Which do you prefer?

Facebook Places and Foursquare are two very different check-in applications that can be used to grow your brick & mortar business. Personally, I would be careful about using either of these if you have a home business.

I have an attorney client that works locally in a high-end business area where I reside. His building happens to be 1 block away from a major chain grocery store, and 1 block away from a very busy restaurant & shopping area.  I set him up with Foursquare and now, every time anyone checks in at the grocery store, OR the very busy restaurant and shopping area, they see his firm’s name. Free advertising for him and he is exposed to hundreds of prospective customers.

Here is a brief explanation of both platforms.      

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Facebook Places is formerly a mobile app offered by Facebook that no longer exists.  Instead, location-tagging has been directly integrated into Facebook.

  • Facebook members can tag a specific location or business, incorporating it into a status update, image post, or video post.
  • Facebook members can also tag their friends in specific locations within their updates and posts.
  • Location tags appear in the user’s News Feed (and their friends’ News Feeds who were tagged at that location)
  • For businesses that have Facebook Pages with specific locations included in the Page description, a post tagged with the business location will lead people who click on it directly to the business’ Facebook Page.
  • Including your business’ physical location in your Facebook Page description will automatically include it in the Facebook Places directory and relevant search results.
  • Important usage:  Adds another way for your business to appear in people’s News Feeds
  • Important usage:  Enables businesses to publish promotions/discounts that people can find on your Facebook page after clicking on the location-tag in someone’s News Feed.  More exposure to the 800 million Facebook members.

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Foursquare is a location-based “deals” tool.  It is a geo-marketing, mobile tool that adds another way to reach consumers when they’re making purchase decisions.

  • Businesses create a page on Foursquare, publish deals, and when people check-in to the business’ physical location or follow promotion-related instructions, they receive special discounts.
  • Can be used to boost new business or build brand loyalty.
  • Deals can be integrated into a business’ Facebook page or with other marketing initiatives.
  • Over 15 million people use Foursquare and many businesses use it for increasing per-customer spending and developing innovative rewards programs.
  • Users can leave tips per location.

In conclusion, both applications are useful additions to marketing plans, because they offer different benefits.  Facebook Places increases brand awareness with its access to the huge Facebook audience, while Foursquare drives sales and increases brand loyalty at your physical location.

Every business should have a presence on Facebook Places through a well-developed Facebook Page.  On the other hand, Foursquare is most effective for businesses that operate physical locations and want to boost real-time sales and repeat purchases