Facebook’s New Find Friends Nearby: Find Business Leads Nearby?
June 25th, 2012 Posted in Lead Generation, Social Media
by: Jan Loyola
Not to be outdone by late comers into the social world who are resolutely determined on helping you find new contacts, Facebook has recently added an app feature that allows you to find people near you who share the same interests, or even simply people in your vicinity. It sounds very much like Sean Parker & Shawn Fanning’s Airtime, albeit much more mobile. This new Facebook feature, dubbed Find Friends Nearby, was developed by FB engineer Ryan Patterson. It was meant for keeping in touch with people you’ve just met, like in a seminar or meetup, for example. On the business perspective, this feature/mobile app is much more efficient than Airtime. It offers a much more targeted demographic, and you have a far better influence on whether your new business sales leads agree to be added to your sales leads telemarketing list or not. Just like the internet giants Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, Facebook is firmly committed on establishing a strong mobile presence as the social media channel to got to.
How do you use Find Friends Nearby for your b2b lead generation?
Because it’s a geolocation app, you have to be present in the same area as your target leads. This means the app is a great tool to bring for seminars and tradeshows. Don’t just go adding people to your Facebook business profile, though. You still have to put your great conversational skills into use if you really want to connect with new business sales leads, otherwise your friend requests would simply get turned down. It works just like an electronic business card, you don’t just give it to your business sales leads without a proper introduction.
Find Friends Nearby vs. Bump
How does this differ from the Bump app (that business card exchange app)? For one, you wouldn’t need to take out and ram your iPhone or Android to those of every single business lead you meet. You can casually go around meeting people, getting to know them, without needing to worry if they would like to bump their phone with yours; and before the event is over, just send each one a friend request.
While it does remind people about the great app fisco that Girls Around Me generated, Facebook was wise enough to make it an opt-in feature to safeguard user privacy. Find Friends Nearby appears to be a promising new app, especially for social media marketing aficionados and Facebook enthusiasts.
