Over the past couple of years we have seen social media explode and thus began the adoption of social media as a marketing tool for businesses, but this is unlike any marketing that any of us has ever seen before.  The thought of having your customers spreading the word to their friends and colleagues without ever speaking to them is extremely powerful.  That is what has been brought to the marketing table with services like Four Square, Google Check In, and now Facebook, which is really a game changer.  Why? Well because even though people are starting to adopt Google Check In and Four Square it doesn't even come close to the audience that already lives and exists on Facebook, and with the release of Facebook Places you now have an even bigger opportunity to get your customers and audience to share with their friends and colleagues your product and/or service!

Now this idea of check ins has had a lot of business owners scratching their heads as to how they can utilize this social media marketing tool to get their customers to participate so let's look at an example.  Let's say that you own a restaurant and that your business has been a little slow (or not, it doesn't matter) and you are running an amazing happy hour.  You have a few people come in and they are having a good time, but you want to see more people come in. ENTER FACEBOOK PLACES!  You should encourage your audience to check in to your establishment using their Facebook account which then get put into their Facebook feed and thus their friends feeds.  Their friends see your amazing deal, their friends are already there, and thus they show up as well.  Yeah, it is that easy.

So why would someone just post to Facebook where they are at for you?  Well, for one people love to share good information, but you may offer them some kind of a reward like a free drink if they check in on Facebook and let their friends know.  This is probably the least expensive and best marketing you can do.

So, lesson for today.  Go check out Facebook places.  Get familiar with it, and start utilizing it in your business today!

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