Location aware applications have been permeating Social Media. The technology has been arriving in various products, some of the more interesting of which include Gowalla, Yelp, and Foursquare.
To understand its business application you must first understand the game. Here’s a look at Foursquare.
Eighty percent of users have installed the free app on their iPhone, with the remainder on other mobile devices. When a consumer visits a business and does a check-in on the Foursquare app, he/she begins to accumulate points.
As the user continues to check in from various locations, it gets more interesting. Frequent participation in Foursquare is rewarded not only with virtual money (points), but also with titles/badges like Newbie, Explorer, Mayor (most frequent) and others. The user competes with their friends and within the greater circle of people in their area. Each Monday the game resets and everyone starts fresh.
Tips, reviews and more.
Users can include venue information such as how they like or don’t like
a place, what’s best there, when and what deals they offer, hours, etc. It’s also a great way to find nearby venues that may be of interest, together with first hand information thereon.
What Business Needs to Know About Foursquare.
1. Foursquare contains within it the seeds of useful information, business incentive, human competition, plus virtual and monetary recognition and rewards. Foursquare is like Twitter only better.
2. Reputation and customer service have never been so important or so immediately known. When you check-in you tell the world the importance of that location and you open the possibility of dialog with others about it. If you like it you or if you don’t, the Social world knows immediately.
3. Marketing opportunities using Foursquare and the other location-based services have never looked better.
The keys for business.
Businesses know who is checking in, when and with what frequency. This provides the opportunity to incent and reward frequent visitors with offers, promotions, discounts and awards.
The Foursquare Specials program already in place with 500 businesses, is designed to help companies with additional information about their visitors in order to to better understand and reward them. It also promotes member businesses with offers and promotions to Foursquare users who are nearby. And that’s just the beginning.
What’s next?
- Foursquare just signed a deal with Bravo TV, in which Foursquare players win badges, special prizes, and the chance to participate in sweepstakes, initially at 500 Bravo locations. I expect to see major national chains sign on in the near future. Imagine the impact, for example, if Starbucks were to participate.
- Soon, check-in will likely be automated. Click a setting and users can check in wherever they go throughout the day. Offers will flow to their mobile device together with potentially valuable information from other users and offers from participating businesses.
- Lastly, check-ins are about to find themselves indexed in the search engines, the way Facebook and Twitter content now is, thereby further increasing the importance of the information.
Suggestion.
At the very least, get to know Foursquare. Location aware applications are about to be huge and you’ll want to know how to take part both from a business and a consumer perspective.
Subscribe to our updates.