Foursquare: The Newest Player in Business Social Networking

October 18, 2010Homefield IT

Foursquare encourages users to check in at different venues around the world by offering discounts and promotions. With 1.8 million users to date, the potential traffic for your business is too significant to ignore.

If you thought you’ve seen it all in the social networking world – Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other wildly popular social networking websites – take a look at Foursquare. Foursquare is a new social networking application that brings networking closer to home – literally.

Foursquare encourages people to explore locations and businesses in exchange for points that can be used to earn ‘badges’ that mark achievements of the user. Users can check in at different venues, and the person with the most check-ins for a particular time period becomes the ‘Mayor’ of that particular venue. Think of it as something like Twitter + GPS.

What does this do for your business? In a nutshell, Foursquare allows you to get involved in the game by offering discounts and promotions that are specific to your business, which further encourage Foursquare enthusiasts to visit your business. And with 1.8 million users and growing as of mid-August, the potential traffic for your business is too significant to ignore. Since Foursquare is location based, businesses are bound to attract local (and potentially long-term) clients.

Here are some basic steps to help you get started on Foursquare:

• Take it easy at the beginning. Start by creating a free basic account and see how things go from there. After a week or two, you can start thinking of strategies for using Foursquare to tap into your target market.
• Be a part of the community. Don’t be passive. Post updates that are related to your business and are also helpful to users as well. Also, be attentive to feedback from other people. Listen to what the market wants, and deliver it.
• Link your Foursquare account with your Facebook and Twitter accounts so you can post updates simultaneously.

While Foursquare is technically a game for consumer, dismissing it because of that fact is a big mistake. The potential for this location-based social networking service is vast.