Location Based Loyalty (Part 1): Employee Branding

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Location based systems (also known as LBS to the cool kids) are not only growing in usage but in marketing practicality. We've talked about location-based marketing in posts here and here. How could these services be leverage for loyalty? Not only customer loyalty but employee recognition and internal branding? This and the next post will take a brief look at how these technologies could be used both employee and customer side.

Employee Branding

On the blog FISHDOGS Social Media, Craig Fisher talks about how to generate employee buzz using Foursquare. One complaint about "Mayorship" on Foursquare was how certain employees could become mayor simply because they were obviously at the retail venue more often than most any customer. This limited access to Mayoral rewards and benefits from the consumers actually making purchases. Fisher explains how a company could "claim" their venue on Foursquare and list their employees on the site, preventing false mayorships.

Should this discourage employees from checking in? Absolutely not.

Fisher explains how employees checking in could be "incentivized" (his words not mine) and employees could be rewarded for checking in. The company could run a separate rewards program for checkins for their employees in addition to whatever they provide their consumers. When an employee checks in, they are not only telling their social network where they are, they often comment on being there. Positive checkins provide a positive brand image for the company.

Not only will potential customers see how happy the employees are to be there, future talent will also take note. Most savvy job hunters will decide on who to work for based on employee review. Those positive Foursquare checkins are a great real-time way to attract quality talent.

Employees checking in on Fourqaure also provides further opportunity for engagement according to Fisher. Many companies don't allow social media. Not only allowing social channels at the office but leveraging them to interact further with the employee base does a lot for enhancing engagement. Checkins could eventually become a great tool for recognition.

What do you all think?