Facebook Places and Google Places Might One Day Go Head-to-Head

This last week, Facebook announced that it is stepping into the location-based check-in arena, with its latest feature, Facebook Places.  While this might not sound like earth shattering news to you now, it could become crucial to your attorney Internet marketing campaign.

Currently, Facebook Places is run similarly to Foursquare, which allows people to check-in at various locations.  When a Facebook user arrives at a certain location, they can tag their friends to let them know what they are doing and where they are at the moment.

According to Facebook:

Facebook Places provides a presence for your business’s physical store locations- encouraging your customers to share that they’ve visited your business by “checking in” to your Place. When your customer checks into your Place, these check-in stories can generate powerful, organic impressions in friends’ News Feeds, extending your brand’s reach to new customers. Best of all, it’s free.

You can go on the website and search to find out if your firm is already listed as a “Place” on Facebook.  If you can’t find it, you can claim your Place, which is supposedly easy to do.  Facebook has detailed instructions on claiming your Place on its website.

Many people are wondering if Google Places, which is more information-driven than social, and Facebook Places will start to compete for local advertising dollars.  Google Places doesn’t have a social element at this point, but it is still a major player in local business advertising.  If businesses start to advertise locally using Facebook Places, it could definitely become a challenger to Google Places.

Be sure to order a free copy of our report, Google Places: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know to Dominate.