Martin Luther King attracted and inspired millions of followers. He is considered one of the world’s greatest leaders. His message was “I have a dream”. It was not “I have a plan”. When attacking a competitive marketplace it seems to me that as businesses we spend too much time planning, defining product features, working on countless spreadsheets, defining USPs, etc… To achieve a real breakthrough understanding what drives behavior to buy our products and services is key. Apple has been largely successful because they have determined that they are not just a computer company selling products with cool features. They are a computer company that has discovered their business fire. What fires your business?

If 2009 was about Facebook and Twitter going mainstream, and 2010 was about Foursquare and social media going mainstream, then hang on for 2011 because its going to be about the continued ubiquity of the Smartphone. When you combine the Smartphone with the speed that social networking is growing there exists some lucrative opportunities ahead for businesses to connect.

Enter Geofencing…What is a Geofence? Well first of all this isn’t something entirely new. The practice of limiting mobile employees to a specific geographic location by tracking their whereabouts via GPS has been around and utilized in several industries for years. A Geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. It can be dynamically generated as in a radius around a store or point location, or based on zip or postal codes, neighborhoods, sales territories etc..  However, there is an interesting aspect to Geofencing from a marketing perspective when you consider what happens when you combine this technology with the functionality of a Smartphone connected with our social networks.

When someone enters a Geofence the location-aware Smartphone can inform them and provide location-based messages via SMS. This is only effective if we permit these messages because with any good technology that makes use of your personal information (i.e. where you are physically located), there are concerns about misuse of information. However, if used with consent and the proper applications are accounted for then the advantage of location-based services far outweighs any issues of misuse.

Foursquare which boasts 100,000 new users each week requires that you “check-in” to activate the application. This is more and more becoming the norm with the first wave of location-based applications. Footprint Feed will broadcast your whereabouts and messages with links to your Facebook, Twitter, RSS and Google Buzz accounts with your permission.

So here’s the scoop. Apon entering the stadium to watch a football game you are welcomed to the Stadium’s Geofence over your cell phone. If you choose to answer a few questions you have the opportunity to be entered to receive coupons for drinks, receive contest entry forms, or let your social network know where you are. Maybe someone you know is in the crowd and you can hookup at half time? Kinda cool when you think about it.

There is no question that the future points to more personalized and permission-based advertising anywhere and anytime over our cell phone, but developers are still limited by what handsets will accommodate, and of course there is the issue of battery life to contend with.

Regardless, the future is not far off when your Smartphone will not just handle your communications needs but will soon be running everything in your household including your wife to the door. Here’s the picture. Imagine as you drive home from the office and enter your home Geofence that your Smartphone automatically sends an SMS text “Honey, I’m home”;  or notifies the dog through a song played on his collar that its time to retrieve your favorite slippers. And if this isn’t enough imagine your automatic martini shaker being activated from your Smartphone to create your favorite tasty beverage? Ah…the good life. Hey, its just a ring away.

Despite the privacy backlash Facebook is receiving many businesses still believe that the popular social networking website is still prime location for promotion. But why are businesses relying on Facebook—and what can they actually get from Mark Zuckerberg’s creation?

Instant connections

For one thing, Facebook allows big brands to have an instant connection with their market. Nike, for instance, has over two million pages as part of its Facebook fan page. Forever 21, a retail clothing store, is also straddling within that figure. These numbers are hard to ignore despite the privacy rap Facebook has had of late.

Facebook has over 100 million users based in North America, almost one-third of its 350 million overall members, according to Socialmediaexaminer.com. That’s a lot of engagement especially when you factor in the how members share information with each other with a click of a button. This makes Facebook a prime venue for social marketing.

The key to developing a successful Facebook marketing strategy is to inspire a connection. Hard sell never works, especially on the internet. “Facebook is a place to make connections, not to buy products and services,” wrote CNN.com. Facebook should be used to inform, not to sell. It is all about engagement marketing.

Facebook Fan Pages

A Facebook marketing campaign requires a lot of hard work. As the CNN reporter wrote, a Facebook fan page for a business is not like a billboard or a poster as it doesn’t work unless the business tries to engage the network. This is true for smaller businesses that also need to engage to create brand awareness.

When Facebook pages are used like ads, they lose their charm. They also fail to attract users. Again, according to an article in the Socialmediaexaminer.com, a Facebook user only “fans” around two pages per month. This puts responsibility on the business to work at engaging fans.

An effective Facebook marketing strategy is for a business to offer something to their Facebook fans in order to attract engagement. According to Adage.com, the official Facebook page of Starbucks (which boasts over five million fans)  allows for user interaction as well as engagement with other Starbucks social media venues.

Privacy concerns

Should businesses be concerned over the privacy issues? While they do exist, PCWorld says entrepreneurs and business owners have nothing to worry about. There is only a small fraction of users who are leaving the networking website. Overall membership continues to rise.

“Facebook is not sinking–its going full steam ahead with or without you,” PCWorld.com reported.