Have you ever tried to explain Foursquare to someone who has never used it? It’s a bit like Twitter you need to sign up and use it to understand how it works and get the most out of it. With people increasingly using smart phones services to connect to the web location based social network services like Foursquare and Gowalla have sprung up allowing people to comment on locations using
Foursquare is a location-based social networking service, mostly used on smartphones. Location-based social networks are social networks that use Global Positioning System (GPS) features to locate you and that let you broadcast your location and other content from your mobile. If you are a physical venue like an actual shop or restaurant, you need to think about what they can do for you along with othersocial media tools.text messages or applications.
The idea is that you “check-in” to venues you visit – restaurants, bars, stores and leave tips for other users. It lets you keep track of where your friends are hanging out. There’s also a game involved, where you can earn points for your activity and unlock “badges.” If you check-in the most to a venue, you become the “mayor” of that place.
Foursquare explained
How businesses are using foursquare
Can Foursquare help your business, well yes it’s free advertising. Foursquare has a free set of tools to help you attract new customers and keep people coming back. For brands, foursquare offers a unique way to stay engaged with followers. By claiming your venue in Foursquare you can create special offers. You can use Foursquare for your business by….
- Offering a discount (something like, spend £50 and get £5 off’)
- Giving something away for free (such as, ‘enjoy a free dessert if you buy a main course’) low-cost and high impact
- Special VIP treatment e.g ‘Exclusive access to our behind the scenes tour’
- Reward your best customers (the classic Special is, “free coffee on your fifth visit’) – a digital reward card.
For more ideas on how to use Foursquare for business see this slideshare presentation on the power of Foursquare…
The Power of foursquare
- Gowalla
- Brightkite
- Loopt
