These days, having your business on all of the basic social media sites just isn’t enough.  To generate walk-in traffic, smart business owners are turning to location-based social media to draw in new customers.

One small business owner, Mr. Reed of Mr. Reed’s coffeehouse in Mississippi, was recently featured in the small-business section of the New York Times. Here’s how the location-based social network Gowalla has helped his business:

Mr. Reed is an enthusiastic user of social media, but he says that in terms of generating walk-in traffic, the location-based services trump Facebook and Twitter.

When customers check in with Gowalla … they are greeted with a 10-percent-discount off of any drink. They show the counter crew the discount on their smartphones and proceed to sip happily.

The greatest thing about these location based services is that it puts your business on the map. As Mr. Reed says:

“You can have a great Twitter account and Facebook page, but if people don’t know where you are located and can’t find you, it’s really not doing you much good.”

The likes of Foursquare and Gowalla have really helped to push this new type of social media, where users can search for eating establishments, shopping and other services based upon what is nearby.  One great thing is that these services rank businesses in popularity, by which businesses have more “check-ins.”

Another advantage of the location-based services is that they allow for user reviews.  For small business owners, this is a important way to manage what customers are saying about your services. Business owners are also able to link to their other social media pages as well as advertise. And by incorporating special offers to users who check-in at the location, not only will your business climb higher in the search results, but will generate publicity as users broadcast where they are to their social media base.

With all of these benefits, plus “check-in” analytics that allow businesses to keep an eye on traffic, it is easy to see why these location-based services are becoming more and more popular among small businesses. So get registered today! There is no down-side to increasing your social media footprint into location-based services.