5 Ways To Leverage Foursquare For Business

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We all know by now that Foursquare is the “it” thing for businesses in the F&B industry.

It is not only useful in building a connection between the place and the people, it is also a great tool to reward loyal customers and give them the power to spread your word.

So, here are the typical and the not so typical ways that businesses can leverage on Foursquare.

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1. Encourage Shout-Outs

A simple check in by a user can help publicize your business to his/her friends on Foursquare. But it can go a long way if users do a shout out on their Twitter profiles too. The word of mouth can be amazing.

Tasti D-Lite, a frozen dessert chain rolled out a rewards program called TastiRewards, which gives extra points to users who connect their Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare profiles to their account, which means they will update their Twitter and Foursquare accounts each time the card is swiped and points are earned or redeemed. That’s really cheap but effective marketing!

For businesses who are really into going social, having a “Check in or Tweet” counter can also motivate customers without smartphones to do a shout out there and then!

2. Have a Fun and Rewarding To-Do or Tips List

Create a To-Do and tips list for Foursquare users with items that are fun, quirky or totally embarrassing, and customers who complete one or more of the tasks would be rewarded.  This can help show the fun side of your business and let customers know that they can relax and be themselves at your place.

Tips tell Foursquare users what your store is famous for, is it your delicious green curry or the value meal promotion you’re offering this month? Create value by providing accurate information. Make sure your green curry is really tasty before you set it as a tip! If your store is often visited by Foursquare users and you’re providing good services and value, chances are, users are probably adding tips on their own accord!

3. Offer Mayor Incentives

Most of you should be no stranger to this. Rewarding your first mayor and subsequent mayors of the month is the most straight forward thing to do. People around me have fought it out to become a mayor and it can seriously attract customers to visit more often. Smaller incentives can also be given to customers, as long as they check in and do a little shout out for you on Twitter.

4. Monitor Check Ins and Gain Feedback

Find out the users who have checked in to your location and thank them on Twitter or Facebook for visiting (All this information can be found on your location page). They will most likely reply you and you can start a conversation to know them better. The tips offered by users can become very valuable feedback for you. Take time to read them and see where you can improve.

5. Use It With Other Tools

As you can see, Foursquare is made more effective if it is used with other social tools like Twitter. To brand yourself as a social media savvy business, you have to make all these tools work together. Hold tweetups, write a blog, make videos, tweet frequently and attract customers to use Foursquare. Once you get a group of loyal customers on the social media space, you can get ready for it to grow very fast.