Using Foursquare for Your Local Business

Foursquare is an amazing way to market your business because it makes the process of social discovery and check-in fun.

Here are some ways in which you can use Foursquare for your local business:

FIRST STEP:

Before you do anything, the first and most crucial step is to claim your venue on Foursquare if you haven’t had the chance to do this already

Increasing foot traffic using check-ins

IDEA #1 – Check-in special

Jamba Juice was able to acquire 312 new customers at one of their store locations between Nov 7^th – Dec 5^th 2011 by running a check-in special.

Each customer was asked to check-in, take a picture and post it in Foursquare and three lucky customers were given a $25 Jamba Juice gift card.

You could also run a check-in special in your merchant location which will entice other foursquare members to check-in as well as encourage existing customers to keep coming back.

IDEA #2 – Check-in milestone

You can drive more check-ins to your store by incentivizing a check-in milestone.

For example, give a special discount code or offer to the 1000^th check-in and watch as Foursquarers compete against each other to win.

IDEA #3 – Check-in bonuses

There are a lot of creative ways in which you can incentivize users to check-in every time they are at your location.

For example, you could offer free parking if someone checks in via Foursquare or provide them with an opportunity to win a gift card. There are just so many creative ways of generating check-ins.

IDEA #4 – Group check-In discounts

Foursquare is awesome because it can help you get new walk-ins from your existing customers’ social circle.

You can accelerate the process of customers bringing their friends to your location by offering discounts for group check-ins.

For instance, you could offer 20% off on a group check-in of four and above.

Customer Loyalty Bonuses Using Foursquare

IDEA #1 – You know who your customer is

As a Foursquare Merchant, you can see exactly who’s checked in at your location currently.

Imagine having access to a customer’s name, interests and the ability to see how many times they’ve been at your location in the past month.

Customers love it when their favorite restaurants or coffee shops recognize who they are and greet them by name.

IDEA #2 – Loyalty Bonuses

Foursquare is a great alternative to the traditional loyalty program. You can simply tie loyalty bonuses to check-in and be able to drive more repeat visits to your storefront or restaurant.

Need to recognize a customer who’s visiting you very often? Foursquare will give you that information!

BONUS TIP – Announce Events On Foursquare

Once customers start following your merchant profile, building interest for a future event is a snap!

You can broadcast your future event or a special to all your followers and drive immediate interest.

It is important that local businesses that depend upon foot-traffic catch in on Foursquare since it is the future of location based advertising and marketing.

Have more ideas about creatively leveraging Foursquare? Share it with us!