Turn Customers Into Followers With A Free Wi-Fi Connection

Offering your customers free wi-fi service is a nice perk, one that could engender good will and perhaps even return visits to your brick-and-mortar store. But now there’s a way to offer your perk and gain social media currency too.

Mood Media, an Austin, Texas-based firm, announced this week the launch of Mood Social Wi-Fi, a product that enables small and medium businesses to trade free wi-fi for social connections on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Here’s how it works: Mood Media provides a special router — included in the $35 a month fee for the service — that is connected to a business’ existing broadband internet connection. Customers looking for a wi-fi connection are presented a branded login screen that invites them to connect with the business’ social media accounts. Here’s an example of how it looks:

Beyond the follower boost, Mood Social Wi-Fi also offers demographic insights in a dashboard that gives age, gender and location breakdowns. The dashboard offers the ability for businesses to target “marketing and social content to all or part of their customer base,” the company said in a release.

Ultimately, gathering such customer information is likely more valuable that the extra social connections gained from such a service. Adding followers is a desirable outcome but it’s easy compared to the task of keeping them engaged, which takes work and interesting content.

Another Alternative: Facebook Wi-Fi

Mood Media’s product is similar to a service that Facebook has offered since last year. Facebook Wi-Fi — which is free to participating businesses, but requires one of several specific wireless routers — provides wi-fi connections to customers in exchange for checking in at the business.