Is FourSquare For You?

There’s a trend going around, that’s been hot for a while, now.

And it’s got adults going out of their way to earn badges and some are even contending for the top spot to be a location’s mayor.

No – boy and girl scouts haven’t made a resurgence among adults… What I’m referring to is…FourSquare.

Did you know there are over 8 million users on Foursquare? And of that 8 million, over a million joined in the last 12 months?  The stunning growth of Foursquare may mean that this is a social medium for you and your business.

What exactly is Foursquare?

It is a location-based social media marketing application that helps you promote your business—whether you are a brick and mortar business or a ‘virtual’ one.  This two-part article will help you understand how you can tap into the power of Foursquare.

Foursquare is hands down the most popular location-based app in the game.  Apart from Facebook Places, it has the largest user base of all geo-based social media marketing apps.  And as smartphones continue to penetrate the US market (around 30% of US consumers have a smartphone) it only means there will be more Foursquare users.

So this is a fantastic time to think about joining Foursquare.

How exactly do you use Foursquare?

The first step is to claim your venue.  To do this you search for your venue on Foursquare.com.  If your venue is already there, you simply claim it by proving you own it.

If you can’t find your business, all you need to do is click “Add a new venue to Foursquare” at the bottom of the page.  Fill out the information.  Once you have done that, your venue page comes up and then you simply click on the “Claim Here” on the venue page.

To verify ownership, you need to contact Foursquare either by phone or mail.  If you verify by phone, Foursquare will call you and give you a PIN that you simply enter on the site.  If you verify by mail, the PIN will be sent via postcard.

Once you are verified, you can use the Foursquare Merchant Platform to create specials to reward your customers.  You can have two specials that run at the same time at any location.

Here are some of the specials you can offer:

The Swarm Special is unlocked when a certain number of people check in.  So if 10 people are checked in at once, you might get a free meal or free ticket.

A Friends Special is a reward for when friends check in together.

A Flash Special is when a certain number of people come at a certain time.

A Newbie Special is for people who check into your business the first time and get some kind of reward (a 20% discount for example).

A Check-in Special is a reward for every check in.  So you could give something away for free or offer a discount. • A Loyalty Special is a reward for a repeat visit.  Or repeat visits (every three check-ins for example).

The Mayor Special is for the person who checks into a venue more than anyone else.

Foursquare gives you a dashboard of analytics so that you know how many check-ins you get each day, who is checking in (by gender/age). You will see who are your most loyal customers as well as your most recent so you can really keep track.

I’ll give more information on whether FourSquare is the right social media marketing network for you and your potential clients next time. But whether you’re trying to redeem your tarnished scout years, or simply enjoy the act of friendly competition, you might as well get comfortable with FourSquare, because it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon.