Then, boredom set in. Foursquare wasn’t fun anymore. It became a chore to check- in everywhere and I’d start to forget. It didn’t matter to me that I didn’t sit at the top of the leaderboard anymore. Why? For me, the thrill of a new toy was over and the deals seemed fewer in between. My husband’s question of “and WHY are you checking in at an exit ramp?” seemed to hold new logic. I felt a little like Pavlov’s Dog that was still responding to the bell, but discovered that I really DID need that bacon treat.

According to the Pew Research Center, the amount of location-based check-ins has nearly doubled in a year, but still tops out at a paltry 12% among all smartphone users. Cut that to 5% across all cell phone users. Adults check-in less than teens and tweens (other studies suggest that adults simply don’t want others to know where they are and fear of robbery as top reasons) and  overall growth has slowed for the medium.

What happened? Where is the Foursquare badge at the mall? My sense is that it became harder to monetize a deal on Foursquare than it did on Facebook or Groupon. Retailers simply needed to choose their strategies wisely and the numbers of consumers and traffic just aren’t there. Foursquare requires a restaurant server to understand and remember how to ring up free chips and salsa without asking the manager during peak hours. Not to mention she was going to miss THAT as part of her tip.

So, my Foursquare check-ins become fewer and fewer. I don’t really care about the 12 people who want to be my friend. Now Pinterest…that’s entirely different! What a great use of time! Plus, I can create boards of things that interest me, share with other people I don’t know…

You might want to cease the fantasizing boys, because I’m talking about your grandmother, mother, wife or daughter, or perhaps all four. Remember the Faberge Organics commercial “I told two friends and they told two friends and they told two friends”?  The creative team responsible for bringing that campaign to market in the early 80′s is now tweeting how they were the pioneers of social media.

Word of Mouth (WOM) advertising has always been accepted as the best form of advertising, so why has it never been included as a line item in your marketing plan? The days of the brand screaming at us are numbered. The screaming is now in the consumer’s hand, literally. They are screaming with their fingers and their influence is more powerful than any 300 GRP media buy.

But, before you begin to reallocate your marketing budget to include this new channel, be sure to revisit the fundamentals of why you’re in business in the first place. If your restaurant is showcasing a “B” score and you’re not currently exerting efforts to make that an “A”, then you’re not ready for social media. Excellent product and service is what you promised the customer. Make sure that is still the case before exhausting your efforts trying to create your next clever Facebook status or Tweeting this week’s lunch special.

Total control of the means to provide your customer with a positive WOM experience is in your hands and already in your budget: your employees. Starting right now, insist your team engages POSITIVELY with your customer at all touch points. Train, re-train and hold them accountable for customer service. Old school Customer Service Training would have them ask “Is everything okay?“ and the expected response from the consumer is a nod of their head. New school Customer Service Training needs to be more blunt, expanding on the same question. “Everything good here? If not, I want to know.” Because, guess what, if there is a problem and you’re not asking, guess who is going to hear about it. Now, instead of venting with just their spouse later that evening, they’re letting you have it on Facebook, and the average number of friends for these 800 million active users currently totals 136. I don’t need to do the math for you.

So, ask them WHILE you have them under your influence. If satisfaction has been accomplished, say Thank You and perhaps ask them if they would “Like” you on your Facebook page. If they do complain, your immediate response is always an apology…regardless, and everything should be done right then to correct the problem before they leave your establishment…and tell two friends.

Consider now the way we have evolved to communicate because of that focus on individuality. We no longer appreciate the “one to many” approach of communication: we have DVRs to fast forward through TV commercials, listen to satellite radio so we get only music, and opt-out of paper statements and mailings. We self-select what messages we want to accept and when we are willing to react to them through more recent technologies like email and SMS texting. I hear many of my peers complain about their children not answering their mobile phones, but will respond to a text in minutes.

In order to sucessfully communicate with your clients and prospects, these are things that must be considered. Even if you feel that your particular product or service offering is immune to different marketing channels and technologies, I am willing to bet someone has talked about it in an email, blog post or on a social networking site.

How do you communicate with your own friends and family? Do you text your children? Have a Facebook page? Or occasionaly view a video about cats on YouTube? If you admitted to any of these, you also are likely self-selecting. Not to mention that you are online reading a blog post…

Most notably, I don’t use my cell phone to make calls much anymore. I talk to friends, colleagues and even business contacts mostly by text or e-mail. Just today, an old friend from high school (whom I haven’t seen in years), reached out to me on Facebook and offered prime tickets to an event since he knew I lived close by.  A colleague sent me a post on LinkedIn regarding a business prospect that I was interested in talking to that had announced a grand opening on Twitter. And right after that, another friend on Facebook offered a deal on a Thirty One wallet to the first two friends that responded to her. Since I had considered buying a tote anyway, that was just the nudge I needed to purchase both items.

These things might not seem like a big deal, but in the matter of an hour, I had connected with several people for totally different reasons. Each of us getting something from that interaction: Good will, a news update and a sale. All on our own terms, in our timeline and all without saying a word.  Participating in social media has definitely changed how I interact with others…how have you changed?