut the Clutter.

You need to remove anything that doesn’t directly support your message or argument.

Remove fancy phrases, clever wording or embellishments. Use short words and sentences.

#8: Appeal to Primitive Instincts.

Danger grabs attention

Observe the newspapers. They sell sex and fear because that’s what people respond to. We’re hardwired to look out for danger and problems and to follow other base instincts.

If you’re having trouble being heard, try turning your message into a warning, highlight a problem or emphasize the dangers.

#9: Use Keywords.

Another element of our brain programming is to be on the lookout for keywords and phrases that interest us. Rather than using clever headlines, key into the words people are looking for, not just in searches but while scanning down headlines.

People are always on the lookout for what interests them, consciously and subconsciously, and when these particular words or phrases pop into view their reticular activating system will say “Hey, look!”

If your message is about Apple or the iPhone, mention those words. If you’re talking about Seth Godin or Natalie Portman, use their names.

#10: Stick to One Point.

This whole article builds to one argument. One point. Do the same.

Summary

Getting your message out there is not always about what you say but as much how you say it. Don’t just shovel your messages out into your social media channels. Think carefully about your audience, what they like and react to, and what else is going on within those services and networks.

Most of all… It’s not what you say that matters, but what your readers hear!

It’s your job to keep crafting and honing your message until you get it right. If people don’t “get it,” keep working until they do!

How are you cutting through the social media noise? What tips do you have?  Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

What is Geotagging?

Simply put, geotagging is the process of attaching geographical data (longitude and latitude) to photographs, videos, websites, status updates and even emails.  This geotagged data shows where the photos, videos, etc., were created or modified.

Google Maps shows the details for a salad bar in Austin, Texas—aligned on a map using latitude and longitude values.

The technology originally started off as a feature, but entrepreneurs like Dennis Crawley and Naveen Selvadurai anticipated that geotagging would become a much bigger phenomenon. As a result, they created Foursquare with foundations based solely on geotagging.

What’s Foursquare?

Foursquare is a social network fused with a game that anyone can play, from anywhere in the world. It allows people to “check in” to any location they visit. To play, all a person needs is a cell phone that can browse the internet (and a decent signal!).

Foursquare lets users "check in" to locations as they travel, unlock items and complete "to do" lists, creating a game around the service itself.

Players are rewarded for their continued check-ins via a point scheme by acquiring badges and earning status ranks. For example, Foursquare will give the “local” badge to users who check into the same venue more than three times in one week. If that person checks into a location more than anyone else, they will become its Mayor.

Why People Love Using Foursquare.

Foursquare Mayors receive special attention for their loyalty. Wouldn't you reward your most loyal customers?

People love a great game, and surprisingly, Foursquare is exactly that.

When you become the Mayor of a venue, it feels like a real accomplishment. It opens you up to added perks that only you are entitled to. You want to brag about it to your friends and networks. It becomes viral.

A pretty accurate rule of thumb for any business is this: Whatever people find fun and engaging is where your business should be.

Andrew McCormick summed it up perfectly in his article in Marketing Magazine:

“Brands support the service by offering deals to participants based, for example, on the number of times someone ‘checks in’ to their local branch.

The benefits for companies include increased footfall and the recruitment of a network
of brand ambassadors who will pass on recommendations to their friends and Twitter followers. Brands can also gather insights into the behavior of customers and what incites consumers to visit their stores.”

Andrew didn’t mention that Foursquare actually integrates with Facebook as well, so there’s an even tastier proposition for pursuing a marketing strategy that incorporates social geotagging networks.

Why You Should Use Geotagging With Your Marketing Strategy

Foursquare is great for generating a buzz around your brand. You can showcase your offers to a wider audience through viral sharing. It also incentivizes people to visit your business, which leads to buying your products/services.

You should take Internet-based games like Foursquare seriously—they are big business.

For example, according to Technology Talks, in 2009, Zynga earned $145 million in less than 6 months as a result of their flagship Facebook game, Farmville.

Foursquare is growing at a steady rate with a user base of around 150,000 people and it’s definitely gaining momentum with new deals and partnerships…

Who’s Already Leveraging This Geotagging Service?

Recently, Foursquare teamed up with movie producers to promote movies like Valentine’s Day.  Also department stores like Debenhams and fast-food businesses like Domino’s Pizza are now partnering with Foursquare to offer added perks to regular customers.

This is why you need to be thinking of ways you can implement geotagging into your marketing strategy—you should be aiming to get a piece of the action while it’s still buzzworthy and free.

A 5-Step Action Plan for Implementing Foursquare

Registering your business with Foursquare is as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Find the button above on the Foursquare home page to register your business. Click it and follow the onscreen instructions. It’s a very simple, quick process (you don’t need to register to create incentives as you’ll see, but if you do your offers appear on the website and mobile apps).
2. Create materials that advertise your participation with Foursquare such as posters for your storefront and for the walls inside.
3. Advertise your participation on your website, blog, Facebook and Twitter profiles and other social networks.
4. Engage with Foursquare users who visit your business. Thank them for playing and let them feel noticed and appreciated.
5. If you’re serious about engaging your users, you could mention the Mayor each month on your website or blog and maybe even offer added perks.The key is in creating loyal, avid fans who will represent your brand when you’re asleep. If you do this successfully, the return on investment should far overshadow the prizes you offer as incentives.

What if I Don’t Sell Location-based Products or Services?

You could even take it a step further and create working relationships with businesses that complement your product or service. For example, if you have a continuity product or service like web hosting, why not approach a local computer store and organize an offer whereby the Mayor gets a 15% voucher off the monthly premium hosting package?

This way, even if the store wants to sweeten the deal and serve up its own perks as well, it could still leverage your service to make a recurring commission from any customer it refers for you.

It’s a Win-Win Situation.

Even if you don’t have a continuity product or service, or you feel that what you have wouldn’t sell on this platform, you can still learn from businesses like Foursquare.

Geotagging is just a vehicle that Foursquare taps to achieve success. Ingredients that matter are engagement, compulsion and loyalty, among others, which gently guide users into the sales funnel.

If you can replicate the same sentiment that Foursquare users feel when they interact with the service, there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t have the same success.

Do you think there’s potential for your business to offer perks to customers through Foursquare? What are your thoughts on this new marketing strategy? I’d love to hear your comments below!