Geosocial Networking: The Newest Dimension of Social Media

Social location sharing is about to hit the mainstream. Services such as Foursquare and Gowalla have been in increasing use by social media hardcores for the last year or so, but haven’t really taken off to a large degree. Foursquare itself only recently hit the one million user mark. But with Facebook announcing that it will be launching new location-based features (known as “Foursquare Killers”) imminently, social location sharing is going to be put front and centre in front  of a much broader audience.

Social location sharing is not the only location-based tool gaining attention. MyTown and other location-based, augmented reality games based on location are taking off. MyTown has been particularly successful – particularly in terms of user engagement. The average MyTown user in the U.S. spends 60 minutes per day using the app.

If you are a business looking at ways to incorporate geosocial networking into your social media mix, here are a few things to consider:

-          Know which social location network is the most important for you to target given your geographical location. For example, in Vancouver, Foursquare is the most popular location-sharing application while Gowalla is king in Austin, where it was created.

-          Claim and / or tag your business on social location sharing sites. Once you have this in place you can reward repeat visitors with various promotions.

-          Offer coupons or discounts to visitors who check in to your location and Tweet / announce their presence publicly – this will help spread your brand name.