Recently I was mentioned in the Search Engine Journals post Interview with Chris Brogan, Social Media Maven by Robert Enriquez @NC_SEO. The original article was just a Q&A with Chris Brogan. My mention came in the question “What’s the next social media platform you see people using?” Robert and I spoke at CES in regards to my success with social advertising on the application FourSquare.

What is FourSquare and how can you use it to advertise your business for free? First you must download and register with their service. I would suggest applying a profile picture and linking up your other social networks. I went ahead and skipped Facebook as I feel my Facebook friends would grow tired of my multiple updates per day. Find friends already using FourSquare with the quick and easy search. You can search via your Twitter name or phone contact book. Add all or whoever you feel would like to see your check ins.

Now search and locate your business name and location? Not listed? No worries you can manually insert your business name and address for everyone to see. This is already a great step into public advertising because everyone that comes within close proximity of your business will see your business name when checking into other locations. Go ahead and check in to your business location. Now you’ve alerted your new friends on FourSquare and the social networks you connected in the previous paragraph.

On my first check in I received an influx of questions and comments about my business. Three of those contacts turned into sales within the first week. Those three sales generated a small buzz within my friend’s circle of friends which resulted into more orders. The avalanche of local customers has continued even now which is four weeks later. Of course you can keep checking in each day when you get into the office. This will keep your friends and social networks minds fresh with your business name. You can also throw in ‘shouts’ such as sales, new ideas, new products, give aways, etc.

You probably have at least two or three people in your business location with smart phones. Explain FourSquare to them as a game and start the competition to become Mayor of your location. Mayor? What’s that you ask? We’ll the Mayor of a location is the person who has visited at least 2 times and has the highest amount of check ins. All of a sudden you have a ‘game’ to play that is a perfect marketing tool. Your business name is going to reach multiple social networks with multiple groups of friends. Instant branding ahead! Companies have already started offering special deals to their customers who gain mayorship. Read up about a company local to me in North Carolina here – At Foursquare Venues, The Mayor Eats For Free(via TechCrunch).

This is just a short intro on how to advertise on just one of the many upcoming location based social networks. I expect this segment of the ever growing social aspects of technology to explode in the next few years. Soon you will see your mother checking into the grocery store to get extra coupons. Good luck and feel free to leave a comment with your questions or stories involving location based social network advertising.