Consumers are constantly digesting information in new ways, and when they’re always on the go, so must your marketing efforts be.
Enter Foursquare, a mobile application that encourages users to explore their neighborhoods and be more aware of what’s around them. It is a friend-finder, a social city guide and a game that challenges users to experience new things and rewards them for doing so.
What better way to put your venue’s name at the fingertips of your customers?
Foursquare lets users “check-in” to a place, tell friends where they are and track the history of where they’ve been. With sign-up, users can grant access to their own personal address book, Twitter followers and Facebook friends.
Using basic game mechanics with points, badges and discounts, Foursquare actually encourages customer loyalty and profit-driving consumer behavior that can increase your business. The app currently has over 4 million users worldwide and is being experimented and utilized by tens of thousands of venues.
As a business owner, you can use Foursquare to engage your increasingly mobile customers with Specials, which are discounts and prizes you can offer to loyal customers when they check-in at your venue. Additionally, you can track (for free!) how your venue is performing over time.
Search for your business at foursquare.com. The site has a simple self-service tool for creating different types of Specials and tracking the performance of each. This feature empowers business owners to create engaging, ongoing relationships with their customers. Specials for your customers can include:
Mayor Specials: The mayor is the user who has checked-in to your venue the most in the last 60 days. Mayor specials are available for just that one user who qualifies, and they can be something like a 20% discount on his/her order.
Check-In Specials: These specials are unlocked when users check-in to your venue a certain amount of times. (“Foursquare says you’ve been here 10 times? That’s a free drink for you!”)
Frequency-Based Specials: These are unlocked every X check-ins. For example, you could offer Foursquare users 20% off their bill of $50 or more with every 10th check-in.
Wildcard Specials: Wildcard Specials are always available, but you will need to verify some extra conditions (e.g., coupon codes) before users can receive them.
The Specials platform has been integrated into all of Foursquare’s official mobile clients—iPhone, Android and Blackberry. The service actively calls attention to venues that offer Specials for Foursquare users.
For example, when users are at your venue, Foursquare will tell them what they have to do to unlock a free snack or discounted drink. If they happen to be across the street or two blocks away, it lets them know that your business gives special treatment to Foursquare users and that they should swing by for a visit.
Foursquare also has a robust set of analytics that provide valuable real-time statistics for your business, including:
- Most recent visitors
- Most frequent visitors
- Time of day people check-in
- Total number of unique visitors
- Histogram of check-ins per day
- Gender breakdown
- Portion of Foursquare check-ins that are broadcasted to Twitter and Facebook
Interested in learning how to make Foursquare work for you? Dana is well versed on the use of this mobile application and others. Contact lkaniper@danacommunications.com.
