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How Foursquare can help your business…

Sat, 04/23/2011 - 12:50 — cynthia

 I will admit that I’m a social media geek, and I’m what you could call an “early adopter”, meaning that I like to try the latest and greatest social media tools just for fun. So I’ve been using Foursquare for over a year now. Foursquare allows you to use your smart phone (like an iphone or blackberry) to “Check-in” at a venue. You can connect with friends who can see where you are, and if you check in more than any other person at a certain location, you become the “mayor”. In most cases, being the mayor gets you nothing other than bragging rights, yet over 6 million people are using Foursquare.

 However, that is not enough to make foursquare more than a passing fad. In order for geo-location apps like it or its competitors (Gowalla, Yelp) to have longevity they need to provide a real benefit to the user. Without offering something of value, the novelty wears off and people won’t come back.  It needs to provide consistent benefits and reasons for people to use it, and this is just what is starting to happen.
 
A few months ago while visiting my father in Flemington, New Jersey, I had to do some shopping at the mall. To pass the time while waiting in a long line at Kohl’s, I checked-in. One of the best features about foursquare is that when you check in, you see “tips” or “specials” provided by other users or businesses nearby. In this case, a special at Chili’s next door -- check-in there, and I would get free chips and salsa. I was with my dad, who is a really picky eater, and hates just about every restaurant he goes to, but on the other hand, he’s pretty frugal, and never passes up on a good discount. So we decided to go there for lunch. And to my surprise, he loved there burgers. Now we go there every time I come to visit. They just scored a new loyal customer!
 
A few weeks later, my dad and I took a trip to San Diego, and were looking for a place to have dinner near our hotel. Now, I had a reason to check-in on foursquare. I wasn’t just trying to shout out to friends that I was at the Holiday Inn, but I knew foursquare would show me names of restaurants in the area. Another great feature is that it lets you see reviews and tips from other people about each place. Based on what I read, I picked Miguel’s Cocina. and when I walked in, I already knew where to ask to sit (on the patio) and to order the jalapeno cheese dip that everyone raved about. Another great meal courtesy of foursquare.
 
This story is anecdotal, for sure a nay-sayer can argue, and for sure its just a snapshot of one user’s experience. However, when 6 million people start to see it the same way, its going to become mainstream. And the smart businesses will start to get on board now and will be well positioned to ride the growth. Foursquare’s users grew 3400% last year, an astounding statistic, and who wouldn’t want to get on that bandwagon?