Do you love going out with friends but find yourself struggling to make plans that will appeal to your entire friend group? Well go ahead and close out of the Yelp app because Facebook has something to help you discover local bars, restaurants, and attractions. Introducing, Facebook Local! Facebook has rebranded its “Events” app as Facebook Local! Launching earlier this week on both iOS and Android, Facebook Local combines the events that you love with the permanent entertainment establishes that you can spend your night at.

To create the local listings, Facebook is taking map data, as well as your business’ Facebook page and reviews and creating a listing that will give users exactly what they are looking for. Facebook’s goal with the Local app is to “make it lot easier to do certain kinds of lookups that are very common when making plans with friends.” With this goal in mind, I decided to put the app to the test and see how much easier it is compared to other platforms such as Yelp or AroundMe. Here’s a little recap of what I learned and my thoughts on the new application.

Ease of Use

Being a millennial, it is easy to say that I can figure just about any new app out, but I must say, Facebook’s Local app is intuitive if you are already familiar with Facebook’s other offerings. Having local places, as well as events was a nice perk of the app! For instance, my friends and I were looking for dinner plans, and by using the app, we discovered that there was a charity night at one of the restaurants here in town. We chose this restaurant over others!

Information Overload

The great thing about Facebook Local is that there is so much information at the tip of your fingers that you will find useful when planning a night out. For instance, when looking for a place for drinks, you can see any specials they may be running that night as the app links to the business’ Facebook page! Speaking of Facebook pages, if your page is not up to date and you need help optimizing it for Facebook Local, contact us, and we can help you ensure that your business page is properly tuned. (Always plug, am I right?)

The Final Verdict

Well, after using the Facebook Local app, I can say that it is for sure an excellent replacement for Yelp, AroundMe, or even Foursquare. As long as Facebook does an excellent job at promoting the app, it has the potential to grow tremendously. And hey, down the line Facebook says that they will consider adding ads into the app, giving your business, even more, an opportunity to make the sale.

Red Shark Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency that utilizes the power of social media marketing to its full potential. If you have any questions or want to ensure your social media marketing campaigns are the best, contact us today!

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