What is foursquare and what does it mean for your business?

Submitted by Andre Takacs on August 24, 2010 - 9:19am

foursquare logo foursquare allows users to share their location with friends by “checking in” to businesses via a smartphone application or by text message. When you sign up for foursquare and have the application on your mobile device you can physically walk into a brick and mortar store (hotel, restaurant, etc.) and an alert will notify friends that you are there, in real time, via Facebook or Twitter. foursquare’s applications are currently available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile devices.

You might ask yourself “why would I care where people check-in?” Similar questions were asked when social media sites like Facebook™ and Myspace™ began such as “why should I sign up for an online profile or business page when people can communicate to me face-to-face or by phone?” What might not be immediately apparent is that foursquares check-ins allows businesses to get brand exposure they might not have gotten otherwise. Like other social media it takes time for people to adapt.

Setting up foursquare to work with Facebook and Twitter takes very little time. The ROI on foursquare can be substantial for stores, hotels, restaurants, and other brick and mortar businesses. Businesses are starting to offer incentives like coupons, discounts, and other offers for simply checking into their establishment. The more traffic you drive to your business the greater the brand awareness. You can also view the stats of people checking into your store(s) and tweet about it. These statistics can be leveraged to show that lots of people are checking out your store and others might wonder why and want to check it out themselves.

foursquare has what is called a “mayorship” status. Users are allowed only one check-in per day to qualif mayor icon y for a “mayorship” status. The highest number of check-ins for a specific business allows the user to be crowned the "Mayor" of that venue. Businesses that leverage foursquare allow for some perks including discounts for anyone who is a “mayor.” This encourages foursquare users to check-in frequently. Users can create a "To Do" list for their private use and add "Tips" to venues that other users can read, which serve as suggestions for great things to do, see or eat at the You might question how many people use foursquare. As of March 2010 foursquare has half a million users and growing.* This is a large number of users that can be enticed to come into your store and purchase your product and/or service.