Foursquare, Marketing & Your Business

Written by: Angie Haggstrom | January 18, 2010

With the addition and rising popularity of Foursquare.com in the social scene, businesses have entered yet another new world of marketing. In this virtual community, customers aren’t just talking about your business, they’re using it. They can become the mayor, meet their friends, and find the best locations to eat, sleep, drink, and be merry.

The Ups and Downs of Foursquare

This online community/’game’ could easily create a strong customer base for businesses that choose to embrace the concept. As Foursquare recommends on its website, businesses can encourage participation in the community and visits by offering small incentives such as a discount, a free product, or even just advertising the person’s name in store.

Unfortunately, businesses also need to keep in mind that these types of things could also make a huge problem for businesses that don’t put their customers first. If someone has a bad experience, for example, you could potentially lose far more via online word of mouth advertising than ever before.

Tying Foursquare Together With Other Marketing Efforts

Foursquare has the potential to drive a fair bit of interest, particularly in major centers where lots of people are using the system. To get the most benefit from this attention, businesses really need to funnel this attention towards their other marketing platforms as well. This is easily done, and the benefits could be substantial if done correctly.

When someone uses the community to let everyone know they liked a meal from your restaurant, for example, give them a code or special link in store that they can use elsewhere on the web. This could be either for another social network, or for a complimentary business site. For example, if you become a fan on Facebook and message us with this code, you’ll get $20 off your next purchase.

Taking It Beyond Foursquare

Of course, businesses don’t have to use Foursquare to incorporate similar concepts into their marketing plans. Contests can be set up where customers can Tweet you or leave a message on your blog or Facebook page when they’re going to visit. They could leave a receipt number, a secret word, or even just give you a few sentences about their visit. Then, when others find your website, Facebook, or search for you on Twitter/Google, they’ll find this great information.

The secret to this type of network marketing is simple: creativity. Don’t be afraid to do something new and stand out. Even if the concept is a little crazy, the reward will be worth it. Besides, who doesn’t like to have fun once in awhile?

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Topics: Social Media | 5 Comments »

Posted on 18 January 2010 by Angie Haggstrom

A resident of Saskatchewan, Canada, Angie is the founder of Angie's Copywriting where she's the Senior Copywriter, writing coach, and content consultant for Fortune 500s, new entrepreneurs, and everything in between. She's also a contributing author for several industry-leading publications, newspapers, and magazines covering topics such as SEO, social media, branding, marketing, and business. You can find her on Twitter (@AngsCopywriting), LinkedIn, or follow her using Google Reader.

Angie Haggstrom has written 9 articles for Cloud Mixer

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http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

Foursquare has not really taken on in the UK and Europe, i think because the roll out only focused on the USA to begin with but it is gaining ground here now.

I am a later arriver to Foursquare and am messing around with it now, and its definitely interesting as a business option, if they are clued in to the functionality and system and are prepared to leverage it but like you mention Angie, it can be positive and negative if they do not put their customers first.

The biggest and most important point I have noticed about Social Media and related products such as this are the inherent need for creativity (and some risk) in order to be effective. The standard, run of the mill, come here, buy this, push style message simply wont cut it in this environment.

This, in my book, is not a bad thing, creativity makes it fresh and pushes the envelope, so I'm glad to see it. The real beauty of it is though, that it will not cost a fortune to be creative, it doesn't have to be expensive. Just new, fresh and most of all different and that's for all the different mediums in social media, not just Foursquare!
http://www.angiescopywriting.com/ Angie Nikoleychuk (Haggstrom)

100% agree Justin. With the economic landscape and buying habits of the general public changing, businesses who attempt new forms of marketing need to either put themselves out there, or forget it. If they choose to stick to traditional marketing methods, they might experience growth locally, but I wouldn't expect it to equate with SM because it has momentum. And, when you think about it, all of the biggest names got to where they are because they choose to take risks. The difference is that they chose the right risks and went into each situation with their eyes wide open.

I think it's only a matter of time before Foursquare becomes as popular there as it is in the US because it does one very important thing: Like an RPG, it brings the user into the community…it's much more than participation.
cleondann

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http://twitter.com/gegere Jason Gegere

Want to get noticed on foursquare by your foot traffic?

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http://www.HTMLgraphic.com/foursquare