Small, independently owned, local businesses have a better opportunity to be found by consumers than many of the big national chains.  The key is to utilize the various location-based social media sites and mobile apps that people are using to find the information that they are looking for.  In other words, you must be where your customers are:

• There are more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• 30 million check-ins on Facebook Places in 8 months (through April 2011)
• One-Third of Facebook postings are mobile
• Yelp announces end-of-2010 statistics: 15 Million reviews and 41 Million Monthly visitors
• Foursquare has more than 2.5 Million check-ins per day

Smart phones are estimated to make up over 50% of all cell phones by the end of 2011.  Smart phones make it easy to use location-based social media through mobile apps and the Global Positioning System built in. Customers can check-in to share their location, deals, and experiences with their friends on the social networking sites.

Consumers, whether they are searching for a new Indian restaurant to try for dinner, a nearby florist to send their mother flowers, or an electronics retailer where they can purchase the new Sony HD TV, are increasingly making their searches local through location-based social media apps like Facebook Places, Foursquare, and Yelp.

Why is this valuable? When a customer checks-in using one of the location-based social media services, this is shared with their friends, raising you brand awareness and consideration!

At Changescape Web, we’ve created a package to help make sure that when people use these apps, they will find your business.  For each of the appropriate location-based social media services, we’ll claim your business location, set up deals / special offers, and promote these sites for you.

Location based social media marketing is a relatively new development in online marketing, but it is definitely here to stay.  Contact Changescape to learn more about how a location based social media marketing strategy could benefit your business.