Anyone who follows me on Twitter and my Facebook friends know that I love the concept of checking in.

I snapped this photo the other day while dining with client at a local restaurant. While I was going to check in anyway, when I saw the prompt I immediately thought there might be some sort of offer attached to it.

But guess what? Nothing. I tried it on both Facebook and FourSquare. But nothing on either.

No incentive, no reward, no free glass of wine.

It’s great that they are wanting people to check in and create a social experience for their diners, but what they are missing is an answer to something that has become part of human behavior – “what’s in it for me?”.

There have been numerous studies (and continue to be new ones published all the time) that put discounts and promotions as one of the main reason people interact with brands on social networks.

In this case, checking in is great for the business – it spreads the word to friends and fans that you are there and therefore gets their name out. But unless I am getting something in return, it’s unlikely that I will do so again.

If you’re going to prompt your customers to connect with you, give them a reason to do so. It doesn’t have to be huge. Enough to make them feel important and keep them coming back.