I’m been touting the marketing merits of joining Foursquare for a while now, but can’t shake the thought of what happens when the conversation ends.
I imagine an eager entrepreneur navigating the iTunes app store, downloading the Foursquare application and marveling at the white-on-blue checkbox icon that now graces the screen. One question remains:
Now what do I actually do with it?
Foursquare is a virtual game that allows users to “check-in” at locations and awards them points for each check-in. A certain number of points makes you the “mayor” of a location or earns you “badges” that tout your usage.
But you don’t have to earn badges or mayoral status to make the system work for you. If you represent an organization that wants to gain value from Foursquare, there are really only four things you need to do:
1. Establish venues.
Chances are your venue already exists; someone has already done this for you. If this is the case, feel free to move on to the second item in this list. If not, add the venue yourself. The process is quick and easy. Better to name and the venue appropriately, with the correct address, before someone gets smart and adds his own. Creating a venue also allows you to return and edit that venue’s information, should it change in the future.
2. Add tips and suggestions.
Every location has its own secrets — where the shortest lines are, which staff member is the easiest to work with, which study room provides the most privacy. Why not share those tips with the people checking in there? Does the coffee shop in the library sell an incredible banana nut muffin? Let people know about it.
3. Give something to get something.
Foster participation by offering something to those who check in. Offer a free T-shirt to those who check in at a women’s basketball game, free popcorn for checking in at the student film series or a 10 percent discount to the person holding your venue’s mayoral status.
As a business owner, you can use Foursquare to engage customers with Foursquare “Specials,” which are discounts and prizes you can offer loyal customers when they check in at your venue. If you offer Foursquare Specials to customers, you will be able to track how your venue is performing over time using venue analytics.
The only catch is that you have to claim your business first.
4. Use it.
For better or worse, Foursquare keeps score and users with more check-ins can earn greater privileges. Superuser level 1 can edit venue info (address, cross street, phone, Twitter names, map pin location), mark places as “closed”, and let Foursquare know about duplicate venues. Superuser level 2 can edit venues, merge duplicate venue listings, remove tags, and add venue categories for any venue. Superuser level 3 adds the ability to create and remove venue aliases. Greater user status leads to greater control.
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