Picture is from the Foursquare site – www.foursquare.com

Four square is starting to become a big game player for local business this year, so pay attention! It’s powerful location based marketing channel mixed in with its addictive game feature makes this application a place not to turn your nose up to!

In the words of Foursquare – “Foursquare aims to encourage people to explore their neighborhoods and then reward people for doing so.”

So what is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a mobile application where people update where they are at..right now! eg. I’m @georges car yard, 23 darling street, Melbourne. People also have the opportunity to comment about the place they are at – eg. I’m getting my baby seat fitted by George, great guy! They are also approved fitters.Check them out!

This update/ “shout” is shared with their friends on foursquare (as well as twitter and facebook – if they choose it to be published there too) a map is also pulled up so you know exactly where they are. This is called Geotagging. The person updating also receives points each time they “check in” to a place, adding to the competitive streak which makes Foursquare so successful.

So why are people using foursquare and how can it assist your locally based business?

So, you may be thinking along similar lines to when you found out about twitter, ” why the heck do I want to tell someone what I am doing”…well, I’m guessing you know why twitter has sky rocketed…so why are people  telling you where they are..and how can this benefit your business?

As humans, we love to share and connect. Foursquare has these qualities embedded in with the whole competitive nature, giving people a compelling reason to “check in” to a place (eg. bar/coffee shop/hotel/restaurant) . Once you check in to a place you gain points. The person with the most check ins to that particular place becomes the Major. So on one side, people are competing to be the Major of a specific place – eg “The Social Bar” in Melbourne – yet on the flip side, the business also has the opportunity to encourage people to “check in”, as they can receive rewards – eg. a free pint. If someone is in your area, there are also ways to highlight to them that your business is nearby and to come and check in for eg. a discounted meal!

Foursquare for business now offers this service, so you may want to drop in there after reading this post. If you also want to know how to use foursquare then the foursquare site will give you the low down!

So, to make this post even more powerful, I wanted to share with you how a local based business in Melbourne – Caroline Serviced Apartments ( short/long term serviced apartments),  is using Foursquare to their advantage!

They are asking for people to visit one of their properties (in Brighton or South Yarra) and ‘check-in’ on Foursquare at the venue sometime before 2pm Friday 16th April, to win a prize !

So CSA are using foursquare to:

1. build up brand awareness

2. showcase their apartments

3. meet people entering the competition face to face (for an even warmer presence)

4. giving a value add (prize).

5. assisting bloggers like myself to write a post utilising them as the case study/ example.

6. assisting people on twitter/facebook to spread their competition (blog post too) as it’s such a great example of a business using foursquare.

7. gain that trusted word of mouth that we all crave for!

I now believe they are offering a loyalty program for their guests. Four Square for business is a free business program that has built in stats for all that visit/speak about your business. It can tell you who has visited your business the most to the number of check ins in a specific time, so….it’s  a no brainer why CSA are utilising this.

Love it! So, are you a locally based business? Have you/are you reaping the benefits of  foursquare? or simply…what are your thoughts on this powerful 2010 player? Hit me up below

The wonderful world of the web these days (WEB2.0) enables us non techies (well that’s just me in the Thinktank Media team!!! ) to control our websites, blogs and social networking sites without the constant assistance of our web developer. FREEDOM! From updating content, adding applications and inserting pictures…we thank you Web2.0!

The purpose of this post is to share some top widgets (pieces of code) that you can add to your blog/website/social networking site to interlink them with Facebook and Twitter. The more you share ways to connect with your target market the easier it is for them to keep up to speed on what you are up to…..and just as importantly, the more you can listen and provide… connecting back with them.

So here they are peeps!

Twitter: 

These widgets named below let you display Twitter updates on your website/blog or social network page

Simply choose where you would like to include it, then embed the nifty piece of code – hey presto …..a visual badge or stream will appear.

Here’s the link : http://twitter.com/goodies/widgets

BUT WAIT….there’s more….

FACEBOOK :

From personal profile widgets such as profile badges and photo badges (new app) to website and business widgets, fan box, live stream box and page badge – these pieces of code assist you to open up the doors to connect even further!

Check out the latest free widgets on offer here from the facebook widgets store!

http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets/index.php

We just love making things super easy for you at Thinktank Media, please hit us up if there is something you want to know re: website/blog/social media and social networking platforms….we’d love to write a post here to help you and I trust heaps of other biz heads out too.

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I’ve been presenting at quite a few big companies recently.Social Media is hot on the tongues of many organisations and businesses… the main question:

• “how can we utilise the power of social media within our marketing strategy”.

Another question that gets asked frequently:

• “is there any way we can update all these social networking sites from one place” “can we upload content from one place instead of going into individual sites”?

How many times have you gone into your individual sites to update or upload content? From facebook to twitter to flickr….phew, it can be pretty time consuming.

I know there are quite a few sites out there like ping.fm and Hello Txt where you can update your status from one point AND organise your feeds, yet this platform really does cut the mustard.

Introducing FEEDALIZR… it’s a very powerful platform.  Not only can you update your status to multiple social networking sites…you can also upload content to feedalizr, it then pumps it out to the most popular social networking sites. I’ve found it to be easy to install and simple to use, once you have hooked it up with your social networking sites… then notice how much time you have left in the day to invest within other marketing tasks.

Go try for yourself….. http://www.feedalizr.com/

Thanks to Matt bannon for introducing me to this @ttam

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   I’m posing the question here because of late, my face book personal page has slowly grown into a powerful space for business networking and lead gen. I believe that facebook is certainly a site to watch and utilise!My prediction for 2010 - Facebook will be the premier social networking site for small business owners. Linkedin, plaxo, xing will start to fade into the back ground.

Why???…because those busy little beavers at facebook are innovative, extremely savvy and driven. Just take a look into the past at the tricks they have been pulling!

Facebook has a history of attacking their competitors at their strongest points says Josh Catone . 

MySpace had a strong widget system, so Facebook dived in and launched their application platform which forced MySpace to hurry up and do the same. MySpace focuses predominantly on music and film, so Facebook has recently got on the case too. LinkedIn has a strong stake in business networking. Facebook has now been laying the groundwork to go after LinkedIn’s audience the way they’ve gone after MySpace’s!!!!!There’s nothing stopping this driven and savvy team!

Simply check out their latest new business3.0 application. Now if that’s not business forward thinking then I don’t know what is?

I also believe fan pages and profile pages are just as powerful if used in the correct Facebook etiquette manner – check the next post for this!

You ask any small business owner (who is successfully growing their presence via the web), which sites they use to connect, build relationships, create lead gen and drive traffic to their website/blog…you’ve guessed it! Facebook and Twitter!

 So,  what are other business owners saying about Facebook? Is all this hype really true?

Small business owner Stan Dubin says “I’m not on Facebook to rush into people’s faces with my products and services.

I’m making new connections, both of a personal nature and a business nature. I enjoy meeting new people in both arenas and I’m fine if I make a connection and the person isn’t compelled to buy something today or ever. It’s nice to make connections”.

Nigel Legg adds “I have accounts with LinkedIN, Plaxo, Xing, Hi5, and Facebook, as well as a couple of specialist forums and bulletin boards, but the only one I use regularly is Facebook. I have recently done business with someone I am in contact with on three platforms, which came out of a Facebook personal message conversation. At some stage, almost all business will go to email, telephone, and face to face, wherever it is initiated, so the move to facebook is not a hard one” 

Mari Smith is a huge digger of facebook! Mari comments “ Absolutely, serious business can be done – and IS being done – on Facebook by solo-professionals, entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, internet marketers, info-product creators etc. etc.

No way is Facebook  just for kids anymore! Businesses who ban Facebook in the office have their head in the sand. 

I can attest that significant business profits are being generated as a direct result of being active on Facebook. The trick is not to be a ‘marketer’ – but to connect, to care, to be a thought leader, to add value… to come from win:win, and to think relationships first, business second”

So you can read and hear what all the buzz is about! Yet is it true? My advice….if you are serious about building up your online business then start  a facebook fan page and profile page then get back to me! What do you think?