Foursquare for Businesses | The Digital Clicks Blog
Today, Foursquare announced that business profiles could now be opened on a self-serve basis. Previously, Foursquare has been maintained manually, with each of the 3000+ brands being dealt with individually. Now brands of any size or type can set up their pages. This is good news for small businesses wishing to complement their SMO and local SEO efforts with another social channel, one that encourages brand interaction both online and offline. With ease of access to Foursquare, brands will be able to try the service and test the benefits of location-based social marketing, and users will be offered more information and options when in particular locations. On-location services have been rising in popularity as the number of mobile users continues to increase. It’s now easy for a potential customer to search while on the move, whether they have a specific service in mind or are just checking to see what's available to them in a specific area. There is potential for those in Internet marketing. If you have a Foursquare listing, you are offering an answer that's both convenient and likely to have niche appeal. This appeal is important as users will be publicly signing into your 'venue'’. Foursquare excels at incentivising. By adding a competitive edge to their location service (social badges), companies can reward loyal customers based on the rate of ‘check-ins’ and varying social badges, such as the mayor of a particular place. It’s the digital equivalent of a loyalty card, but one that is shared with the customer’s social circles. Competition can be encouraged through the promise of tangible rewards and the rewards of social titles, and it’s all in the name of your company. This is a good time for small businesses to start using Foursquare, considering their recent deal with Groupon. The markets are complimentary; companies will be able to offer instantly redeemable offers as incentives to checking in, and users will be made aware of what time-restricted deals are available near them. Foursquare’s intrinsically social nature will tap into the offers that require group sign-ups as well.