What is Foursquare?

foursquare

Foursquare is an online service for your mobile device or PC. You can "check into" the various places where you arrive. If the location you arrive at isn't entered yet, you can enter it for yourself. That way, Foursquare is mapping every building in every city of the world.

The person who checks into a specific place most often can become the "Mayor" of that place. This has created a competitive element amongst Foursquare users, who battle with each other to become the Mayor of popular locations, whether they are supermarkets, coffee houses or museums. Businesses and public places have incentivised this behavior by offering the Mayor free coffee or free tickets. Samsung recently gave away 3D televisions to the its users who checked in at an event.

Why is Foursquare useful to users?

foursquare-iphone-app The above sounds like nothing more than a game. But Foursquare has a bigger vision than having people compete to become the Mayor of a specific place. This competition element serves a greater purpose: mapping the world and adding useful tips and TODO's to every location. Say for instance you check into a restaurant: Foursquare will provide you with reviews, what others thought were the best meals on the menu or perhaps suggest an alternative restaurant that had more positive reviews.

Why is Foursquare useful to your business?

The above description of Foursquare's usefulness to users already gives you a clue: Foursquare users will inevitably list your place of business, list reviews, and make business compete based on user reviews. If your place can give give incentives to its customers to write glowing reviews, you could even attract visitors who originally intended to visit a nearby competitor.

By enlisting on Foursquare, your business receives a new advertising channel. Foursquare enables you to offer promotions to new customers, reward frequent customers and create a mutually beneficial relationship with your best customer, the "Mayor" of your location (since the Mayor is the most influential promoter of your business). Creating excellent customer relationships with your Foursquare network will enable you to grow your peer reviews and will notify new visitors of the sweet deals your customers discovered at your place. Since updates are shared among the friends of the Foursquare users, your business will also be recommended to their wider network.