Do You Use Foursquare to Market Your Business? New Changes Make It Even Better

By Rieva Lesonsky

Does your business use Foursquare for marketing? The geo-social application, which lets users “check in” at locations and alert their friends and networks where they are at any given time, can be a great marketing tool for local businesses that want to draw local customers on the move.

For instance, when you use Foursquare for your restaurant, your customers can tell their friends where they are as they’re eating dinner by “checking in” online. That means anyone on their social networks who is following them finds out about your restaurant…and might decide to drop by if they’re in the area.

ABC News reports on some new features and functionality Foursquare is adding that make it an even more useful way to attract and engage with customers in your local area.

• A new “explore” button, which replaces the current “tips” section, recommends businesses to users based on their check-in history, or on what their friends like.
• A new search function allows users to type in keywords such as “patio dining” or “romantic dinner” to get ideas for where to go.

Businesses will have more options for the specials and discounts they can offer repeat customers or first-time visitors.

• New “swarm specials” let businesses offer special deals if a crowd of people (say 100) all “check-in” at once. (I’d use these carefully, unless you’re very well prepared!)
• New “flash specials” are extremely limited-time offers; for example, you might give the first 10 people who check in to your restaurant at 5:00 a free appetizer.
• New “friends specials” are deals you can offer users when they check in and bring guests to your business.

A big part of Foursquare’s appeal is the competition/gaming element, and there are some changes here, too:

• The leaderboard, which lets users compete against each other by scoring points whenever they check in, has been revamped so it’s more prominent on users’ profiles.
• Users can now compete with themselves to beat their former high scores—so even if they can’t become the “mayor” of a business (the person who checks in the most), they can earn points for other activities that involve Foursquare, such as visiting places it recommends.

If your business relies on local customers, you should check out what Foursquare has to offer. Visit Foursquare’s business pages to learn more.

Image by Flickr user Yodel Anecdotal (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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