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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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!
” - 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:
- Ask them a question, like “What’s your favorite [product of your business]?” Write that information down for later use.
- Offer them a freebie. Maybe it’s something as simple as a complimentary cup of coffee or a free paperback book.
- 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?
Hey I recognize that Foursquare user!
Comment by Cheryl Harrison — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:11:24 +0000 @ 4:11 pm
Lolz… Foursquare = famous
Comment by Nate Riggs — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:53:04 +0000 @ 4:53 pm
What do you think about Gowalla? Does it offer the same functionality and therefore tips are the same? I’ve played with it a little…I’ve heard there is more local adoption here in Columbus for Gowalla.
Also curious about using the objects/game as part of a marketing strategy… for example check out a place I noticed us both frequenting: Winking Lizard . I dropped a box of cookies. What I’m thinking is they should obviously offer me a beer in exchange. Or at least a glass of milk, right?
Comment by Crystal Olig — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:11:24 +0000 @ 6:11 pm
This line got me most:
“You’ve now used the social web to open a dialog with one of your patrons, without trying to sell them something else.”
This is also what most biz owners don’t know and might be skeptical about to begin with, much like they were skeptical about twitter.
Comment by Jacob Stoops — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:31:55 +0000 @ 10:31 pm
There’s a big debate between Gowalla and Foursquare right now – at least in Columbus. Personally, the gaming aspect of Fourquare won my adoption of that application. I actually started on Gowalla though and haven’t completely abandon it just yet. Gowalla does a nice job of making the interactions more social, i.e. it’s easier to connect with people right from your mobile device. You can email, text or call right from a person’s profile. Gowalla seems to focus on connecting “close” friends where as Foursquare seems to be focused on the aspect of serendipity (much like Twitter). The challenge for me is two fold.
First, not many people submit more info than their email. If I want to connect from Gowalla to meet a friend at a location they just checked in at, I will most likely need to email them then. If you are an iPhone user (like me) you know that the device is not really the best at managing email, thus the chances of you actually connecting with them become slim.
Second, I don’t really have much of an incentive to add new locations. Dropping items is fairly meaningless and for me personally, I don’t really see much application to a business. the “Trips” feature is interesting in that local business (say in the Short North for instance) could get together and strategically plan a Trip and reward groups of their customers for completing it. The challenge lies in whether or not their customer groups actually have the desire to complete a trip. Some of the trips I’ve seen are 12-15 stops. My friends and I are lucky to make it to between 2-3 places on an even out.
Think about your typical night out with a group of friends. Is it usually very structured? Or do you typically meet for dinner somewhere and then decide where to go once everyone has eaten and settled the bill. With an application like Foursquare, you can use the intelligence it provides to help the group decided on the spot.
Just my $.02 though. I’ve heard a lot of people (mostly developers and designers) express that the interface in Gowalla is much cleaner. To an untrained eye, does that really matter? Maybe…
Comment by Nate Riggs — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:34:03 +0000 @ 9:34 am
This is an excellent post for any small business looking for ways they can utilize social media (specifically Foursquare) to engage with their customers. It’s always nice to see examples of how a person/company can use social media tools to their advantage. This is a bookmark post.
Comment by Mark Subel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:44:15 +0000 @ 9:44 am
RE: Gowalla, Nate and Crystal…
The serendipity element is still there for Gowalla. You can see if someone else is in the same place as you, whether or not you are connected on the service.
“Trips” do not need to be completed in one evening. Or any time frame. You just need to visit all the spots.
“Items” are largely useless, but add a fun gaming element. Personally, I’m trying to collect all 100. And because I go out a lot, and drop items to found my favorite spots a lot, I get a lot of items.
Another reason I prefer Gowalla is that, since there isn’t an overall points system (though there is a sort of mayorship esteem for individual venues), people don’t cheat, and people rarely check into their house/work, so you actually just see when people are out and about. I.E. checking into their house at night, and then in the morning, and then the afternoon for points ::cough nate cough::
Comment by Cheryl Harrison — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:15:19 +0000 @ 10:15 am
@cheryl – I figured you would chime in on this one!
Good points and you definitely use Gowalla more than I do. A few counter points…
- Foursquare’s point system seems to drive the adoption on new locations by delivering a false sense of achievement. That luster wears off after the first few weeks, but works to drive the new users to engage in the platform and learn the system. Gowalla could improve their platform by assigning some type of value to the items as “relics”. Then again, what makes a “blender” worth more than a “cocktail”? Gowalla’s rule system is very complicated. Foursquare is simple.
- On checking into your home, here’s my take. First, I live in and am the Mayor of Village West apartments. I check in regularly (totally for the points). You’ll also notice that I’ve added tips describing the crappy heating systems, less than adequate parking and problems with the mail boxes. For potential residents visiting the complex to check out a new place to live, would this information not be valuable to know? Also – I love that Foursquare automatically delivers those tips and todo’s as you check in without the need to search for them. Automation of information is key to business use.
- Broader picture on checking in at home in the mornings and evenings is pretty simple – tracking human behavior patterns. Remember that we are still in the infant phase of location based apps. Eventually, the system will be advanced enough to see my shopping patterns on a daily basis, when I leave, when I come home, what specific days I’m out. it’s actually pretty scary if you think about it. But to get to full potential, the system needs fed with data. Foursquare’s point system is what is driving the feeding.
- Last thing – [cough :: just how do I know you live at "Casa De Good Idea" my friend :: cough] lolz…
Good discussion points Cheryl
Comment by Nate Riggs — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:36:10 +0000 @ 10:36 am
Great article. My work focuses on small biz and I have a few clients who I think could really utilize 4square. Great ideas to get them going. Mind if I reference this article and link back to you on my site and fan page?
Comment by Laura Petrolino — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:07:24 +0000 @ 8:07 pm
@Laura – Thanks for the comment. By all means, please use the ideas and post however you wish. Thanks for the link
Comment by Nate Riggs — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:06:04 +0000 @ 12:06 pm
[...] So what can it do for your business……Social Media Strategist Nate Riggs, gives a great breakdown of a couple of ways FourSquare can work for you! Read his article HERE [...]
Pingback by Four Square? Is that a New Board Game? « Flying Pig Communications — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:49:09 +0000 @ 9:49 am
Not really. But it is a game…
Comment by Nate Riggs — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:55:53 +0000 @ 11:55 am
Some great strategies here Nathan. I’ve posted your article to my Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed accounts. Good stuff and too good not to share with others. You did a great job!
Comment by Mark Davidson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:57:21 +0000 @ 9:57 pm
Thanks Mark.
Comment by Nate Riggs — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:13:37 +0000 @ 11:13 am
[...] outlines a strategy to drive customer retention, foot traffic, and return customers here – simple and [...]
Pingback by Location Based Mobile Apps – Why “Where Are You Doing It?” Trumps “What Are You Doing?” « Verge New Media — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:40:04 +0000 @ 2:40 pm
[...] outlines a strategy to drive customer retention, foot traffic, and return customers here – simple and [...]
Pingback by Location Based Mobile Apps – Why “Where Are You Doing It?†Trumps “What Are You Doing?†| b-roll.net — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:17:02 +0000 @ 7:17 pm
I heart foursquare
Comment by Joe Payton — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:17:45 +0000 @ 7:17 pm
Hey – a few other things I noticed on posts.
For some reason, the Quote indent doesn't seem to show up on posts.
Getting some very strange spacing across paragraphs on the posts I can
see.
nate
principal | chief strategist | speaker
Social Business Strategies LLC
614.859.5613 office
614.348.2646 iphone
………………………………………………
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Comment by nateriggs — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:24:50 +0000 @ 7:24 pm
Nate,
This is a great post here. It reminds me that this is part of providing a compelling customer engagement. There are so many things you can do with these tools. Imagine that you know a certain client visits a coffee shop regularly. Well, when you see them “check-in”, let the coffee shop know and surprise them with a free coffee drink on your behalf. Now that is true engagement!
Comment by shaneketterman — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:13:46 +0000 @ 4:13 pm
Thanks for reading Shane. Most people are still only considering apps like Fourquare from information push paradigm. I've always found that taking thinsg a d looking at them upside down usually leads to something productive as well
Comment by nateriggs — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:55:28 +0000 @ 4:55 pm
Absolutely. I look at all of these tools as opportunity to engage with your customer/client. And when you tie them all together you can create a really compelling strategy that ends up creating the most coveted of all: customer trust and loyalty.
Comment by Shane — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:00:24 +0000 @ 5:00 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Shane Ketterman. Shane Ketterman said: RT @nateriggs HOW TO Use a Foursquare Strategy f.. http://bit.ly/aNfcr1 #Columbus #Entreprenuers #Location #Based #Social [...]
Pingback by Tweets that mention HOW TO Use a Foursquare Strategy for Customer Retention & Foot Traffic | Columbus Social Media + Social Media Strategist | Nate Riggs & Social Business Strategies -- Topsy.com — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:02:27 +0000 @ 2:02 pm
Is the customer always Right? Not always. It is a 100% guarantee that you will run into situations that require you to tell the customer that the product, service or their interpretation of the contract are not accurate or their level of service does not allow you to give them what they are asking for.
Although a customer is an important aspect of any business, it can be a diverse and difficult animal to tame. Customers are people and can have varied opinions, backgrounds and personalities. Establishing a rapport with each person on the phone is a skill you will learn as you develop and become more experienced. Unfortunately, some people feel that if they have purchased a company product or service, they are entitled to certain things that may or may not be available to them.
Sincerity is key to successfully getting them to understand that nature of your position. treating them with respect and dignity will go a long way in making them feel you are on their side but the solution may be out of your control or not available at all.
Customer Sales and Service roles are not always easy to perform, but can be a valuable asset to keep the customer happy. Outstanding customer service is easier if you are in sincere in respecting the customer and their needs.
Gravity Gardener
http://gravitygarden.com/build-customer-loyalty...
Comment by gravitygardener — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:53:18 +0000 @ 12:53 am