Foursquare
But what is it? What’s it for? How can you get started?
Foursquare is primarily for letting your friends know where you are and figuring out where they are. Secondarily, it’s for collecting points, prize “badges,” and eventually, coupons, for going about your everyday business.
Foursquare makes apps that help people keep up and meet up with friends, and discover great places. Swarm is for people who want the fastest and easiest way to connect with their friends. The Foursquare app is for explorers who want to know about the best spots, and to share what they’ve found with others.
Whether you're setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick out the best dish at your local restaurant, Foursquare is the perfect companion.
Foursquare for business
Are you wondering how foursquare could help your business?
Are you interested in rewarding your loyal customers?
As the leading location- based social network, Foursquare offers a plethora of opportunities for business both big and small. There are many alternative to using Foursquare, but when it comes to location- focused social apps, foursquare is the king of location with its 20 million users and robust featured for users and business alike
People use Foursquare to check into locations they’ve visited by using the app on their mobile phones. Once they’ve checked into a location, it can be shared with their Foursquare friends, Facebook friends and Twitter followers.
This is where businesses on Foursquare benefit from being on the platform because users’ friends see where they’re checking in to eat, shop, work and more, which could possibly influence them to do the same based on the recommendations of their trusted connections.
There are nearly 1,000,000 businesses on Foursquare currently, and it’s your turn to leverage this network to build your customer base with new prospects and reward your most loyal customers all at once.
5 tips to effectively market your business on foursquare
- Claims your business’s Location - The very first thing any business with physical presence should do is claiming their physical locations to ensure ownership by their company on foursquare. Your venue is your business’s home based on foursquare. To begin the process on your mobile phone, download the foursquare app and attempt to check in by searching for business.Type in the exact name of your business under the name field to make sure it’s easily found by searchers, and then choose the category that most accurately describes your business.
If your business chooses to verify by phone, an automated message from Foursquare will call your location’s number asking for the business’s name, your name and your relationship to the business.
From here, enter the four-digit number on your screen into your phone to finalize the verification of your phone number for your business.
Completing the process by mail is similar. You’ll receive a code to enter to confirm your location. At the very end, you’ll have to pay a $10 verification fee to process your venue claim. - Use and Promote local updates - Sending updates from your venue on Foursquare is a newly launched feature that allows your business to engage with people who’ve previously checked into your location and who are nearby. This feature of Foursquare is only available on desktop computers. On top of being able to add text and attach photos and specials, the updates can be filtered to only share with specific locations or all of the locations of your company. This is ideal for segmenting your updates to be hyperlocal, and therefore more relevant to your followers on the platform. Since the feature is so new, it can be assumed that it will mostly be used by larger businesses, but this only depends on the pricing associated with this form of advertising.
Time will tell how your business can benefit from this pay-to-play exposure on Foursquare.
Offer Foursquare Specials - All businesses offer deals and specials to their customers, but a unique way to offer socially focused offers is by connecting your customers’ online and offline habits with Foursquare specials.
Many businesses use a combination of these different specials to encourage a growing clientele, while satisfying their returning customers.
It’s suggested to run two Foursquare specials at once to see what’s working with your audience—similar to an A/B test with different creative on an ad, but with social engaging giveaways for your beloved customers.
American Express has an extensive partnership with Foursquare, allowing them to offer specials to customers for using their card at 100,000 locations.
They’re using the Promoted Updates feature to bring their specials at various business throughout the United States to the top of the Explore tab. This way, they’re guaranteed exposure for their company and with the added impressions, they’re hoping for wider use of their Foursquare specials.
American Express is a unique example in terms of the scale of their campaign, but nevertheless, using two Foursquare features to support one another is a tactic any marketer could apply to his or her business.Add Engaging Tips About Your Company and Others - People visiting your business on Foursquare can leave their opinion of their experience. Users are even prompted to leave tips about places they’ve checked into in the past, leaving the opportunity for both positive and negative feedback.
Adding helpful tips about your various locations through a company page is an excellent way to share your strengths as a company and your creative edge—and above all, highlight the human side of your business.Enhance Your Events - Using Foursquare on location at your events is a helpful way to drive attendance, while syncing interactions with your business online and offline.
Using updates from your page and check-ins on behalf of your company, your events can reach new audiences and promote interest in your services, booth, conference or store opening.
For both B2B and B2C companies, events are a crucial way to get in front of your potential customers and build a deeper connection. Stand out at your next conference or trade show by updating attendees with the location of your company at the event, as well as other helpful information from your Foursquare page.