Foursquare Business First Steps

Go there! Come here!

Shouting at us in Tweets and Facebook status updates are Foursquare updates of all kinds. Simple check-ins saying someone is at the grocery store, to complex posts with details galore roll up the screen.

Each update points us to somewhere our friends like is the theory. Never mind the Walmart visits, there’s gold in there right? Everyone will now know about that cool new Asian place, Wang Nuts⁽¹⁾.

Reality time.

Status updates with location names and little else only drives folks to Foursquare. If your business is lucky, someone actually put something up there besides the address.

Worst case though? There’s negative comments hanging out there, the address is wrong, and there’s not a link to the restaurant home page. That page could hold much more value than a the bad or just plain default version. It could be your key to draw in some new customers and reward the loyal ones.

Foursquare First Steps

1. Visit Foursquare and add your business if it’s not already listed.
2. On your business Foursquare page, claim being a manager.
3. Visit Foursquare businesses page. Tons of ideas here.
4. Create some specials.
   1. On venues you manage, create specials.
   2. If you can’t claim your venue or want to do something easier, add a To-Do or a Tip to your venue.

Foursquare has several great ‘Specials’ suggestions:

• Mayor Specials: unlocked only by the Mayor of your venue. Who’s the Mayor? It’s your single most loyal customer! (the user who has checked in the most in the last 60 days)
  (“Foursquare has deemed you the Mayor? Enjoy a free order of french fries!”)
• Check-in Specials: unlocked when a user checks in to your venue a certain number of times.
  (“Foursquare says you’ve been here 10 times? That’s a free drink for you!”)

Local business are offering everything from a glass of wine to free appetizers.  They are just scratching the surface.

Is your business listed? Are you the owner? Offering any incentive specials?

Get hot!

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Tags: dining out, foursquare, Foursquare (service), fundraiser, getting started, Mayor, rewards, smartphone, Social Media, social network, Social Networking