FourSquare – Not Just A Gameby Sean H. Cairns
Both of these sites can make great new marketing tools for your business through advertising and Facebook tie-in promotions. However, before the advent of such networks, a large amount of new business was generated via word-of-mouth recommendations, and many business owners are looking for a way to simply and easily bridge the gap between the massive social network sites and clients telling friends about their good experiences. They're also looking for an easy way to reward loyal customers and to entice new ones. This is where FourSquare comes in. Isn't that a schoolyard game?So what the heck is FourSquare? Depending on if you're a business or a user of FourSquare, the answer can be surprisingly different. For the users of FourSquare, it is a social network that quickly and easily lets their friends know exactly where they are at by "checking in" at a location. Through a smart-phone app (and utilizing GPS), users can "check in" at, for example, a coffee shop. This is relayed to the FourSquare site, and can automatically update the user's Facebook and Twitter accounts with their location. Friends nearby can then meet up with them or get a "tip" from that user to try a certain drink next time they're at the coffee shop. If that user checks in more than anybody else at that location, he or she can become the Mayor of that spot. Users can also earn badges and other rewards for checking in at specific locations on special days. For example, on October 22nd, 2010, astronaut Douglas H. Weelock unlocked the "NASA Explorer" badge when he "checked in" to FourSquare from the International Space Station. As an incentive to get clients to "check in" at their location, businesses can set up any of a number of rewards systems, all directly through FourSquare. The "Newbie Special" is particularly popular, and rewards a user for their very first "check in" at the location. After "checking in" for the first time at our example coffee shop, the user would immediately get a message back from FourSquare reading "First time here? Take 25% any single drink!". The user is instantly rewarded for checking in, the business has been advertised to all of their friends on Facebook and Twitter, and the user is now more likely to return and "check in" in the hopes of unlocking another special!  Many businesses using FourSquare also have special promotions, just for the Mayor of their location. In an article titled Social Media – You're not doing it right, the point was brought up that "if you don't treat the mayor of your business better than you'd treat the REAL mayor if they walked in", you're not using Social Media correctly, and I agree with this statement 100%. This is a customer who frequents your business more than any other, and should probably be recognized for it. Whether it's 25% any order for the duration of their reign, or a special drink named after them, incentives for becoming the Mayor can be the most powerful marketing tool available on FourSquare. It can also build up competition between users, all vying for the lucrative title. Obviously, your company doesn't want to be giving away specials like these for nothing, so what do businesses get out of using FourSquare? The answer is simple: exposure. Think about it, if one of your friends goes to the same coffee shop every day and "checks in", there has to be a reason for it, right? Maybe the staff is extra-helpful, maybe the prices are great, maybe they just put together a truly superior iced chai-tea latte. Whatever the reason, you are going to be more likely to check it out, and once you get there and "check in", and discover a discount on your first order, that's even more incentive to frequent the shop. Additionally, businesses can leave "tips" for people who check in at or near their location. Say that coffee shop has a fantastic deli nearby. They could leave a "tip" for people that "check in" at their location mentioning how great the pastrami next door is, and that sandwich shop could leave a "tip" saying that the espressos next door are to die for. Now we've suddenly moved from online social networking to real-world networking! Finally, "checking in" at a location instantly informs you of any specials going on nearby, which of your friends have "checked in" recently at that location or around the same area, and can even be used to enter in-store promotions (such as "Show us that you've checked in, and rename today's drink special until the next person checks in!"). There are many ways such as this to add value to your product without even having to spend extra money; the incentives can just be fun! No matter how you reward them, your customers are going to remember getting a little bit of special treatment (or remember saving a couple bucks), and that, in the simplest of terms, is just good for business. A little historyFounded on a kitchen table in 2008 by co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai, FourSquare touts itself as "a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore." Some additional statistics directly from FourSquare:
If you would like to know more about how your business can benefit from an enhanced online presence through social networking, please contact Central States Media at info@centralstatesmedia.com or on the phone at (309) 693-2345. |
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