Connecting the Dots / An Agency Blog

The fight for domination over location-based marketing is on, with Foursquare, Google, Gowalla, Yelp, and now Facebook pushing aggressively into the space. And if they buy in (and they most definitely should), the real winners are sure to be small-to-medium sized business owners.

This is essentially big business creating opportunity for small business – or – tech companies looking to generate revenue from the incredibly long-tail of businesses that need to market themselves, but typically do very little of it. It’s a win/win all around.

With about 400 million users, Facebook is more than able to lead the way, connecting their online community with real world commerce and bringing location-based marketing to the masses. As a signal of things to come, Facebook recently started sending retailers ‘like us on Facebook’ window stickers along with a letter which explains that businesses that ‘promote their (Facebook) Page off-Facebook tend to see a 20% or greater increase in connections’. And if you’re following along you’ll know that Connection Planning is the new Media Planning, so get aboard!

These soon to be familiar stickers, with Facebook’s already ubiquitous ‘Like’ icon, includes a ‘text-to-Like’ SMS call to action to make it incredibly easy for customers to interact, and we’re more than positive this action pushes to each users’ wall creating even more awareness for businesses that participate. It’s a simple strategy with the possibility for massive reach, off the screen, for the Facebook brand.

While it’s not yet clear how to participate (once we find out we’ll post an update), those businesses receiving stickers are being encouraged by a $25 ad credit in an effort to ensure participation while introducing the simplicity and value of Facebook on-site advertising.

In retail they say ‘location is everything’, and as this new opportunity for businesses and tech firms continues to evolve, the meaning of this cliché is bound to change too.

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