Using and Utilising Foursquare

Foursquare Marketing Begins With One Post

If you were asked the question, “What are you doing this minute?” your answer would depend on your age. It seems young urbanites actually would have a couple more questions “Where are you,” and “Can I join you?” For those in their 20’s and 30’s it seems that staying connected with their friends and family at all times is very important. They want to know if they are in the same vicinity so they can connect.

That would be the reason for the Foursquare apps popularity. In fact, it’s the app of choice. It is a lot of things all wrapped into one. A city guide, a friend finder, and a competitive game all in one. Foursquare users can check in with their cell phone from a restaurant, gallery, bar, or anywhere else, they might be. This will alert their friends of where they are, and if they are in the same area they can connect.

For many it would seem like planned destiny. Urbanites check when they grab a bite to eat, stop for a coffee, or stop after work for a drink. Many of those using Foursquare don’t even bother to text friends anymore, because they know they will see where they are at just by checking their own Foursquare. An added bonus is that Foursquare directly posts to the users Facebook so that other friends know what they are doing too.

Foursquare is only a couple of years old and it really is in its infancy. Currently it is growing by about 15,000 a year. The fact that this app has gained such popularity means that businesses should be paying attention. There’s an incredible marketing opportunity at the fingertips of every business, especially in urban areas.

So how can a business take advantage of what Foursquare has to offer? There are a number of ways and they are all easy to implement. Did you know you can broadcast a message to any Foursquare user that comes near your location. That message could offer a special promotion or free gift that’s only available to those who see the message. It’s automated, cheap, and effective.

You could also take advantage of the ‘mayor’ game that so many are playing. Offer a gift certificate to anyone who becomes mayor at your location. Offer a cash discount when they make a purchase at your business and are a Foursquare user. For example, $1 off their food order at the restaurant. Let your imagination run wild.

Once you recognize just how popularly Foursquare has become and the value of location marketing you’ll be on the way to making it work for you.

How to Use Foursquare

Foursquare – for some it means a popular game that involved four players who played ball inside a larger square divided into four smaller squares. Today there is a new version of Foursquare that has nothing to do with the popular game. Foursquare is a social media app that can be accessed on mobile phones and on the internet.

It works by users checking in to let other followers know where there current location is. These updates can then be posted to the users Facebook and Twitter accounts. This fun app turns the simple process of checking in into a competition. Users can earn badges for checking in often. They can even be appointed the mayor of an area if they have checked in the most in the past two months. They hold that title until someone surpasses them.

Foursquare is relatively new. It was first launched in 2009 and only covered 100 metropolitan regions. In 2010, they upgraded to support a global market. There are now more than a half million users and those numbers are growing by 15,000 a day.

The newest Foursquare version expands the app. Rather than just checking in, it will introduce the user to new activities that have been added, and to new locations. This can be a lot of fun for tourists that are visiting an area they are not familiar with.

When accessed on the web it can be used in any browser. For smart phones, it can be used on a Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, iPhone, Android, and webOS system. Compared to the Yellow Pages, Foursquare is quite the improvement.

Foursquare users can earn a number of different badges that are fairly general. They can be specific to an event, venue, or city. There is no really clear direction on how you earn the badges. But users don’t care, they are busy having fun and earning as many accolades and badges as they can.

For businesses, there is an excellent marketing opportunity here. More so, a business can easily target a specific region where their business operates, and its cost effective, which makes it stand out against other forms of marketing.

However, because Foursquare is so new many businesses are either unaware of its existence or they are not aware of what it can do for their business. For those that like to stay ahead of the marketing game these are very exciting times. Both users and businesses have a lot to gain from Foursquare!

Do You Have a Hospitality Business? Get More Visibility With Foursquare

Foursquare is a location based new social networking site. Users are able to “check in” when they are at a park, a club, a restaurant, a theater, a pub, and any other location. Social networking is one of the leaders in the marketing of products and/or services by providing consumers with current information that they can use to make immediate buying decisions from their desktop, laptop, iPad, and even their smartphone.

Dennis Crowley, who owns Foursquare, says that his social networking site is undergoing and impressive growth pattern. In 2010, Fortune Magazine named Dennis Crowley as one of the “40 under 40,” and he was listed as one of the hottest rising business stars. If your business is in the hospitality industry, you really need to pay attention about what Foursquare can do for you. You can get more visibility with Foursquare.

Users on Foursquare download a map app that is installed on their cell phone. With that app, users can announce their latest location by checking in, and their friends can track them continuously. This encourages friends and other users to come catch up with the user at the location they are checked in at or to visit the business. Your hospitality business can discover customer demographics using Foursquare.

Foursquare users can leave comments about their experience at your business. Remember Foursquare is linked to Twitter and Facebook, so the comments made on Foursquare about your business will be echoed across these other social networking sites and that will significantly increase your exposure.

Users of Foursquare can reach Mayor status by frequently visiting a place. Your hospitality business can really monopolize this functionality by providers the Mayors with special recognition through your hospitality business offering special discounts or gifts. The hope is that users, both current customers and potential customers, will follow the current mayor and compete to become the next mayor.

You should encourage your own employees to ‘check in’ when they start their shift. That way they will be able to post the specials for that day and also push their own friends and family to come try and enjoy your products and/or services. All of this will help to increase your social media exposure and optimize our Foursquare account.

Google and other search engines are drawn to social media pages that are connected to business. Ensuring solid keyword in your social media business profile will help establish your business as an expert in your hospitality field. Take advantage of what Foursquare can do for your hospitality business.

How to Make Foursquare SEO Friendly

There is no question that social media is a tool you should be using if you want to get your business and/or brand noticed. Foursquare is the newest social media site to appear, and its popularity is growing rapidly.

Why has this site become so popular? Its popularity is based on Foursquare allowing users to ‘check in’ at the locations where they stop throughout the day. That might be a user’s favorite store, pub, restaurant, etc. Users have access to special promotions, coupons, discounts, and freebies.

Many Foursquare users are not aware that the search engines crawl the site, which means it can be very beneficial for SEO when used properly. So let us have a look at how to do that.

1. Profile Address
– When you setup your business profile on Foursquare, make sure your address is correct.
This will help users find you easily, and it will also help your business appear in local searches,
which is the SEO rage these days.

2. Promote Your Social Media Profile(s)
– Foursquare is an excellent tool to help you promote all your other social media profiles.
When someone checks in encourage him or her to follow you on Twitter or Facebook.
You should also encourage them to tell their friends about your business.

3. Use Text That’s Keyword Rich
– Your Foursquare profile lets you describe what your business is about.
To get the most out of your SEO, make sure that you include a handful of your main keywords,
so your Foursquare profile appears in the search engines.

4. Special Promotions and Offer
– For users one of the key benefits is the deals that are offered to them.
As a business, this is where Foursquare can really benefit you, allowing you to offer special promotions
and offers to Foursquare users. Users tend to share this kind of good news with their friends and that
makes the search engines happy, so it is good for your SEO.

5. Leave a Tip
– Foursquare lets you leave a tip so you can take advantage of this and incorporate it into your SEO
strategies just by including a primary keyword and a link to your website.

It’s not enough to just have a Foursquare profile if you want to take advantage of what it can do for your business. Using Foursquare as part of your SEO strategy, and watch it grow your business.

Foursquare Combined with GPS Changing Social Media

Foursquare takes social media to a new level considering it has the capacity of recording your exact location along with telling you whether other Foursquare users are in the vicinity. It’s really an interesting app and it can be a lot of fun. If you are looking for something to do on a certain date or you would just like to hookup with other Foursquare users in the area, it’s a great tool.

It does more. It can help; you avoid a bad experience. For example, if someone visits a restaurant and checks in, then leaves a comment about how terrible the food was or that they got sick from eating the food, it has the ability to help you avoid these less than pleasant situations.

You may be surprised to learn you can actually plan your entire evening, by following the tips left by users. It’s a bit like an interactive tourist guide for the town providing you opportunities to find and check out opportunities that you may previously not enjoyed. It’s also a great way to make new friends.

Foursquare has an achievement system based on being rewarded with badges. It’s a lot of fun and the badges open up tons of rewards that offer money saving opportunities. Another fun game is where you can become the mayor of a location by being the person that is in one place the most. You’ll remain mayor until someone does better.

What most aren’t aware of is that Foursquare is more than just a site that’s fun. It’s also provides full GPS functionality. This app is ever so much fun, and it offers a lot of potential that may haven’t even been realized yet. One thing is for sure it can be really pay off because you can use it to present offers for all kinds of free products, and coupons, which give many the incentive to sign up.

Those that have earned the Mayor title get special offers. Users need to watch for businesses that also offer promotions to those with specific badges they have earned. The graphics are poor but they certainly do listen to their users and t links nicely into Twitter. They are quick to fix bugs when they are reported.

Entrepreneurs should be paying attention because there is plenty that can be gained from the Foursquare app. With so many user if you aren’t making sure to create special offers you are wasting some fantastic potential. You should try out Foursquare, because this is really what social media is all about – a lot of fun, and very exciting. So be sure to spread the news about Foursquare with others.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. In the next article we go even deeper into using Foursquare in business.

Best regards

Pete