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Is There An App For That?

By on Saturday, December 10th, 2011 | 0 Comments

A great friend of mine and extremely great marketer Willie Crawford just launched his new Soul Food Mobile App today.

And who would have thought there would be an App for Soul Food Recipes?  There is an app for everything these days.  And there is no end in sight.

The world has gone mobile with five times more people accessing the Internet via mobile devices versus PC’s.

It was reported last week that the Android Marketplace just surpassed 10 Billion downloads since inception and it is growing on a very sharp curve upward just like Apple’s iTunes App store (Click Here to read about it).

It is also predicted that by 2013 there will be 1 Billion (or more) HTML 5 capable mobile devices in the marketplace.  It allows users without an iPhone, iPad, Android, and Android tablets to participate and download mobile apps (Click Here to read about it).

Which means the world is going APPSolutely Mobile!  Having a Website is great (and necessary).  But it is evident that Mobile Apps are the NEW Website of this decade.  And if you’re in business you should (and must embrace) mobile apps.  If you were to survey your current customer base, you would find a HIGH percentage of the time they are accessing more and more on their mobile devices.

Is There An App For That?  YES in almost every case, even for Willie’s Soul Food Recipe App.  If you are passionate about Soul Food, you will be updated with new recipes, be able to connect with like minded people and exchange recipes, and even purchase Willie’s Soul Food Cookbook which has an electronic/mobile version.

To download the Soul Food App for the iPhone/iPad Click Here or for the Android Click Here.

You can literally let your imagination run wild and dream up anything that can be turned in a Mobile App.  Which will create an audience that you can engage with on the go.  We refer to it this way:

“Engage An Audience On The Go . . . Your Customer’s Cell Phone Screen Is The MOST VALUABLE 2 Inches Of Real Estate You Will Ever Own!”

    Your Business and the 80/20 Rule

    By on Saturday, December 25th, 2010 | 0 Comments

    You’ve heard the statement I am sure in the sales world that your top sales people produce 80% of your sales revenue.

    The same holds true with your customers/clients in business.  The top 20% of your customers/clients will produce 80% of your revenues.

    It is true that it is fairly easy to track sales people, their sales and activities (or lack thereof).  However, I often hear all too often from retail business owners that they do not have a system in place to track their customer purchases.  Things like how often they visit, how much they spend etc.

    And even better yet, going deeper into your customer/client info.  When is their birthday?  What is their spouses (or significant other) name?  And all the specific info that would matter in making the sale to your customer/client.

    I love the TV series 24.  And within this great mystery suspense series it is ALWAYS about collecting intelligence info.  That is why you hear “What intel do we have?”

    Marketing to your customer/client is no different.  What intel do you have?  If you have little to none, you have many missed opportunities and you are leaving lots of money on the table.  And that money is likely going to your competitor.

    For example, if you were running a clothing store, wouldn’t it be good to KNOW the size your customer/client wears?  So that in your communication you can state that directly on any sale you might have.  It is well known that most of the buying decision of mens clothing is done by the spouse.  Hence the reason for knowing who the spouse is.

    Did you know that most businesses lose 20% (or more) of their customers each year?  To achieve a 10% increase in sales you need to add 30% in new customers.  And the cost to add a new customer is usually six times more than simply concentrating on your best customers (your top 20%).

    The statistics are alarming as to WHY customers/clients stop doing business with your business.

    * FACTOID *:  A survey on “Why customers quit doing business with you” found that 20% of them do so for the following reasons . . .

    Three percent move away, five percent develop other friendships, nine percent leave for competitive reasons, 14 percent are dissatisfied with the product or service, and a whopping 68 percent quit because of an attitude of indifference toward the customer by the business owner, manager or employee.

    So that breaks down to 82 percent of the survey result was the lack of taking care of your customer!  And that can be (and should be) fixed by you the business owner.

    But before you can do that, you must have information (intel) on or about your customer/client.

    I also hear from business owners often that they fear asking for customer information for fear that it will be too intrusive.  Yet it is probably the single biggest expense in your business NOT doing so.

    To put your mind at ease, I offer up another FACTOID.  Have you ever visited a Radio Shack?  They ALWAYS ask for your information at the point of sale.  And would it surprise you to know that 98% or more give it without any hesitation?  Most likely, because they think it has something to do with their current purchase.

    So put your fear aside.  One of the largest electronic retailers does it as a regular practice.  You should too!

    And once you do my business friend, magical things will start to happen once you use this intel.

    There are many systems available for the business owner to collect this intel with ease without it burdening the business or employees.

    For example the use of cell phones.  Who do you know (with few exceptions) who does not have a cell phone?  Current studies reveal that these devices are kept within arms reach 22 plus hours of the day.  And there are systems in place now to collect customer intel from the use of their cell phone and is convenient for the customer and the business because it all happens in 15 seconds or less.

    You owe it to yourself and your business to collect customer intel.  You will start adding black ink to your financial statement instead of swimming in red ink and failed marketing attempts.  You already have customers.  You already have products and services you sell every day.

    Start applying these techniques and you will find that you can literally cut out the need to advertise in dying Yellow Pages, Newspapers, Radio or any other form of advertising medium.

    Said another way would be “Paying attention to your current customers/clients does NOT cost, IT PAYS!”

    If you would like to DISCOVER more techniques and systems for your business grab a FREE PDF copy of my book “Creating Customers For Life” here:

    http://www.HowToCreateCustomersForLife.Com

    In it, you will learn how to make your business thrive even in the worst of economic storms.  Also, receive a FREE 15 minute phone consultation from me.

    I wish you the best of success in your business!

      Don’t Be Anti-Social If You Want To Survive The Economic Storm

      By on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 | 0 Comments

      Quotes & Excerpts from Harvey Mackay:

      “Is social media a fad or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?” asks Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics.  Consider these statistics he presents, and my analysis of them, and then decide how connected you should be.  Hint:  Your company website alone is no longer enough!

      As of 2010, Generation Y — those born between 1980 and 2000 — outnumbers baby boomers.  And 96 percent of them have joined a social network!  There was no initiation, no dues, no recommendations.  Just a few taps on the keyboard and voila!  Instant connection to friends and family, immediate information sharing, finding the kid who sat next to you in kindergarten story-time.

      As technology improves and changes, it also changes the way we live.  It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users.  It took TV 13 years, the internet four years and iPod just three years.

      Perhaps the star of the social media show is Facebook, which added 100 million users in just nine months and now has over 500 million users.  Not bad for a company that began in a dorm room.  If Facebook were a country, it would have the third largest population behind only China and India.  The fastest growing segment of Facebook is women ages 55-65.  (The jury is still out on how many of those women’s children have accepted a “friend” request from their mothers.)

      We no longer search for the news; the news finds us.  More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook daily.  In the near future we will no longer search for products and services.  They will find us via social media.

      One out of eight couples married in the United States last year met via social media.

      Generation Y and Z — the youngest techies, born after 1995 — consider e-mail passé.  In 2009, Boston College stopped distributing email addresses to incoming freshmen.

      For those who prefer their communications in 140 characters or less, a Twitter account is a must.  Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama.  Approximately 80 percent of Twitter usage is on mobile devices people update anywhere and anytime.  The apps for Black Friday sales changed the way shoppers planned their retail strategy.  On the downside, imagine what an unfavorable tweet means for bad customer experiences.

      As a business person, I often wonder how we functioned before LinkedIn.  One of the most remarkable employment statistics I discovered while researching my last book, Use Your Head To Get Your Foot in the Door, is that 80 percent of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees.

      Remember the advertising slogan “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?”  That’s a little misleading, because it also stays on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, My Space, YouTube or any other social media you use.

      YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.  It contains 100 million videos and receives two billion viewers each day.  Wikipedia has over 13 million articles.  A whopping 70 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds have watched TV on the web, while only 33 percent have ever viewed a show on DVR or TiVo.  And 25 percent have watched a video on their phones in the last month.  With a growing number of e-readers, 35 percent of book sales on amazon are for the Kindle.  Some publishers estimate that eBook sales will reach 50 percent in the next five years.

      There are over 200 million blogs, and 54 percent of bloggers post content or tweet daily.  Without knowing who or what organization is actually behind the blog, here are some facts to consider:

      • 34 percent of bloggers post opinions about products or brands.
      • 78 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations.
      • Only 14 percent trust advertising.

      Perhaps the most astonishing fact of all is that social media have overtaken porn as the number one activity on the web.

      Successful companies in social media have learned the importance of listening first and selling second.  Qualman says, “They act more like party planners, aggregators, and content providers than traditional advertisers.”

      Social media represent a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.  To stay current — and competitive — in business, don’t be a “twit.”  Put on your best “face” and “link” into these tremendous opportunities.

        How To Use Your Facebook Public Profile

        By on Thursday, September 16th, 2010 | 0 Comments

        “Public profile” pages are the building blocks of the Facebook universe. Everyone who joins Facebook is required to provide certain information about themselves, and this information gets displayed on their public profile. You can choose to hide some or most of this information by adjusting the privacy settings for your account, although you’re probably going to want to make a large part of your information public since you’re probably joining Facebook to connect with old friends and make new ones.

        If you’re joining Facebook for business networking purposes, you’ll be faced with a significant decision right away – do you want your profile to be only a tool for business, or do you also want to use your public profile for personal reasons?

        Using your public profile for only your business activities will make it easier to stay focused on your reasons for joining Facebook. You’ll view your behavior on your public profile page (what you post, the comments you leave for other on other people’s pages, etc.) as being similar to your if you were attending a networking event – you want to make connections, and leave people with a favorable impression, and not do anything that would make your company look bad.

        You may decide instead that you’d like to have a single public profile for both your business activities and your personal activities. This would be convenient because you’d only need to post messages to a single account, and not have to constantly sign-in and sign-out between the different accounts in order to do your personal and professional Facebook activities. In addition, there might also be opportunities to expand the reach of your business by gently and appropriately promoting it to some of your social contacts.

        Some people find that a dual-use Facebook account cramps their style, however. You could find yourself less likely to share links or comment about some of your “guilty pleasures” or things that may seem trivial or silly, for fear that it might damage or weaken the strength of some of your business connections. There are certainly things that we all talk about with our friends that we wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about in a professional context.

        It is possible to separate your business relationships from your personal relationships within a single public profile by creating a Facebook “list” for each type of connection. You can then post your personal items to a list that’s comprised of friends only, and post your business-related items to a list that’s made up of your business contacts.

        The difficulty is that sometimes it’s difficult to remember to make a particular Facebook post to only one list or the other (and inadvertently post something to the wrong list, or to both lists). In addition, maintaining the two different lists may become a burden that takes too much of your time. Finally, since Facebook’s rules always seem to be constantly evolving, you’ll need to stay up to date on how Facebook expects you to manage your contacts.

        Supercharge your Facebook campaigns by getting this FREE Report:

        TargetingWithFacebook.Com

        Sincerest Best Wishes,

          Maximizing Facebook Pages

          By on Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 | 0 Comments

          Facebook Pages are the most straightforward way for businesses to have a presence on the Facebook social networking website. A Page is similar in its appearance to a standard Facebook profile (which are used by individual who join Facebook), except that it’s designed to be the Facebook profile of a business.

          People are becoming comfortable with conducting an increasing amount of their online activities exclusively on Facebook. Rather than using a search engine to find a product or service they need, some people are simply asking their Facebook friends for recommendations, or doing a search on Facebook itself. If you don’t have a Page set up for your business, you’ll be limited in how many of these potential customers can find you.

          Begin the sign-up process by visiting the Pages area of Facebook. When you create a new account, try to choose a Page name that is as close to your real business name as possible. This will make it easier for people who you already do business with to find you on Facebook.

          Once you’ve set up your Page, you can begin to build a following for your business. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that social networking tools such as Facebook are generally not very effective sales tools – at least in the traditional sense of the term “sales.”  Facebook users that receive sales pitches on their Facebook walls tend to view the companies making them rather negatively. In fact, companies that try to use Facebook as a direct sales tool are quite often viewed– rightly or wrongly –as “spammers.”

          Instead, you would be better served by viewing your Facebook Page as an opportunity to build a following or community around your business. For example, whenever someone follows or becomes a “fan” of your company’s Facebook Page, any time you post a status update or link or other item to your Page, your followers will get a notification in their main news feed. You can use your Page to announce new product offerings, sales or special offers that you may be conducting, or other interesting news about your business.

          Resist the temptation to try to sell to these people by posting multiple status updates or notes every day. If your followers feel overwhelmed by the volume of updates from you (especially if it seems to them like some of the updates are “forced”, or not noteworthy information), there’s a good chance that they’ll simply un-follow you, and you’ll lose Facebook as a means of reaching that customer.

          You should also consider how your business’ Facebook Page provides a new way to engage in a dialogue with your customers and potential customers. Ask customers what kind of new products and services they’d like to see from you, or how they might want you to refine your existing offerings. Once the conversation is underway, you may find that a greater number of people participate.

          Sometimes the “business intelligence” you’ll gain from your Facebook Page is something you’d never be able to get any other way.

          To get a full in-depth FREE Report on “ALL” things Facebook, go to:

          TargetingWithFacebook.Com

          To Your Facebook Success!

            Using Facebook Messages to Communicate with Your Prospects

            By on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 | 0 Comments

            Facebook has become a very popular way for people to interact with one another on the Internet. In fact, Facebook has in many ways replaced some of the traditional means of Internet communication. For example, many people now use Facebook’s messaging system much more often than they use their traditional email accounts.

            Lots of people log into Facebook every single day, so if their friends are already Facebook members, it’s easier to send messages from within Facebook than to go to another web service like Yahoo mail or Google mail just to send a quick message. Most people also like to maintain only a single contact list or address book, and since Facebook does this for them automatically, it becomes very easy to send messages directly from Facebook.

            You can use Facebook messages to strengthen the relationships you have with your customers. For example, by offering your customers the option of contacting you on Facebook for customer service issues or questions they may have, you do so in an environment that they are already comfortable in, and spend lots of time using – Facebook.

            Many people feel like their traditional email inboxes have simply become a source of spam and unwanted email, and that attitude can sometimes affect how they view the people who are sending them email.

            The most convenient part of using Facebook messaging is that each time you become a friend of a business contact (or potential business contact), or they link themselves to your business Page, you immediately have a way of contacting them directly. There’s no need to take the extra step of asking for an email address.

            To create a message, click the “Messages” Link that’s near the upper left hand corner of your main Facebook page, and then click the “New Message” button that’s in the upper right hand corner of the screen. You’ll then be asked to enter the recipient’s name (or list of recipients), the message, and you can also attach a photo, video clip, or link that’s related to your message.

            Using lists can be a convenient way to manage different Facebook messaging campaigns. For example, you can have lists of “current customers,” “new prospects,” “potential business partners,” and send differently targeted messages to each. Since an individual contact can be a member of multiple lists, there’s no need to struggle with trying to fit each person into a distinct category.

            Be sure that you are not overwhelming your customers and prospects, however. It is very easy for someone to disable all the messages you send (effectively blacklisting you), which could make it very difficult to get into contact with them when you have information that impacts them directly (perhaps a product warranty or recall notice, or information that they have specifically requested from you).

            If you strive to balance your desire to expand your business with your customers’ desire to not feel like they’re being “spammed”, then Facebook Messages can be an effective part of your business’ promotional strategy.

            I would love to get your feedback on how you use Facebook currently or how you apply any of the methods that I have written about.  Our comment tool below lets you post your comments on any of the social networks you belong to as well.

            For more detailed information about using Facebook to ramp up your business go claim your FREE Report chockful of more nuggets here:

            TargetingWithFacebook.Com

            Make it a great day!


              Using Facebook Groups as a Business Promotion Strategy

              By on Monday, September 13th, 2010 | 0 Comments

              Facebook can be a great way for you to expand your professional network, provided you take care to manage your online persona. But there are other, less obvious, ways to use Facebook to boost your business and your career.

              For example, Facebook has a feature called “Groups.”  A Group is a community of Facebook users who share a common interest or hobby. The official categories of Group types are: Business, Common Interest, Entertainment & Arts, Geography, Internet & Technology, Just For Fun, Music, Organizations, Sports & Recreation, and Student Groups.

              The key to successfully using the Groups feature is thinking broadly. You probably don’t want to create a Group for your business itself – you’d want a Facebook Page for that. Instead, you want to your new Group to be an online space in which potential customers can interact with one another about things that interest them.

              Think about whom your business serves, how those people’s interests relate to the business, and create a Group that covers some element of those interests. If you own a small online craft shop, perhaps you could start a Group about a particular type of craft or crafting technique. People who don’t have a place to go in order to talk with other people about the things that interest them will likely join your Group if you just provide them a venue.

              Again, you shouldn’t look to tie the Group directly to your business. You want to become a spokesperson or representative for a part of your industry. The most important part of the process is to create something that will provide genuine value to people who are interested in things that are related to what your business does.

              To create a new Group, login to Facebook and go to the Create a Group page. You’ll need to enter a Group Name, Description, and Group Type.

              You’ll have to decide whether group will be “open” (meaning that anyone can see the Group information, and anyone can join), “closed” (meaning that new members must be approved, and even though anyone can see the Group description, only approved members can actually see the wall, discussion board, and other Group content), or “secret” (meaning that the group does not appear in any search results or member profiles, and membership is by invitation only). Since you’re creating this Group for business purposes, you’ll likely want it to be an open group.

              When you create a new Group, you will automatically be listed as a Group administrator. A Group administrator has the authority to control both the membership of the Group, as well as what gets posted on the Group’s wall.

              An administrator controls membership in two ways: (1) by approving new member requests (that is, people who’ve clicked on the Group page’s join button) if the Group is a private group, and (2) by removing members. Administrators can send messages to the entire group, and edit the Group’s basic information and settings. By managing the Group, you position yourself as a trusted resource, so when people see that you are the owner of a business, much of the goodwill you’ve created is automatically transferred to that business.

              As an administrator, you can also add new administrators who have those same powers, although you can later remove any administrators that you appointed. As your Group grows, you can use this power to enlist the help of trusted colleagues. When your customers are an active part of the community you’ve created, the degree of trust they have in you increases greatly.

              Would love to hear your feedback.  How do you use this for your business?

              Receive a FREE Facebook report chock full of more information here:

              TargetingWithFacebook.Com

              My Best To You,


                How To Use Facebook Events To Promote Your Business

                By on Sunday, September 12th, 2010 | 0 Comments

                Let’s assume you’ve already set up your own Facebook profile and a separate Facebook Page for your business. Maybe you’ve also created a Facebook Group that relates to a type of product or service that your business provides.

                What are some ways that you can promote the special events your business sponsors?  One way is by creating a Facebook Event. A Facebook Event is simply another type of Facebook page that describes an occurrence that will occur at a specific type and in a specific location. The “location” can be a real physical location or an internet web page.

                You can use an Event page to promote a sale or limited time promotion that your business is conducting, or some other special event. This can be an effective way to publicize your business activities from time-to-time, because you can target people who are already connected to you or your business on Facebook. Since they’ve connected with you on Facebook, you already know that they’re interested in the kinds of products and services you provide.

                Creating a new Event is easy. First log in to your business’ Facebook Page if you want the event to be sponsored by the business (or log in to your personal profile if you want to be the sponsor personally). Click the “Events” link near the top of the left navigation bar, and then click the “Create an Event” button at the top right of the main column of your events page.

                You’ll then be asked to provide the name of the event, along with the time and place, a description of the event, and upload a photograph that relates to the event. You don’t need to include a finishing time if it’s an open-ended event. Finally, you need to decide which Facebook users to invite. You can either select individual guests from your friends list, or you can make the event completely public so that anyone on Facebook can see the Event and sign up to attend.

                As with any successful business promotion on Facebook, the key is to not overdo it. For example, it’s appropriate to create an event publicize seasonal sales or other special promotions you are conducting. On the other hand, you’ll probably alienate some of your followers if you create a new event every single day to publicize special prices on individual products.

                It’s human nature to like being invited to things. Invitations to join make people feel special, and makes them feel like they’re a part of something. After receiving an invitation, the act of clicking the “I’m attending” button to accept the invitation is an affirmation of that person’s connection with the business that set up the event. By accepting the invitation they’re indicating their desire to align themselves with the event you’re conducting.

                Of course, it’s not always easy to turn your Events and the accepted invitations directly into sales. But you can always evaluate your data to see which kinds of Events are most popular, and whether your Events are becoming more or less popular over time. Done correctly, using Facebook Events can be a great supplement to your other promotional activities.

                I am interested in your feedback to let me know how this worked for you, or any other strategies you can share with our readers.  Our comment system below will let you use your social media apps to spread the word too.  Let us hear from you.

                For a complete series of Facebook tools and tips be sure to request your FREE Report here:

                TargetingWithFacebook.Com

                Sincerest Best Wishes To You,


                  Clickbank LIKES Facebook

                  By on Sunday, September 5th, 2010 | 0 Comments

                  The other day I discovered a very unique way to earn commissions on Clickbank with your Facebook profile.

                  Clickbank is notably the largest Affiliate network on the Internet.  They have paid commissions to Affiliates for over 10 years on time.

                  Facebook has crested over 500 million members now.

                  This unique method of earning commissions can be done without any traffic cost if you already have a Facebook profile with a decent amount of FRIENDS and you are promoting a product or service on Clickbank that is in alignment with your FRIENDS.

                  The first step is to go to Clickbank and sign up as an Affiliate to promote products and services.  It only takes a few minutes and primarily you are choosing an Affiliate ID.

                  Once you have done this, make sure you are logged in at the Clickbank site with your new Affiliate login.

                  Click on Marketplace at the Clickbank site.  To the left you will see many different categories of products and services to promote.

                  Once you find one you like (make sure you are logged in to the Clickbank site) you would simply click on the LIKE button underneath the product you wish to promote.


                  Above you will see that I clicked on the one that says 90 people LIKE it.  It does not show the LIKE button because I have already clicked it and LIKED it, but below that you will see I DID NOT click on the LIKE button that shows that 365 people LIKED it.  I wanted you to see the difference between the two.

                  It would be a good thing to already be logged in to your Facebook profile.  It will save a step.  Otherwise it will prompt you to login to your Facebook account.

                  Now here is the cool part . . . once I have done this, the LIKE will post to my Facebook Profile (friend request me if you LIKE) as you will note in the image below:


                  Remember I mentioned that you needed to be logged into Clickbank?  Well for good reason.  When you hit the LIKE button in the Marketplace at Clickbank it AUTOMATICALLY embeds your Clickbank Affiliate ID and then posts that LIKE on your profile.

                  So when your FRIENDS click on the LIKE link in your Facebook Profile, it will immediately transport them to the sales page of that particular product or service you chose to promote.  And if they choose to purchase that product or service, your Clickbank Affiliate ID is embedded and you will receive the allotted commission that the product owner has offered to pay.

                  How cool is that?!  An easy way to promote credible Clickbank approved products and services to your FRIENDS and receive commissions on auto-pilot.

                  Give me feedback below.  Share this with your FRIENDS.  And MOST of all press the LIKE button below.

                  Best Wishes,

                    FourSquare Adding 15,000 Users Per Day?

                    By on Friday, May 21st, 2010 | 0 Comments

                    As reported by Jacob Brody from VentureBeat :

                    As rumors of VC funding and acquisition offers persist, blazing hot location startup Foursquare continues to grow. At Business Insider’s Startup 2010 event in New York, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley revealed that the service is adding 15,000 users a day.

                    In an on-stage interview with Business Insider editor Henry Blodget, Crowley explained how Foursquare will evolve beyond a simple check-in service which announces users’ physical location to their friends.

                    “What we’re trying to do is build this rich layer of services,” said Crowley. One of the services he indicated would be introduced is what he described as “Google Analytics but for small coffee shops,” comparing Foursquare’s forthcoming reporting tools for small businesses to the Web-traffic analysis tools offered by Google.

                    Crowley sees a future where Foursquare serves as a platform for customer-loyalty programs. Foursquare has already inked a deal with Starbucks to provide Starbucks “mayors” — the users who most frequently check in at a given location — with a discount on Frappuccinos. Foursquare also has signed partnerships with Bravo TV and others to provide customized badges for check-ins at specific locations. When an audience member posed a question about custom badges for small businesses, Crowley said he was interested in implementing such a program.

                    While the location-based space is becoming cluttered with richly funded competitors like Gowalla, Booyah, and others, Crowley isn’t worried about competitors producing a better service.

                    “Nobody’s going to beat us at product,“ he said.

                    He also shrugged off attempts by Yelp and others to create functionality similar to Foursquare. Specifically referring to Yelp’s check-in functionality, he quipped, “I don’t know anyone who uses them.”

                    He pointed to Facebook’s attempt to mimic Twitter’s functionality as evidence that Foursquare could beat bigger competitors playing their game: “Twitter faced the same thing with Facebook…. Facebook didn’t kill Twitter.”

                    Crowley envisions a day when Foursquare will have around 10 million users, which is around ten times Foursquare’s current user base. He doesn’t, however, see the service becoming as mainstream as either Facebook or Twitter.

                    Many in the media have expressed concerns about privacy issues related to location-based applications. But Crowley dismissed these concerns.

                    “As long as it’s opt-in I don’t see the problem,” Crowley said. Passive location applications like Google Latitude, he said, are more of a concern. “It haunts me more than it helps me.”

                    In a brief conversation after his interview, Crowley told VentureBeat he would be interested in seeing a mashup of Foursquare and Latitude that preserved user privacy while providing a nudge to check in when you’re at a location.

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