Nate Riggs: Social Business Strategies; communication, social web strategies, & passion in Columbus, Ohio.

As I go deeper and deeper into analyzing Foursquare and its potential, I’ve begun noticing ways to apply their strategy ideas to a variety of different businesses.

Serious potential falls into the lap of small businesses who are motivated (and brave enough) to begin experimenting with how they can utilize the application to tap into their mavens – the loyal customers who visit often and tell their real friends about the experience.

In my mind, using Foursquare as a tool to drive foot traffic in the door is a no-brainer.  If you’re in the specialty retail or food service business, this is low-hanging fruit.  It will take a bit of time and some effort, but with close attention to tracking, you’ll be able to measure a return for your investment in bottom line dollars and cents.

(Please, always remember this: using these tools successfully means really caring about and tapping into your existing customers, NOT flooding the web with more push marketing messages.  Push marketing is dead.  No one cares anymore. Focus your efforts on creating a better experience for your customers and winning relationships, and they will push the marketing messages out for you via word of mouth.  Will you trust me on this?)

Foursquare Strategy Idea 1 – Check Out Your Check-ins
Goal: Drive customer retention, repeat visits and additional foot traffic into a retail or dining location.

I think a ton of people forget that location-based apps are accessible from a website, as well.  It’s easy to do that when 80% of your interaction with a medium is via your mobile sidearm.  But by using the website, you (the business owner) can gain access to a ton of great data market intelligence on your customers.  It’s going to be to your benefit to use this data to your advantage.  Here are some “how to” ideas:

1. Visit your own Foursquare profile and search for your business’ profile.  You will pull up a page that looks very similar to how your own personal profile is outlined.
2. On your profile, you will see avatars under the “Who’s Been Here” heading.  This is a log of everyone who has ever checked in at your location.
3. Once you click on a customer’s avatar, you will be able to access links to their Twitter and Facebook profiles (if they have submitted them to Foursquare).
4. Now, go to your Twitter profile and start a list entitled My Foursquare Customers. One by one, add each checked-in customer to your new list.  You can keep the list private or you might try making it public for others to follow.
5. Once your Customer Twitter list is built, take some time to send a short tweet to each member.  You might start with something along the lines of: “Noticed you’ve been checking in at [business name].  I just wanted to say thank you for being a customer! ”
6. Chances are, a good amount of them will reply to your tweet.  When they do, embrace the conversation.

You’ve now used the social web to open a dialog with one of your patrons, without trying to sell them something else.  The latter part is key.  Your first contact on on the social web with a customer should NEVER be trying to sell them something else.

If you take a softer approach and focus on simply appreciating their business, the customer will likely be delighted.  If they do respond, you now have the chance to take them to the next step of a closure progression.  You might try one of these tactics as your next move toward baby-step conversion:

1. Ask them a question, like “What’s your favorite [product of your business]?”  Write that information down for later use.
2. Offer them a freebie.  Maybe it’s something as simple as a complimentary cup of coffee or a free paperback book.
3. This idea comes from Tom Williams: If you happen to chat with the Mayor of your location (that’s the person who checks in at your location the most frequently), make them an ambassador by offering them some freebies to hand out to their close circle of friends.  As Tom puts it, “give them something they can use as social capital while at the same time promoting your business.”

For bonus points in this strategy, you might try putting a simple LCD monitor or laptop behind the counter.  Use tools like Hootsuite or Seesmic Desktop to follow the stream of your new Customer Twitter list. The majority of Fourquare users will have their feed connected to their Twitter account and publish check-ins as tweets.  Having a monitor will allow you to check out where your customers are at at any given time during the day and also notify you when they are about to arrive at your location.  Use that intelligence to greet them by name when they arrive. You’d be surprised how special you can make someone feel by making an effort to use their name when you say hello…

Are you starting to see how this could work?  Is Foursquare starting to make more sense?