Is location-based marketing a no-brainer now Foursquare has 10m users? Brian Solis certainly thinks so. In this piece, our favourite dapper guru investigates the data Foursquare released to celebrate reaching 10m users. A couple of choice quotes: “Services such as Foursquare bring the Yellow Pages alive”.

Google+ is already indexed and searched by Google, making marketing searches much easier than other platforms. Just drop “site:plus.google.com” before any search in Google, and you’ll see what people are saying about you inside the platform.

Don’t think “social network.” Think “communications backbone.” This tool allows for private collaboration (privacy is much easier to understand here, but it does require some learning), and permits a “one stop” kind of area for talking internally and externally without causing problems. And it works with email, not in lieu of email.

Google+ evolves from Gmail. No matter what the kiddies say, email is still the digital communications backbone of the modern world. SMS might feel like second place, but it’s a distant second. Google+ is very tied to Gmail, with hundreds of millions of users. It feels very natural as an extension in a way that Twitter and Facebook do not.

New study reveals the prime motivators behind why people follow brands If you’re still looking to justify your social media activity to the board, perhaps the following stat will help: 97% of people say that social media has influenced their decision to make a purchase of a brand or product. Pretty emphatic. And one of several very interesting findings from the team at get satisfaction. They’ve recently released a new infographic on why people follow brands. If part of your role is encouraging people to follow your brand, then it’s worth having a look.

To be fair, things are changing. By the end of the year, 75% of US-based companies expect to use social media for customer service. It’s a reaction to the changing game. Gone are the days when social media was all about marketing through Twitter and Facebook. It’s now an integral tool to ensure you are responsive not reactive, contactable not aloof and authentic not robotic. And increasingly, it’s about solving customer’s issues in real time through social channels, showing your dedication and transparency to your customers.

Facebook explanation of the best way to engage brands Facebook Head of Brand Solutions, Chris Pan talks about: Fan pages as an authentic voice | Brand fan pages by fans | Content is king | What people want to hear vs. what you want to tell them | Facebook marketing solutions

Chrome-only feature

Facebook is such a popular application that is so widely used for personal and business uses, it makes no business sense to ban it. If companies do not address this they could be at the mercy of corporate suicide

Social networking is like food and drink to Generation Y workers, they are so used to communicating in a more open and collaborative way. Therefore, forward looking companies should be aiming to encourage social media activity amongst their employees rather than stifling it

Many companies have social media presence on sites such as Twitter and Facebook and create mobile applications but have not set up the infrastructure to deliver the same level of customer support as their more traditional communication channels

The report noted a "huge rise" in the number of customers who now use social networking sites and mobile commerce for business transactions, and said customer service in those areas was often isolated and not keeping pace

It is important for companies to fully embrace these newer channels by taking the lead in not only addressing the marketing aspects, but also in developing integrated support to ensure customers receive consistent treatment and quality problem-resolution over their social media and m-commerce communication channels.

Here's what they learned, based on users' feedback, preferences and complaints: Touchable areas are often too small, too close, not easy enough to discern.

iPad users dislike typing on the touchpad.

The Web browser has its limits.