Foursquare

Presented By:Paridhi Infotechhttp://www.paridhiinfotech.comCOL – 270 - 501

Introduction

People sometimes need help to choose there next place that they are going to, or they need the people’s opinion such as their friends on places that they have visited! Now …foursquare program could recommend you the best places to go to, and will help you get your friends or other people’s opinion on some places that you have visited.

Simply, foursquare is acting as a social city guide for us.

Cont….

Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to post their location at a venue ("check-in") and connect with friends.

The app uses the iPhone's built-in GPS to display restaurants, bars, parks, and other attractions in your city. When you visit any of those locations, you "check in" on the FourSquare app, which broadcasts your location to your friends. You'll also see where your friends have checked in, which helps you meet up with them or find new things to do.

History

Foursquare: it is a website that acts as a social city guide that have the ability to recommend places for the user if he/she was looking for ideas where to go next or what to do based on him/her, his/her friends, and people with his/her taste have been.

Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai are the founders of foursquare.

They started the first version of foursquare website in fall 2008, and finally it was launched at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin in 2009.

How can we use it?

We will be listing the steps of how can we use foursquare program:-

1- We should install the foursquare program in the smart phone.

2- We enter the site and we click on sign up.

3- We choose the way of signing up either by facebook or email.

4- We put the information that is required, then we sign up

5- We click on the search icon to search for people, places, restaurants or for anything that we are interested to know the location of or the updates of it.

6- We click on “explore item” icon, by clicking on it, it let us specify the places that we want to be in.

7- Finally, we click on the “list” icon. This icon makes us explore our country in an efficient way that shows us everything in Dubai for example like Hotels, malls, restaurant, museums, and many other places.

Cont…

How Foursquare affects SEOFoursquare emerged in 2009 and was deemed the “new Twitter” in 2010. A social media outlet specifically created to allow users to “check-in” to their favorite restaurants, stores, etc., receive deals, and share their check-ins with friends, Foursquare is yet another free social media tool to be used by businesses to better their SEO and overall sales.

Foursquare encourages not only sharing, but brand loyalty. It’s truly a win-win situation for those businesses and customers that choose to participate.

Cont…

Foursquare affects SEO in a very simple way: Businesses with Foursquare profiles get indexed and crawled by Google. This means that it could directly affect business’ ranking on search engines.

6 ways to optimize your business with Foursquare

1. Are you listed?

First thing to do is visit Foursquare website and search for your business to see if it is already listed. If yes, make sure the information presented is correct and complete. You will need to create a personal account in order to correct your information or add your business.

2. Offer “Specials”!

Businesses can offer discounts or special offers to reward people who “check-in” their establishment and develop stronger relationships with their customers. There are many ways to treat your customers with Specials: Some of them are the “check-in specials” that help you reward the customers that reach a specific number of visits or the “frequency-based specials”.

3. Give tips!

You can give your customers tips in order to enhance their experience within your business. If you own a restaurant, you can leave tips about the day specials, the best time to come for a drink, the things to do in your establishment, etc. It is definitely a fun and creative way to attract customers!

4. Learn about your business

FourSquare offers business analytics that makes it possible for business owners to see how customers interact within their businesses. Additionally it helps them improve their services, since they can read the reviews about what customers like, what tips and comments they leave, understand their needs etc.

5. Reward Mayors!

The person who “checks_in” the more frequently in your business in a period of two months, reaches the “Mayor” status. Offer the Mayor something really special to reward him for his loyalty, like “free drinks” or give him the power to be a creative part of your team by choosing the music you will play or a theme for a special night, etc. Not only you will make your Mayor happier, but also you will increase the competition amongst your customers in order to de-throne the current mayor and take his/her place!  

6. Interact with your customers

Foursquare gives you the opportunity to get closer than ever with your customers, since, not only you will discover your best customer by checking his Mayor status, but through the game, you will interact with all your customers and acquire a friendly reputation.

Advantages of foursquare

1. People depend on it as a point of their social circles.

2. Having the ability to access different places by checking in- and to let others know where they want to be seen.

3. It is a free website for advertising, it allows users to -check in- brands or locations of a places they want.

4. The ability of using it as a GPS.

5. To explore nearby places.

6. It allows you to know other people’s opinion on places.

Disadvantages of foursquare

1. People might stalk you to the place you are going to.

2. It wont work without 3G or Wifi connection .

3. It requires an account to work.

4. People sometimes use this tool as a “dating advantage “.

Statistics

One of the other benefits that comes with Foursquare page is the analytics. This is what you get:

- Total check-ins

- Unique customers

- Top visitors (their name and number of check-ins)

- Recent visitors (their name and number of check-ins)

- Email digest – the email gives you quick stats on your weekly page performance (i.e. total check-ins, gender breakdown, Mayor of the restaurant)

Here’s a screenshot of that statistics you get with Foursquare every week:

How are businesses, agencies, and brands work with four square?

Agencies and business people use foursquare website to let other people be aware of their business and attract people by their special offers and discounts. Foursquare website allow those people to advertise their businesses or brands for free, and that allows million people to check their business. For example, when users check into their website there is a very good chance to find their location and rise their profits.

The Influence of Foursquare

Foursquare is best known for its badges, which users get when they check-in to certain places. Users can also gain the title of "Mayor" when they've been to a place more than anyone else using Foursquare. Other elements that play into Foursquare's game dynamics include special offers and tips.

We set out to discover which elements are most influential to Foursquare users. Here are the results: