Foursquare is a social tool focused on making it easy to share experiences about places. Accessible on most mobile devices, it allows you to "check-in" to a given shop, restaurant, bar, theatre or any other point of interest. When checking in you can leave a comment or recommendation (tip) and share that activity with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Foursquare rewards contribution by issuing "badges" which denote a level of activity on the service. The pinnacle is the "mayor" badge which designates the person with the most activity at a point of interest. There can only be one mayor at a time at a given location but this can change at any time.
When considering the participation this generates it becomes apparent that retailers can derive tremendous value by encouraging check-ins and commentary of their business.
By rewarding "mayors" of their establishment, retailers can drive awareness, engagement and loyalty of their brand in a way few online marketing initiatives can match.
For example, a retailer with a footprint of say, 150 stores. On Foursquare there would be 150 mayors - 1 for each outlet at any given time. Rewarding each of them with say, a 5% discount on purchases would create tremendous virality and brand engagement amongst your most loyal customers providing a tantalising return on your marketing investment.
Here are some of the ways retailers are using Foursquare http://foursquare.com/businesses
Recent Comments