Experiences

Leveraging Foursquare® for your business

Social network
Social network

wOne of the prominent location-based social networking websites for mobile devices, such as smart-phones is Foursquarehich was created in 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai.

How does it work?

Users “check in” at venues through their mobile device download-able application, or text messaging by selecting from a list of venues that the application determines are nearby. Location is based on GPS hardware in the mobile device or network location provided by the application. The motivation force driving competitive and constant check-ins is the need to earn check-in awards and “badges” and the crown for being a mayor of a particular location.

The service creates a fun way for users keeping base with where their friends, colleagues,and acquaintances (including celebrity personalities) are on a Foursquare map. It would also be fun to see where everybody is on the map. They then leave tips about specific things that people who visit that place should try, based on what they liked, or review the place as a whole. For example when a person checks in at a restaurant, he can post it on his foursquare account, and leave tips or suggestions about the menu, service, and his/her experience there.

This provides vital customer feed back to the management, as well as for marketing purposes, where that person’s friends who have checked in, can save the location in their “To-Do” list, and plan to visit the place and try some of the items on the menu that others who had visited there earlier had commented on.

The reason why foursquare has the potential to reach a very large audience is because of the option of posting the check-in activity on your FaceBook time-lines, and also as a tweet message. The leveraging of FaceBook exponentially increases the broadcast of the message to cover all the user’s FaceBook friends and twitter followers.

So one of you may ask how exactly does one use this social media tool to grow your business?

From research, it has been found out that people in similar social circles tend to share common things, and also tend to like similar things. For example, Jane a college student likes to go to fashion events, camping and likes out-of-town eating joints. The places she is likely to visit and check-in, are places most of her friends are very likely to relate with her, and want to try out too because of the many things friends have in common. 

For a business person to work this to his or her advantage, he/she needs to appeal to people in these social circles. You do this by encouraging your clients to comment on a certain item you offer; for example, in the case of food, you may reward people with discounted food prices, food coupons and snack freebies. Doing this will undoubtedly make them want to post to their social circles to mostly ‘brag’ about it, which is a win-win situation for you, since his/her friends will also want to utilise that opportunity.

Foursquare is a great tool to get your business out there at almost no cost at all, and with the figure of just over 3 million check-In’s in 24 hours globally being registered on average every day, this gives you a glimpse of just how big this social media tool is. As of April 2012, there have been more than 2 billion check-ins with Foursquare

As a user, it not only is a great tool to keep up with all your friends in those cool places we all wish to go to, but Foursquare also gives you access to your check-in history, giving you a snapshot of where you go, who you meet there, and what you’re spending money on.



Add your thoughts about this story

comments


About Joe Maina

Joe Maina studied Advertising and logistics and is currently pursuing a professional course in Securities and investments. He is a technology buff who loves discovering new tech solutions that make work simpler. He has additional skills in video production and print media. He is an avid learner and is always eager to take on new challenges as well as voicing SME issues to help them grow.