So what is Location Based Marketing?

Think of it as a breath of fresh air for Social Media. No literally, it’s a breath of fresh air. Location Marketing permits the interaction associated with Social Media marketing to move beyond a computer screen to the real world.  Basically, Location Marketing allows users to interact with each other based on where they are currently located. By sharing their locations with their friends on these networks users have a new way to interact with each other, share reviews or even physically meet up at these locations.

Businesses can capitalise on Location Social Media by interacting directly with the users of these sites, and by offering rewards to their most loyal customers (the customers who have shared their attendance at a particular establishment the most times) a reward system creates an added incentive that ultimately aims to increase foot traffic.  Keep in mind, there are many other creative ways that a business can use Location Marketing to increase traffic and loyalty, a reward system is simply the most obvious.

Who should use Location Based Marketing?

That‘s simple. If you have a brick and mortar business that can benefit from increased traffic through your doors then you stand to benefit from using location based marketing.

Currently a large portion of the businesses taking advantage of location based marketing are those that rely heavily on generating repeat and new customers. Coffee shops and restaurants are obvious examples where location marketing simply makes immediate sense. Obviously, once this trend is well known a wider array of businesses will be apt to jump on board and start interacting with their customers on a location based marketing platform.

Will Location Based Marketing be Around Tomorrow? Next Week?

Location Based Marketing being a new trend, begs the question: Is this the real deal or a flash in the pan? My personal way of at looking at trends when attempting to determine their staying power is to actually look else ware first.

The popularity of location based platforms in Asia indicates to me that this area of Social media marketing is at least in its North American Early Adoption àGrowth Stage into the near future. Will this trend crash and burn a year from now? It is impossible to tell, and really hinges on the right individuals hopping on board with this trend and the right businesses embracing the huge benefits it offers.  Bottom line, the benefits of trying out this trend far outweigh the costs, which in itself indicate to me that Location Marketing Is here to stay.

You can do better than that people.

I feel it prudent to give you some hard and fast recommendations on how to use LinkedIn to effectively grow and develop your personal brand. Allot of this stuff might seem like common sense to most of us, especially if you are already using LinkedIn effectively, but as Voltaire said, “common sense is not so common”.

The Five Personal Branding Rules of LinkedIn

1. Get Email updates directly from LinkedIn…and read them:  LinkedIn does not spam you or send you relentless emails or special offers, so do not be afraid to let them notify you of the happenings of your profile. LinkedIn will notify you whenever anyone wants to connect, request you join a group or simply say, “Hello”. So read the emails that they send you! This doesn’t mean you have an instant free pass to never log on to your account without clicking an emailed hyperlink. You should still check in, at least on a weekly basis to check-out some of the things that you will not be notified about via email.
2. Virtual Handshake: Treat LinkedIn like a networking event, if you notice someone who you would like to connect with walk (scroll) over and say hello. I don’t recommend you requesting to connect with strangers left right and center, but sending them a friendly message saying hello is perfectly fine.
3. LinkedIn as Yellow pages: Remember the last time you needed to hire somebody to do something? Instead of arbitrarily googleing to try and find a business to meet your goals, why not search LinkedIn first. Your reputation is very apparent on LinkedIn, scammers or people who are unprofessional will either not be there or have a very dormant account/ few recommendations. And if you have a good experience, recommend their services to others on LinkedIn; it has been my experience that paying it forward pays dividends.
4. Strike While the Iron is Hot: After networking, or meeting someone new that you feel would be a solid business contact, it is important to connect with them while your meeting is still fresh in their minds. It’s also a good idea to mention that you are going to connect with them later, so that your request doesn’t come as a surprise. Often times, if you nurse that business card for too long the connection you built will fade away and the request to connect will seem out of place, so it is best to act fast!
5. Join/create Groups: Joining a group is a very effective way to show others that you are serious about a subject. If you love sales, then join a sales group and connect with likeminded individuals. These connections will enrich your LinkedIn experience and give you access to allot of new contacts that can begin to see you as a legitimate member of their field.

It’s true. It is all about who you know. Anyone who attempts to tell you otherwise is flat out wrong.

LinkedIn is a perfect example of how who you know affects the effectiveness of an experience. This means that the goal of LinkedIn is two-fold: You should seek to use LinkedIn to show the world who you are and how much you know, and you should also use LinkedIn to make those valuable connections that will enrich your overall experience. Connecting with well-respected individuals and developing a relationship shows others that you are someone that can be respected as a professional which is a serious boost to your personal brand.

With the average household income of LinkedIn users around $140,000 it obviously pays to have a presence on this website whether you’re employed, unemployed or a student. Think of LinkedIn as an online interactive resume and portfolio; the goal is to sell yourself by showcasing your abilities.

The connections you forge on LinkedIn can pay off significantly down the road, so if you are not on there now it’s about time you check this website out.

It’s never too soon (or too late)

It is no secret that many of the active LinkedIn users are business professionals with a well established standing in their industry, but that is not to say there is no benefit for a student to start building connections on this website. Or for a baby boomer nearing retirement to start a profile (If this is you, I bet you’ll be surprised by the amount of people you know who frequent this website!).

There is no time like the present for a student to begin to develop their personal brand. It is no secret that the job market is a tough one, with jobs being so difficult to find its essential now more than ever to begin to differentiate yourself from the hundreds or thousands of other students who will graduate at the same time as you with the exact same degree.

Starting your LinkedIn profile early and filling it with professional information about yourself is a great way to begin to connect with the managers at the companies you would like to work for. If you are involved in your school’s business societies you will undoubtedly be given the opportunity to meet many professionals in your community. You should work to develop a connection with these managers and professionals that can translate to LinkedIn. If they do not end up hiring you, there is a good chance someone on their LinkedIn profile can present you with an opportunity somewhere down the road.

Build Business to Business Connections

If you’re already employed, LinkedIn can also present you with many significant benefits.

Building your personal brand while working at another company allows you to make important connections with vendors, clients, or fellow employees. The result of these connections is Higher Employment Security.

My definition of Employment Security shouldn’t be confused with Job Security, for the purposes of this post it is actually very different. When I say Employment Security I am referring to your job prospects, these prospects can be created with a LinkedIn presence. Should you ever lose your job, or feel that your current job is in jeopardy you will have immediate access to the people you have built relationships with on LinkedIn.

The access to a wide variety of professionals that LinkedIn provides is also something to seriously consider. If your company is ever in need of a specific job that has to be outsourced, LinkedIn provides you with many individuals who can complete your required task. AND you have the security of checking in on the recommendations this individual has and the body of work they present in their profile.

The “No Time” Excuse

LinkedIn is a valuable networking and personal branding tool, whether you chose to use it or not is really a personal choice. However, the benefits more than cover the small time commitment required to create and maintain a LinkedIn account; basically claiming you don’t have the time is a pretty lame excuse!

In the mean time, check back for more specific information on how to use LinkedIn to meet your goals. The next blog post will provide you with some essential tips to ensure you are getting the most out of your LinkedIn profile’s ability to build your personal brand effectively.

1. Tweets and Wall Posts do not have to be Mutually Exclusive- I find it useful to use an interface that has the capability to share your tweets as wall posts simultaneously. My personal favourite program is Hoot Suite, and a quick Google search will provide you with several other options to choose from. What is so useful about using such a program is that you can share tweets promoting your blog, or other relevant observations directly on your Facebook wall simply with the click of a button so that a tweet and an identical wall post are both published. This obviously saves you time, but also ensures the personal brand you are trying to establish is consistent across all social media outlets.  
2. Consider your Privacy Settings- If there are pictures of you on Facebook that you wouldn’t want a potential client to see then it is a great idea to adjust your privacy settings so that only friends can view your pictures. If you are really concerned about this, you can also make it so only YOU can see your own tagged pictures, which in the majority of situations I end up recommending for reasons that are obvious!
3. Keep it Professional-Strict privacy settings are not a sure fire way to ensure pictures or wall posts that are not conducive to your personal brand are shielded from the general public. As the saying goes, “Once it’s on the internet it is there forever”. So unfortunately the only way to ensure that embarrassing things do not get out there is to limit their existence in the first place.
4. Upload Pictures/Videos Conducive to your Personal Brand- Establishing your personal brand is all about showing others that you not only talk the talk but walk the walk as well. Creating albums of your work or pictures of you doing your job are great ways to show others you value the time you put into your area of expertise.
5. Don’t Friend Every Client- You should think of your personal Facebook page as a place for friends, a fan page is the spot where you should request clients go unless of course you REALLY hit it off with a client and now consider them a personal friend.

If rule five causes you to question why you should be so careful with your Facebook page if you shouldn’t friend all of your clients- consider all of the friends you currently have. Ask yourself if it is out of the question that a few of them could potentially become clients, or work where your services might be useful someday. Indeed, it is just as important to be seen as professional by your friends as it is by potential clients if you want to get the most out of establishing a personal brand.

I realise that adding rules to something that you most likely enjoy to do in your spare time is a little bit depressing. Personally I do not like to follow many rules at all, especially when it comes to leisure activities…this is likely why I spent much of my childhood hockey career in the penalty box.

it is important to consider that these guidelines shouldn’t completely spoil your Facebook experience; just adjust it slightly to ensure you are exhibiting the professionalism necessary to show others you can live up to the personal brand you are trying to establish. By no means am I attempting to indicate that your professional life has to take over your personal life. Just make sure that at the very least, there are no cameras around to pose for the next time you’re partying a little too hard for your own good. After all, we all need to let our hair down once in a while!

Twitter is one of the most effective tools that you can use to establish your personal brand in the community. With careful and consistent efforts it is very possible to begin establishing yourself as an authority on a particular subject, all you have to do is follow six simple rules and you will be well on your way to becoming the person your established followers turn to when they have a need for an expert in your field.

Five Tips for Establishing Your Personal Brand on Twitter

1. Repost Topical Content- Post links from other bloggers and experts that you find to be interesting or informative, Retweeting a solid tweet on your area of expertise is also a great way  to establish you are paying attention to the people you follow and are able to give credit where credit is due.
2. Guest Post- Offer to write guest blog posts on blogs that you follow that are relevant to your field and invite other experts to write  guest posts for your blog. This keeps your content fresh and well rounded and is a great way to connect with other followers a guest has that you have yet to connect with.
3. Promote Your Blog- A few tweets promoting your blog never hurt, so long as you don’t go overboard with your promotion. If others like your blog posts they will likely retweet you to their followers, giving you an opportunity to connect with people you haven’t connected with already.  
4. Use Twitter as a True Micro-Blogging Platform- Twitter’s core purpose is to share what is on your mind with the world. So everything else aside, make sure you use Twitter for its intended purpose. Send out tweets relevant to your field that you think others would find relevant or interesting. You can also send out tweets not relevant to your field, so long as you remain professional. A solid rule of thumb to follow: don’t tweet something that you personally wouldn’t want to read from another one of your followers.
5. Connect With Other Experts- Developing relationships with fellow experts is a great way to establish you are among a group of trusted professionals. This strategy gives you access to more followers who are interested in your field of expertise and also gives you an opportunity to grow your professional knowledge by being exposed to opinions and insights different from your own.

As you can see, it is not an overly complicated task to begin to establish your expertise in the online community (which is the majority of professionals out there, both young and old). The biggest thing you have to consider is consistency; as I have established before, allowing your twitter account to go dormant is a bad idea, and it can be particularly damaging to your personal brand. Often times the benefits of months of careful interactions with your followers can be wiped out by a few weeks of twitter dormancy.

Remember the ultimate goal of establishing a personal brand is to become the expert that your followers turn to when they have a problem that you can solve. This means that you have to be one of the first experts that your followers’ think of when they have a problem. A consistent approach will be the only one that ensures that you will remain at the top of the expert pile.

So what is a personal brand?

A personal brand is essentially your public identity or how others see you and ultimately interpret your actions. If it seems kind of insulting to compare your personality to something as comparatively insignificant as your favorite potato chip brand, or Beer Company take a second to seriously consider the amount of hard work put into developing the feelings and imagery that these brands naturally convey, simply with the mention of their name.

I see personal branding as a tool that you can leverage to put your name at the top of the resume pile, or to develop a community of followers who look to you as an authority on a particular subject. Developing a personal brand is a strategic process to control the imagery, messages and information that you convey to others in all aspects of your professional life, especially through the use of Social media and blogging.

When you think of high-end luxury cars what brand comes to mind? Or a great tasting energy drink? A heart-healthy restaurant? Regardless of the amount of people you ask these questions too, frequent repeat answers will undoubtedly arise. This is the result of a careful branding effort by these companies; the goal is to have your brand be the first to come to mind when considering a new purchase, with the hope that because your brand is a known authority in a particular area a consumer will trust your brand to meet their goals and ultimately purchase your product.

The same applies to personal branding

The goal of your branding effort will be to make your name come to mind when people consider a particular subject. For example, If you want to be known as a landscape photography expert, or a superior quality graphic designer, then your branding efforts will have make others see you in that light. So, when someone is looking for a high quality picture of a sunset to purchase, or a person to create a logo for their company, the goal is to have your name on their short list of trusted photographers, or graphic designers. This is what personal branding does.

Now that you have an idea of what it is, my future blog posts will be centered on how exactly you can leverage various social media outlets to promote your personal brand, and yourself as an authority in a particular subject. The job market is a very competitive one and personal branding is an effective and valuable way to ensure that you don’t get lost in the sea of others who are attempting to do the same thing you are.

1. Listen to Your Fans

Your most passionate fans will not be shy about telling you what they think should be included on your fan page. Just because it wasn’t in your original strategy doesn’t mean it isn’t going to work; a dynamic strategy is not a step toward your pages success, often times it’s the cause of it. This doesn’t mean you are now a slave to every fan’s suggestion, it simply means that you should always be listening for good ideas or suggestions and jump on them when they arise. What it comes down to, as always with Social media, is engagement; you have to be just as in tune with your fans as you want them to be to your brand.

2. Be Proactive

Being proactive has allot to do with the first topic, this means that you should always have your thinking cap on when it comes to keeping your fan page fresh and entertaining. It also means that you jump on those previously mentioned good ideas before they become old ones, or before your competition adopts them before you. If your fans have pride in your brand, having a leg up on the competition is always a source of pride for your fans.

3. Be a Fan Of Your Brand

If you’re a true fan, the things you find interesting (games, trivia, contests etc.) other fans will as well. It all comes down to creativity and the ability to see through your fans eyes -and the best way to see like a fan is to become one. Think about all of the things that your brand has to offer and leverage them as your sources of pride. When you have a true appreciation for your brand, and what it offers to others as well as yourself, creative ideas for fan page engagement will become second nature.

4. Look at Your Competition

Sometimes your competition will come up with a successful enough idea (whether it be a contest, interactive game etc.) that you should adopt it yourself. You shouldn’t look at this as being unoriginal, but simply that you are doing your very best to keep your fan page as relevant and entertaining as possible. In this situation the best thing you can do is take this successful initiative and tweak it to suit your brand or to improve on where you think the idea could be better.

5. Keep it Fresh

Just because its engaging now doesn’t mean it will be engaging tomorrow. Your fan page content should never be static in nature. If the goal of your fan page is to engage your fans, then your goal should be to offer a page that continually drives return traffic. If your content doesn’t change regularly enough to encourage your fans to visit your page whenever they are on Facebook then you’re doing your brand an injustice. This doesn’t mean that you have to restructure your page on a daily basis; little tweaks are fine. Having a different trivia question everyday or creating discussion topics that promote allot fan-to-fan dialogue are a few of many simple strategies that will keep your fans active, and increase the number of new fans you have visiting your fan page.

The importance of content is absolute; if you cannot engage current fans you will lose them, and if you cannot create a fun atmosphere you will not attract fans in the first place. In the end it’s about entertaining your fans and providing them with a fun place where they can interact with their brand and their fellow fans. A solid content strategy is the backbone of every successful fan page; if you get the content right you are well on your way to valuable engagement; the ultimate goal of Social Media Marketing.

Google analytics provides you a much deeper look at what your fans and even non fans are doing on your fan page. Facebook provides very basic statistics and analytic program. While their current system is somewhat useful; Googles Analytics prove why they’re the best in the business at providing intelligence.

Facebook Insights only track the activity of users who have become a fan of your business’ page. With Google Analytics, you can track activity of all visitors. Meaning, someone who simply searched your page and skimmed over the tabs can be tracked and added to the database. Some of the traceable statistics that Google Analytic provides Facebook users include: visits, average time on site, visitor location, and much, much more.

2 – Constantly Updating

Consumers care about brands but they don’t care about you more than their friends. If you’re constantly updating your status you will become a nuisance to your customers resulting in a lot of them removing their fan status associated with your brand. The chances of a fan coming back to fan a page are extremely low. Be safe, and don’t over do it.

3 – Seperate Your Tabs

I’ve seen several companies on Facebook with Tabs that really have no purpose. I can only imagine the low number of hits that these tabs receive and if they do receive hits I’m positive its the last time that potential fan visits that page. Consumers want value – Whether its in a store, at a movie or online. Consumers are looking for brands to give them a reason why they should give them their time. If you cant capture them quickly, you’ve probably lost them.

Again, Facebook doesn’t allow you to track the individual success of each of your FBML tabs. However, Google Analytics allows Facebook administrators to keep track of the success that each tab is generated on a click and time visited basis. This is important because it allows marketers to recognize what Tabs are and what Tabs are not working.

If you ran a restaurant and one of your servers turned their customers off within the first 5minutes of talking to them; resulting in the customers leaving – Would you keep them? Its unlikely…So why keep repulsive tabs?

4 – Letting an Intern run Your Page

Okay, I apologize to all the smart interns out there who are competent and able to actually get this whole social media thing. When I say intern, I’m really just referring to the experimental marketers that companies hire on to handle their twitter accounts just to say they’re doing it. These are typically the companies or brands that will find out down the road that they should’ve put someone in charge who knew what they were doing. Just ask Nestle about hiring interns…See how that turned out? Horrible.

Hire people who really get social media and actually have more experience than creeping their friends online. If you base your hiring of a “Social Media Expert” solely on the fact that they are young and grew up with this stuff you are on a road to embarrassment and not-so-pleasant branding.

5- Using a teeny weeny profile picture

Facebook gives you the opportunity to have a profile picture with a width of 200 pixels and length of 600. Typically, you find brands with pictures that are 200×300 or 200×200 even. But rarely, do you find the brands who recognize the benefit behind using a large photo for their brand.

First of all, it gives the brand more space to promote anything and everything going on in their company. This is a huge plus because its all about showing your fans the value in becoming a fan or buying your product/services. This larger than life picture is also beneficial because as the fan reads the wall or Tab – The picture continues with the text and posts, 2x longer than the average.

6 – Nothing but Text and Uploaded Albums

If your Facebook page consists of nothing but text and uploaded photos then Houston…we have a problem. Facebook has given its users the opportunity to basically turn their Facebook pages into interactive websites. Ranging from embedding Mp3 files to YouTube videos; the possibilities are almost endless.

There is nothing attractive about a prestigious brand with an ugly traditional text based Facebook page. If you want your brand to stand out and have a better chance of interacting with consumers than an interactive element is necessary. Consumers don’t want to be pushed with constant text all the time; an image here or there won’t hurt. It will actually be the band-aid to your Facebook boo-boo.

Okay…maybe there aren’t 7 sins.
But seriously, whose counting these days…*Gasp*…EPIFANY!

7 – Lying to Your Fans

Earlier this year I was a member of a fanpage that claimed to be giving out free laptop bags (nerd-alert) for the first 30 people to comment on their post. So I just happened to be online when the post went out and I was lucky number 17! However, to my surprise when I wrote them with my address and information they rejected me like a bad date. The company responded  expressing that “this offer is for US citizens only.” I told them it didn’t say anything like that on Facebook…they’ve yet to write back.

photo credit: Flushboy

photo credit: David Boyle in DC — Picture #2

Technologically inept Family members aside, there is also a growing trend of employers Facebooking job applicants, and current employees alike. Yikes right? The result of all of this is kind of depressing; Facebook is no longer the free-for-all, no holds barred, I’m going to upload outrageous pictures of myself and friends kind of place anymore. Facebook now holds enough weight to damage your professional reputation and tarnish the halo your mother has lovingly placed above your head.

So what’s a fun loving individual to do?

Unfortunately the answer to this question is a terrible, despicable, bad word. In fact, this word is one of my least favorite words in the English language. That word is… Censorship. Yuk.

Your Reputation is your responsibility.

You cannot rely on your friends for protection by not tagging you in pictures or videos etc. What it comes down to is the worst form of censorship- self censorship.  You need to take proactive steps before that picture of you enjoying yourself a little too much falls upon the wrong eyes.

Self-censorship starts with modifying your behavior to coincide with your goals. This doesn’t mean you have to become an angel overnight! This means you will have to refrain from uploading pictures of YOURSELF and OTHERS in compromising situations. It is not enough to not upload embarrassing material involving yourself if you still upload 75 pictures of your friends acting like fools.

As the saying goes: You can judge the true character of a man by the company he keeps.

The second and final step to making your Facebook page mom and employer safe is to adjust your privacy settings. If you live a particularly… uncultivated lifestyle, blocking all photos of yourself might be necessary. Certainly if the idea of unflattering pictures of yourself surfacing is of particular concern, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Love it or hate it, we live in a world where we cannot publicly share those nights that we will never remember, without fear of persecution. Come to think of it, perhaps that is for the best?

In the end, I suppose it is important to realize that ‘playing ball’ is necessary to maintain a professional reputation. Coming from an advocate of free speech and a guy who is regularly described as “brutally honest” this realization should be seen as particularly profound.

For many it seems like having a Facebook fan page is a fool proof path to marketing success, unfortunately this is not necessarily the case. Like all forms of marketing a fair deal of strategy must be employed to ensure the success of your campaign.

Basically…

If you’re in it JUST to have fun, stick to your personal page.

If you’re in it to market yourself/business a fan page might just be something to seriously consider.

 Ask me “Should my business be on Facebook?” I dare ya.

It might just be because it is my job to leverage social media outlets like Facebook, but I find it incredibly difficult coming up with a particular line of work or industry to pigeon hole as being “unfanable”. 99% of the time I can justify how you or your business can benefit from being on Facebook. Really, all you have to ask yourself to answer whether or not you should be present are a few simple questions:

The Facebook Eligibility Test

Can I benefit from knowing who my customers/fans are on a personal level? : This one is a no-brainer, everyone can benefit from knowing a little more about the people they do business with. If you cannot see how you could leverage this knowledge to make interactions warmer and more effective… then pop some B12 and think harder!

Do you have the guts to commit to moderating your page, even if something unpleasant surfaces on your wall? The DELETE first, ask questions later strategy fly’s about as well as its cousin, the Shoot first, ask questions later strategy (other than in cases of extremely obvious offensiveness). Sometimes you have to take a beating, and respond publically and professionally without getting visibly offended. Some business owners cannot handle situations like this. Can you?

Do you have the time overall to commit to a fan page?: Your bare minimum time commitment depends directly on your business size/fan base. You need to ask yourself if the time commitment required to moderate, interact and entertain your followers is feasible with the amount of spare time you have in a day or week.  

Can you keep it interesting all by yourself?: Do you have a plan of attack for your potential fan page ie. A backlog of ready to go contests, topics for discussion/ interaction etc. Or, will you need a creative mind to help you come up with fun and unique ideas to get the ball rolling and keep your followers engaged?

Do you know how you are going to market your page?: Ask yourself, If you build it, will they come? Or will you have to spread the word a little bit yourself to attract fans to your page. How are you going to do that? What is appropriate? Who would want to join?

Wow, reading this post over it seems i have posed a lot more questions then I have managed to answer… generally I try to avoid such instances. But in this case many of the questions I asked can only be answered personally. If you’re still stuck on some of them I wouldn’t worry. More posts on Facebook are just around the corner, and when they’re done I’m willing to bet you will be able to answer the questions your currently unsure of.