Facebook launched a new component called Places to their site last month. Places is a culmination of the applications found in Google Places and Foursquare. It mirrors Google Places functionality by creating a geo-targeted page for businesses all across the country. As a business owner, you can claim your Places listing and associate it with your Facebook company page. Facebook Places is like Foursquare in that there is a component embedded into their mobile app which allows Facebook users to check in when they are at business locations (yes, you really have to be there, your phone will know!).

When a company claims their Facebook Places listing and associates it with their Facebook Page, customers who check in will send updates out to all of their friends and it will also post to the wall of the company’s Facebook page. There is a big viral marketing potential with this new component of Facebook. Retail businesses should encourage their customers to check in on Facebook when they are in their store. Early estimates indicate the average number of people who will see each Places check-in is approximately 500.

So, how do you encourage your customers to check in on Facebook Places when visiting your store?

• You can offer a coupon when they check in. Web Chique Marketing can custom program a Facebook Places application which delivers a coupon to those who check-in, immediately giving them savings.
• Another possibility is to hold a drawing where each time a customer checks in to your store on Facebook Places, they are entered.
• Or hold a contest to find the customer who checks in to your store the most during a certain time period.

The possibilities are endless and really should be based on your offering and what you expect to get out of this viral marketing campaign. When determining the amount of your offer or prize you must determine, what would you pay for 500 impressions of an endorsement for my store from one of my existing customers to all of their friends?

The sooner you integrate a Facebook Places marketing campaign into your page, the more value it will have. Right now people are just starting to catch on to Facebook Places and it has not gone main stream so it is garnering a lot of attention which makes it the perfect time to capitalize on this new social marketing opportunity.