Should marketers get involved with Location Based Social Networks and other geolocation applications? Geolocation apps are still niche, but fastly growing in usage. Foursquare for example has grown from 2 million users to 15 million. Twitter and Facebook have continued to fuse their social offerings with location information. Even companies like Apple are joining in with the launch of the “Find My Friends” app. Even though the user-base numbers have grown quickly, consumers checking in are still relatively low. But a study released in 2011 revealed that the percentage of U.S. online adults who use geolocation apps has grown to 6 percent in 2011 from 4 percent in 2010. And another promising fact is that while just 16 percent of online adults in the U.S. were familiar with geolocation apps in 2010, 30 percent said they were aware of geolocation apps in 2011. As giants like Facebook, Apple, and Google continue to build out their location-oriented features, that number stands to grow even more.
For marketers the important thing is that there is a lot of marketing potential within geolocation apps. These services allow businesses to know when their consumers are in (or near) their location. And once you know where your customers are …. you can deliver them relevant information from branding to specific sales promotions. As geolocation apps keep developing they offer new features that offer more marketing options. For example the ability to leave user-generated content has been enhanced so that visitors of a location can leave “tips” on foursquare about what to do at that location.
So will you be missing a huge touchpoint if you don’t start using geosocial apps in your marketing? Well not really to be honest, but the costs of experimenting with it are low and your one of the first so it differs you from your competitors. Curious what it can do for you? Contact us and let’s discuss ….. and don’t forget to check in at Foursquare next time you visit our office!