Social Media: The Next Wave, Part 2

In last week’s installment we covered some background on Social Media, and where different companies are at in the process of adopting these tools. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are all viable avenues for businesses to gain wide exposure without spending a lot of money.

Picking up where we left off, let’s dive into the next wave of Social Media applications. These tools are especially important because they could easily impact your business whether you like it or not!

Why? Because these applications allow users to rate, rant and recommend virtually any business. You don’t have to wait for a critic to come to your establishment and give you a newspaper write-up; people are communicating their opinions about your business to their peers in real-time.

Definitely ‘word-of-mouth on speed’, and the surface is just being scratched!

Location-based (also called Geosocial), these services are changing the landscape of the web once again. For years the internet became more ‘worldwide’, with outward growth and mass reach gaining attention; but people were finding it difficult to get good local information, especially outside of major city centers. There is a definite inward shift taking place to make quality local information more accessible than ever.

Three of the most powerful platforms that are contributing to this movement are Gowalla, Foursquare and Yelp. 

Gowalla and Foursquare are quite similar, and are competing for market share. They are primarily mobile-based applications which allow the user to ‘check-in’ from a location; and work like a game, with players collecting points. Not everyone plays for points, but players become advocates of businesses they love. This provides direct exposure for a business to other people connected to the player.

My personal favorite is Yelp, and is a little easier to understand because a user simply becomes a reviewer for any given establishment. If a business is listed on Yelp, all you have to do is rate the company out of five stars and provide a brief description. If you cannot find a particular company in their directory, you can go through the extra step of adding it and then proceeding with your review.

Recently, a friend of mine who is an attorney from Phoenix, was passing through the small city where I live. We finally connected after his business was concluded for the day, and he had been checking out Yelp for reviews on local restaurants. Unfortunately, at the time there was only one review for one restaurant in the whole city; and it was not for the kind of thing he was in the mood for.

Had we not connected and I been given the opportunity to introduce him to one of the better restaurants in town, his experience probably would have been a frustrating one. Not to mention that many local companies are very likely missing out on similar business by not participating in Social Media. A lot of consumers are turning to Yelp.

This experience lit a fire under my own butt, and being a guy who loves to be an advocate of people and businesses I appreciate; I have amped up my own presence on Yelp. From the patron to the business owner to the employee, everyone wins!

Of course, if your business stinks, you will likely suffer because the message will be broadcast to the world. So if the shoe fits, it is time to get your act together!

From restaurants and entertainment to realtors, educational institutions and medical practitioners; virtually no business is exempt from the potential impact these applications can have on your business.

Be aware, and be proactive.

Next week we’ll discuss a few things you can do to start using these services for your benefit.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. All articles on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.