foursquare for business

For BusinessBy Erica Costa of The Brandon Agency

Foursquare is a SoLoMo service. (Social Local Mobile)

u Foursquare has been used to display restaurants, bars, parks, and other attractions in your city.

uWhen you visit any of those locations, you “check in” on the FourSquare app, which broadcasts your location to friends.

uWith Foursquares most recent updates they have become more about discovering new places and providing tips and recommendations.

More than

20,000,000Foursquare users worldwide.

More than

2.5 billion check-ins.

Basic ways to reach your audience.uMerchant PagesuBrand Pagesu Local Updatesu Promoted UpdatesuCustom Badges

Merchant Pageu This is the traditional business page and is essential if you want to even use the service to promote deals and discounts.

uAll you need to do is claim your venue and before you know it, users can check-in when they arrive on your premises.

uYou will be able to connect with customers and run special offers.

uAny building or place can be checked-in so if you offer goods or services and you have a physical location.

Brand PageuMainly for those businesses that don’t have a physical presence.

uWhen you boot up the app you will be suggested a number of brand pages to like so you can follow their updates.

uBrand pages can also create location-specific events for users to check-in and communicate to them through updates.

uBrand pages also get web versions as well as in-app pages.

uYou can combine the brand page with your merchant page.

Types of Advertisingu Local Updatesu Promoted UpdatesuCustom Badges

Local UpdatesuOnly available to those users who have ‘liked’ your venue or have checked-in a number of times.

u Local updates will be automatically shared with them when they’re in the same city.

u This rewards loyal customers and allows businesses to take care of those who are regularly bringing them business.

u This feature is available to all companies and services that have claimed their business on the site.

Promoted Updatesu Promoted Updates allows users to discover new places.

uUpdates can be found in the ‘explore’ tab.

u These ads are tailored towards your likes and interests.

uBusinesses and companies pay Foursquare on a “cost per action” model, instead of views or impressions their updates receive.

Custom BadgesuCustom badges are really for one-off events, mostly for credit so that users can say they attended an event or did something exclusive.

uAnyone can apply for a custom badge.

uYou have to specify why you want to create a new badge and state what people have to do to obtain it.

Who’s checking in?

The president is leaving tips all along hiscampaign trail.

Nasa is giving great tips on science museums and planetariums throughout the country.

The History Channel is helping followers to discover history across the country and in their citys.

The Official Tourism Website of the City of Chicago invites it’s followers to explore the city.

The Keystone State is encouraging people to check-in throughout the state and collect badges.

uWith 20 million users yet only close to a million merchants using the service, there is great opportunity for businesses to take advantage of Foursquare.