With the whole world going mobile, Facebook is making sure to keep up. Facebook has recently announced and started releasing Place Tips as a way for local businesses to better connect with their target audiences.
Place Tips can be a huge asset for local businesses looking to promote themselves, especially to nearby users. Place Tips are still in the early process of rolling out, only available to businesses with a Bluetooth Beacon and users with the latest version of an iPhone app, but it’s still worth investing time to set it up.
Here’s what they are, what they do, and how to use them…
Facebook’s Place Tips: What Are They?
Image courtesy of Facebook.com
Facebook’s Place Tips are an optional feature businesses can utilize them to advertise their business. Users can opt in to use them, and it helps them connect and learn more about the locations and businesses that they visit.
Facebook will determine a users’ location using cellular networks, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Facebook Bluetooth Beacons (which they recommend and claim to be the most reliable, and businesses can receive to help target users most accurately with Place Tips).
Each users’ Place Tips will be different from the next; they can see the pictures, reviews, check-ins, and experiences their friends have posted about your business, for example. This makes each user’s Place Tips highly relevant and useful to them.
Facebook will also feature other information about a business in Place Tips, such as posts from the business’s Page, upcoming events, or specific features and information like business hours, featured products, and menus.
Businesses are able to write a unique welcome note to greet users on the business’s personalized Place Tip, giving them the ability to control the first thing the user will see about them. Facebook recommends using this to highlight something unique to your store, saying “A bookstore could use the welcome note to tell visitors where a book signing is happening in the store, while a popular deli may share menu items that famous people have ordered.” 
Place Tips allow you to automatically alert customers to what’s happening with your business right now while they are right there. There is, perhaps, nothing more effective than reaching a relevant customer with great information while they are standing right inside your business. This makes Place Tips an incredible valuable tool for local businesses, and is one all local businesses should be taking advantage of.
The only users who will receive Place Tips on their phones are the ones who are allow Facebook to access their locations, and who are currently in your store. The also need to have the latest version of the iPhone app and have Bluetooth turned on. Facebook users can disable Place Tips if the choose.
How to Use Them
To use Place Tips for your business, you simply need a Facebook Bluetooth Beacon (this is the best way Facebook recommends as of now). To see how to set up your Bluetooth Beacon once you’ve received it, you can click here.
Facebook is releasing these Bluetooth beacons for free to some businesses in the US, and you can request to get one here.
They are releasing them in limited quantities for now, but it can benefit your business if you can get ahold of one sooner rather than later—especially while they’re free.
Final Thoughts
With more and more users going mobile, all new tools to reach them are valuable and should be taken advantage of. Place tips can help highlight what you most want to advertise about your business to people who are interested in knowing. Especially for local businesses, this could have a huge impact.
What do you think of Facebook’s Place Tips? Do you think this could increase engagement or excitement with your business, on or off of Facebook? Share your thoughts and let us know!
The post Facebook’s Place Tips: A Valuable New Tool for Local Businesses appeared first on Ryan Shaw - Your Online Marketing Coach.
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