You’ve probably heard about one of the hottest mobile app/service/game/social media thingys out there: Foursquare. In case you haven’t, don’t worry. While it may be hot, it was only launched a year ago at South by Southwest. This year, the geeks at SXSW were all over it again and the service has moved to beyond just a few select cities so we now can even use it in our little town of Whistler.
Wikipedia defines Foursquare as this:
Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and also a game. Users “check-in” at venues using text messaging or a device specific application. They are then awarded points and sometimes “badges.” The service was created by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai; Crowley had previously founded the similar project Dodgeball, which Google bought in 2005 and shut down in 2009. As it closes in on 1 million users in April 2010, Foursquare is being pursued by Internet giant Yahoo Inc., which has offered as much as $125 million for Foursquare.
Until today (yesterday actually) it might have only been something to watch the geeks, early adopters and social media types play with. Now, as a business you can use Foursquare to engage with your patrons. Not only can you see who is checking in as well as stats and analytics, you can offer deals and promotions based on users check-ins, frequency and loyalty.
This functionality was what marketers have been waiting for to allow our clients to use Foursquare as another tool to engage with customers socially. It also means you, as a business operator, are not necessarily on the hook to invest heavily in a system to engage with customers based on location-aware mobile applications. Foursquare can now do much of it for you at a fraction of the cost.
Clearly, Foursquare is examining its business model, and activating business will almost certainly come with a user-paid or advertising component, but this helps Foursquare expand its brand and user base (currently nearly a million). You can even get special Foursquare stickers for your storefront.
Sign your business up now – it doesn’t cost you anything and for limited overhead you will be able to build your business and clientele through another interactive and social channel. A million users is not a huge number when speaking adoption but Foursquare seems to be winning the location aware app war over the likes of Gowalla, Yelp and granddaddy Brightkite and besides, location-aware mobile interaction is more than just a game. It is the future. – Rory Tucker
