In an article published by the Wharton School, Carlos Garcia makes the case that social media networks and mobile devices enable businesses to gain a creative edge by using location-specific data to engage with prospects.

Key points:

• 95% of US adults own a cell phone, and 80% of social activity is done using them.
• Businesses can now understand where people are when posting to social media.
• This enables businesses to send the right message at the right time, for optimal engagement with prospects.
• Social media networks seeking advertising revenue are developing location-based products.
• It's now possible to measure social activity by location.
• Location-based marketing is a natural fit for travel-related businesses like restaurants, sports venues and attractions.
  • People post to social media 10X more when traveling.
  • Customer experience is critical for travel-related businesses.
• Location-based marketing can benefit businesses in several ways:
  • Enable using a more "human" voice, to delight prospects
  • Reach beyond a single individual to that person's social-media connections
  • Observe social-media activity at competitors' locations

In another article for Social Media Examiner, Vivek Patel suggests some location-based social media monitoring tools:

• Geofeedia claims to be able to display all social content posted by individuals in any user-defined area.
• Sysomos is supposed to be able to integrate and filter location-based content of social-media platforms and blog posts.
• MomentFeed is said to permit businesses to see their social-media ratings and reviews by location.
• LocalMeasure claims to enable businesses to identify individual customers and influencers by location and read their social-media posts.

There's much food for thought here.