Facebook Places: The Next Hot Social Media Tool

If you don’t know how important it is to have a strong online presence these days, then your business is probably suffering because of it.  Your biggest source for new customers, and for keeping old ones as well, is social media.  Websites such as Facebook, Foursquare, MySpace, and even your own privately maintained blogs offer businesses a way to get their presence out there, in front of the people who need to see them most.  The fact that social media marketing is such a powerful asset in the hands of businesses may contribute to the amount of excitement surrounding the launch of Facebook Places.

What is Facebook Places?

Facebook Places is essentially a platform that will be designed to connect users everywhere.  It will be a powerful way to advertise who you are, connect with your current friends, and make new ones.  It gets your business name out there for people who are searching in a particular area that may not otherwise know you exist.  It also provides a way for you to interact with your customers as they are checking your page out.

What are the Features and Benefits of Facebook Places?

Facebook Places will feature a “check-in” and a place to add places.  It will show you places that may be relevant to you and help you discover new places in your area.  The benefits are great for customers and businesses alike since it helps the two connect and meet a need.  Your business gets a fighting chance to gain some local business that could have otherwise gone to an online store front!  You’ll even have control of your privacy settings just as you would on other Facebook pages and all mobile devices that currently support the Facebook application will be able to run Facebook pages as well.

How do You Use Facebook Places?

Well, you don’t…just yet.  But when the platform launches you will use it in much the same way as you use the rest of the Facebook site with many of the same features.  The difference is that you will receive recommendations for places based on your interests.

How Will Facebook Places Affect Foursquare?

There is much discussion that the launch of Facebook Places will eliminate Foursquare.  Facebook is already the largest social network online today, and the additional features over Foursquare will make it all the more attractive.  Indeed, there has been quite the uproar and it will probably increase as the launch of Facebook Places draws nearer.  However, we shouldn’t write Foursquare off just yet; they have their loyal followers as well and a business can never have its name on the web too many times!

Facebook Places will definitely be a social media marketing device worth keeping an eye on.  As with any new platform, there are sure to be bugs to be worked out, and with the vast amount of excitement and anticipation surrounding the launch it is sure to receive extremely heavy traffic that could slow it down.  But given some time to resolve those standard issues, Facebook Places is likely to become the most powerful form of social media marketing out there.