How many “likers” walk through the doors of your business?

Updated September 2018.

Log into any social network nowadays and you will inevitably see a large number of your friends sharing the places they have been to. In fact, as we can relate almost any social activity with a physical location, it is only natural that social networks have developed in this way. For brick and mortar businesses, location-based services feature new opportunities to create a loyal base of regular visitors and drive sustainable profits.

Users love sharing the places they visit, check in to events with their friends and create content out of memorable experiences. In today’s social media almost every piece of content has some kind of a geolocation attached to it. We’ve even gone so far as to be able to see a person’s location behind the messages they exchange in messaging applications.

Even if these features have been around for a long time, geo-targeting has turned into a truly evergreen strategy for businesses today helping them drive traffic to physical stores and increase revenue. The sole act of checking in provides much more than the actual location a customer visits. Its added value lies in the behavioral insights that reveal the customer’s patterns. Through these patterns, businesses can make better-informed decisions when adjusting their product or adding value to the customer’s experience.

“Checking in” has turned into a natural feature of every social media. To help businesses maximize the value from these powerful tools, we look at the most important geolocation tactics you should start using today!

1. Motivating visitors to share their experience
Here it is vital to start from the end of customers’ purchase journey, in order to make your current customers share their favorite moments with you. Why? Because this way you can build awareness for among these customers’ social connections. For example, if 100 people come to your restaurant every day and each of them has 200 followers on Instagram, your business could reach 20 000 new people daily. And the best part is that all of it is organic and free!

To drive this kind of behavior also means incentivizing visitors to share their experience. Create moments which are worth sharing by showcasing the unique side of your business. For example, a restaurant can introduce a special drink or meal following the latest trends in the field. Don’t worry if you are short on ideas, go to Instagram, search for several trending hashtags, and look at the most famous pictures at the top. Then reverse-engineer these ideas and create a unique version of them for your business.

2. Content restricted to specific locations
Businesses with multiple locations can benefit from the option to target specific locations on their Facebook posts. When having separate promotions for the different locations of your business, it is best to restrict content only to users in these specific locations. In this case, it makes most sense to specify the location you target before posting and customize the content according to the location-specific campaign.

The same strategy applies to Instagram. Make sure you include the location at which you photo was taken or at which you want to appear in the form of checking in at it or including a hashtag with its name.

3. The reign of business reviews
One of the few opportunities for businesses to engage directly with the opinions of their customers about the business is through reviews on social media. Most major social media channels support customer reviews and they often act as a catalyzer for new clientele. Customers love seeing what other people think about the places they visit and it helps companies sort out the right customers from the masses.

In dealing with reviews businesses should always keep a neutral standpoint in their response, regardless of the positive or negative nature of the review. It is very tempting to either ignore or delete the bad reviews but this is where you could showcase the unique side of your business. Be direct to users. If they were not happy with their experience, investigate the issue and give them the most optimal explanation. You have nothing to lose. It could even be the case that these people are not the right type of customers for your business.

4. Events capture the biggest value
Events are a great way to engage more users with your current marketing campaigns. In order to expand the audience of a certain promotion, it is a good idea to create an event out of it except for a post. Events are easily searchable in Facebook and the friends of a page’s followers will receive notifications about them. Finally, creating an event also gives marketing campaigns an extra layer of exclusiveness, making it perfect for seasonal menus in restaurants or happy hours.

Except for Facebook, make sure that you also share your posts and events on Google My Business. This is definitely the place to go if you want to appear on the first page of search entries. More on it in the next section.

5. The power of search – Google My Business
Google My Business has turned into a golden goose for brick and mortar businesses who need a consistent flow of new customers. The service offered in Google search is a very natural continuation of users’ search behavior when looking for local businesses to visit. This means that when someone is in the proximity of your restaurant, the first thing that will appear when they search for “places to eat”, for example, will be the listing of your business.

In its core, a business listing is a short pitch with descriptions, images, opening hours, additional information, as well as visitor reviews. This is why, it is important to periodically review this entry and adjust it according to your current operations – update your most recent opening hours, present new items in the menu with appealing images, and respond to the reviews of your visitors.

Monitoring and optimizing these social media elements allow businesses to read the patterns of their customers and adjust accordingly. Moreover, users who “check-in” bring added value to the brand identity of businesses by acting as influencer endorsements indicating to their social circle that they “like” you. Geolocation services are an integral part of social media behavior creating a more engaging environment for users and giving brands the opportunity to create an army of loyal customers who regularly visit their business.

Social Media as a Service for Hospitality by Aryxe provides businesses with flexible and professional social media services, making it perfect for small and medium businesses which need on-demand resources and professional skillset.

Contact us to learn more about the options for your business.