Digital Marketing Agency | Barracuda Digital

Foursquare is the location based social network in vogue. Last year we wrote a complete guide on how to set up a campaign on Foursquare.

Foursquare has now upgraded the tools and analytics making it easier and more engaging for consumers; and more insightful for business owners.

Enhanced Specials management system

Specials are rewards that businesses can give to consumers in return for checking into their location.

Business owners now have a lot more control of their specials. There are now seven different types of specials – some for rewarding existing customers and some for attracting new ones.

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If 2006 was all about Facebook, and 2008 was the year of Twitter, then 2010 might reasonably be claimed by Foursquare.

Social media with location check-ins is a popular activity amongst young, urban, liberal technologists – the so called Twitterati, the self same ‘twinfulencers’ who made Twitter popular.

The three main location based social media outlets are MyCity, Gowalla and Foursquare. It’s the last of these – along with Facebook of course – that is emerging on top. With 2 million registered users, growing at over 15,000 every day, Foursquare is following a similar trajectory to Twitter a couple of years ago.

So what do you do on Foursquare?

Foursquare is a status update microblogging platform that lets you update friends on where you are. As a user you can ‘check-in’ to locations and receive badges for your efforts. You can also take a look at other places in your local area, and find out where your friends are,

What’s that got to do with business?

Location based services were worth just £50m this year, but this is set to grow to over £350m in the next two. As every business can claim a Foursquare location, it’s a huge opportunity for businesses to reach out onto social media and bring in new customers.

Here’s 8 steps to kick start your Foursquare campaign.

1. Download the App and register

The very first rule of social media is that you have to try and ‘get it’ yourself. You need to be able to understand how it works and work out what motivates people to use it. And the only way to do that is to roll up your sleeves and start using it yourself.

2. Add your business to foursquare

If it’s not on there already, make sure your business is on foursquare. Simply search for locations near where you are (when you’re at work). Find your business and check -in. Or ‘add a place’ to create your business listing.

3. Encourage your employees to check in

Part of what makes social media work is apparently active communities that others may want to get involved with. Ask your colleagues to use Foursquare, check-in to work, leave tips and create a buzz about the location.

4. Claim your business location

As a business owner you can claim a business location. You’ll need to do this from your PC.

Foursquare verify that you are the business owner by sending you a pin in the post.

5. Take a look at the analytics

As a business owner Foursquare give you intelligence about who has checked into your location, when they checked-in, and what activity is going nearby. You can use this to work out when you’re busy and when its quiet, indicators which shape when your social media activity might be right to kick off.

5. Build specials for your business

Incentivize customers to check-in to your location by creating ‘specials’ or rewards for those who do so. Mayor specials reward those users with the most check-ins. Frequency specials get people to come back again and again. And check-in offers get those first timers who might be checking in to locations nearby.

6. Special offers appear in nearby locations

If you have a check-in special, this appears as an orange flag to those users checking into locations nearby

These literally pull people from other places into yours – perfect for boosting footfall in a quiet time of the day.

7. Be a part of the community

As mentioned above, you need to be a part of this community in order to understand it and to reap the rewards. Leave tips for others, follow other people’s tips, comment and debate. Be active on Foursquare.

8. Add foursquare to your website & other social media

Make it clear to customers who visit your website or your other social media that you are active on Foursquare. Add a link to your Foursquare page, and give a clear indication of the check-in specials you will reward them with. The people most likely to adopt foursquare will be those already using your other social media. Use the relationship you already have with them to promote your Foursquare offering and get them to share it with others

9. Add foursquare to your offline marketing

Through leaflet, stickers, and badges, highlight your Foursquare activity to customers who you interact with offline. Promote foursquare in your shop or cafe. Add Foursquare to your poster and print ads. Give social media aficionados an extra reason to visit and check-in to your location.

That’s it

Foursquare is a popular and fast growing location based social media outlet. As a business owner you can use foursquare to boost footfall, sell more products, and foster a community. If you need Barracuda Digital to help set up your first Localised Foursquare campaign get in touch.

We’ve been writing about Location Based marketing for a while, including how to set up your Google Places account; how to boost traffic to your Google Places account; how to reach out to local people on mobile; and how to run a local campaign on Foursquare. We bring all these under our Local Campaigns service. Consumers are often looking for services near where they are, so location based activity is highly relevant and often has good returns.

Finally Facebook Places has launched in the UK, bringing location based social networking to the masses, This means that location based activity – for both users and brands – is going to start getting some serious profile.

What is Facebook Places?

Only available on touch.facebook.com or the iPhone, users can use Facebook Places to check in to physical locations, in a similar way to Foursquare or Gowalla.

Users can access a list of local places based on where they are. If the right one isn’t available a user can create it. These places can be checked-into. Friends can also be tagged with their location.

Your check in appears as a status update which other users can comment on or ‘like’. You can also find out when friends check into the same location.

What does this mean for brands?

Currently brands can ‘claim’ their Places pages since they are similar to regular Facebook Pages. Once claimed the ‘Place’ can be merged into the regular Facebook page. This allows the brand to spruce up the page with a map, photos, videos, and events. And most importantly, the page includes a list of people who have checked in.

Since they’re like normal Facebook Pages, a Places page also includes ads. It’s not possible to target your advertising to particular pages; you still have to use the regular demographic targeting plus likes and interests.

Is this a privacy issue?

Much has been written about location based social networking as a threat to privacy: for example, if you’re checked into a coffee shop in town then your house is going to be empty. But Facebook have taken steps to diminish these fears by making the service opt in only.

And if others tag you in a location you get sent an email asking if you accept this tag.

It’s just your friends that get notified of your location- not everyone. People looking through whom is in a location can see that you are ‘here now’, but you can even opt out of this setting.

Under 18s only have the option to share their location with friends.

So what is the opportunity?

If you want to drive footfall to your business the potential is huge. Simple ideas include using local and mobile search to share your business location and make it easy for users to find you. And you can incentivise a visit by awarding badges or discounts for check-ins.

And don’t forget that each time a someone checks into your business location all their friends and followers are notified.

That’s it

Location based marketing has taken a big step forward with the launch of Facebook Places. It’s an opportunity for business to drive online and real world traffic, and it’s fun and engaging for users to.

If you want Barracuda digital to set up a location based campaign for your business then get in touch.