Seen by many as a game, foursquare can be used as a savvy business tool in your online armoury.
People from all over the world log their locations, tips and impressions of businesses on foursquare every day, so is this something you should ignore?
Yes, there are game elements where you can become the mayor if you visit a location more than others, unlock badges based on your entries and earn points, but there is much more to foursquare than these fun elements.
Retail businesses can get the most from this social media platform by registering their business location, offering specials for foursquare users (and maybe an extra special for the mayor – encouraging more visits to see if the current mayor can be toppled) who check in, or near, your venue and you can follow customer traffic via your foursquare dashboard.
If you run an online business or work from a location you don’t want to make public (like your home), you can still use foursquare to connect with your customers via foursquare Custom Badges and Pages where you can add tips and little bites of information about your brand.
Last year clever business owner Angela Vithoulkas of VIVO Cafe Group hosted the world’s first Café Swarm, where almost 80 foursquare users checked in to the café in a three-hour period and received an exclusive Swarm badge. Find out more about the Swarm at the VIVO blog.
My tips for using foursquare for business are:
- Register your brand so you have a foursquare presence
- Offer customers a special deal to encourage them to visit yours over other venues
- Have some fun with the platform
- Use people’s comments as market research to see what you do well and where you need to improve
Remember, if you haven’t registered your venue, a customer may have already done it for you, so log in and see what they have said.
The lesson I have learned is that to use any form of social media well for business purposes is you must also enjoy it, look deeper into it and be honest about the effect it has on you and your business. Thank you for your mention. I had no idea last year when I did this that it would have such a huge ripple effect on my business. But that came from the fun I had / have on social media. What the stats dont show is that I actually had only ever met a handful of people in the flesh before that day.Everyone else was a friend or tweep. Thats whats Social about Social Media. People like you Johanna and your spirit make it.Again, thank you.
Regards
Angela Vithoulkas
VIVO CAFE
Thank you for commenting Angela. I must say it has been great to meet you and that probably would not have happened if we hadn’t chatted on Twitter first!
Does your business use Foursquare? Why? Why Not? Please take this Univ. of Oregon survey: http://bit.ly/gFzrhb Thanks!