Geolocation - Really?

Take Away:

Get ready for local

It’s about mobile

Smart phone penetration is projected to be 50% of the US market by the end of this year – closer to 80% by the end of 2012.

Smart phone users access the internet through their phone just as much if not more than desktop users.

Smart phone users have the internet in their pocket and they are getting more comfortable with using it on the go.

It’s about location

If you use a smart phone you’re already aware of apps that ask to use your location.

If you search using your smart phone your location is submitted (unless turned off) as part of your search criteria

Google and the others have already tweaked their search algorithm to give greater weight to location in search results.

It’s not about being the Mayor

Location data is relatively new and people are still figuring it out.

Sure it’s nice to be the mayor of your local Starbucks on Foursquare or the Duke of the Townhouse on Yelp but what is the benefit to you, the business owner?

The more activity that surrounds your business as a location, i.e. – the more people that interact with it, check in, comment, review on Yelp, Foursquare, Google places etc., the better your business will do in search results – particularly for mobile customers.

What to do?

Make sure your business is registered on the big three:

https://google.com/places/

https://foursquare.com/business/

https://biz.yelp.com/

Once you are registered you can incorporate your local profiles into your content strategy as part of your overall marketing effort. If you don’t know where to start, raise this with me in your next session.