Snapchat (NYSE:SNAP) announced a new feature this week that could impact how your business markets to local consumers.

Introducing Snap Map

Snap Map, as it’s called, is a location based service that shows Snapchat users where their friends are hanging out nearby. So if someone is posting snaps from a local restaurant, you can see that on an actual map instead of just watching their snaps and wondering where all that great food is coming from. Of course, there’s also a ghost mode for people who don’t want everyone else to constantly know their location on Snapchat.

The feature is meant to help Snapchat users find more fun activities in their local area and make it easier to meet up with friends. But it could definitely have some benefits for local businesses as well.

If Snapchat users are constantly sharing their location and inviting friends to meet up with them at your business, it could lead to lots of new customers. So you could encourage that type of sharing by putting up signage asking for customers to post on Snapchat, offering special events. Or you could even create your own location based Snapchat frame or filter to get people really interested in sharing on the platform.

It’s just one feature on a platform that offers limited benefit to marketers compared to other social media platforms. But for local businesses, especially those that target young, social customers, it could provide a bit of a boost.

[“Source-smallbiztrends”]