Location based social networking sites such as Foursquare, Dodgeball and Gowalla are mobile applications that are a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide, and a game that encourages users to explore their neighborhoods and rewards them for doing so. This is done by combining a friend-finder functionality and social city guide elements with game mechanics – users earn points, win mayorships and unlock badges and specials for trying new places and revisiting old favorites.

When brands integrate a location based social networking platform into their overall strategy they are encouraging repeat visitor interactions by users who are generally eager to check in and register. With each interaction being posted to the visitors online networks the increased brand visibility can grow exponentially as this information is posted and commented upon as it appears on the visitors network as well as all of their friends networks. Couple this with the ability to integrate custom “badges” and “specials” that visitors unlock as they “check in” help to create a highly valuable customer experience that encourages repeat visits and customer loyalty. Additionally, these strategies can even help guide buying decisions as specials could be anything from product specific discount codes to generic special offers to just about anything else that the marketing team cares to reward it’s new super users with.