Last week The New York Times published a piece on how businesses should use geolocation services. The article focused on a restaurant and a chocolate store, but Foursquare’s use can obviously be extended beyond food to books. Brick-and-mortar stores can reach out to existing customers and entice new ones easily using Foursquare. A store can send coupons to people who are a few blocks away. It can also create a reward program for customers who “check in” at the store.
We often roll our eyes at the thought of getting involved on yet another social platform, but can you afford not to? Geolocation services are actually leading to sales. When you think that Foursquare has “about three million users and more than one million check-ins a day,” it suddenly doesn’t seem like such a waste of time. The time you invest in it can actually lead to conversion.
But the other interesting aspect of geolocation services is that it can tell booksellers a lot about their customers. It’s a great way to learn about the people who frequent your store. It is worth reading the NYT article and acting on the quick tips it recommends for businesses.
The next step will be creating your own apps to allow readers buy books from you. But one step at time.
