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Foursquare for businesses

January 28, 2010 By View Comments

Since my last article on Foursquare vs. Gowalla, I’ve been seeing more folks get on Foursquare.

I think that’s great, we could finally have a crowd big enough for mayor deals to make sense to businesses.

If you run a business, Foursquare for businesses is worth looking into. It’s a great way to get the word out and reward your loyal customers. You may not know this but here’s how folks are talking about you. They are using Foursquare to tell their friends and leaving tips on what’s great or bad at your place. Their friends most likely share the same interest or sentiments which makes their word of mouth highly effective.

Look at the conversations I’ve had over some Foursquare post to my Facebook profile.

Now think what a little reward can do. People who have been thinking about you might actually want to make a trip there. Your loyal Mayor might become your biggest fan and sing your praises. Wouldn’t that be awesome? As a customer, I find this so much more fun than being a fan of a business on Facebook. Some businesses still love to serve me spam – information with no customer benefits. Do I really care what garage band will be playing this Friday? Why don’t they give me good reasons to visit or buy more? Like watch the football game here and whatever you’re drinking, get a second one for free when your favorite football team strikes a goal. Now who wouldn’t like that?

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I’m waiting (anxiously) to see who in KL will be first to do this. Location based social networking is good for business.

If you are now wondering what this foursquare thing is all about, here’s the pitch. More info at http://foursquare.com/businesses/

View more presentations from 6S Marketing.

I wish Foursquare has a directory of businesses with mayor deals by country so that I can seek them out and aim for mayor.

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  • http://twitter.com/thechannelc thechannelc

    @cziplee http://bit.ly/9yzvI4

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://nicholasleong.net Nicholas Leong

    Interesting.. worth taking a look at this. But wouldn't the person who works there be the Mayor eventually? :P Or are staff of the place, not allowed to do such things haha

  • http://thechannelc.posterous.com Carolyn Chan

    If you ask me, staff shouldn't check in – unfair advantage if the establishment is running a promo. they can check in to the mall if their boss is using Foursquare as a punch card. lol.

    I know someone who's checking in to his own place as a way of promoting it. He can if he wants to. But between his place and another one that's rewarding its customers with a discounts on purchases or something free for the mayor, which one would you rather go to? :)

  • http://jomlahmakan.blogspot.com Ramesh Vadiveloo

    Owners can no longer be Mayors. But the staff who are not registered as “Owner” of the business, can be the a Mayor. Perhaps Owners should restrict staff from checking in, to encourage others to fight for the Mayorship.

    I have two venues on Foursquare now:
    http://foursquare.com/venue/336898
    http://foursquare.com/venue/2523201

    I still have not launched the promo for Mayor, as I noticed people are checking in when they are not dining/drinking at my venue.

  • http://thechannelc.posterous.com Carolyn Chan

    That's good but you're still showing up as mayor as well as staff at http://foursquare.com/venue/2523201. From what I know from checking with Foursquare, the owner has to delete the staff checkins, do you see that option in your foursquare page? This should help you reset the customer mayor back to 0 after he has claimed his mayor deal otherwise, other's can't catch up if he already has so many checkins.

    And I guess it doesn't matter much right now since your offer is not a mayor deal.

  • http://jomlahmakan.blogspot.com Ramesh Vadiveloo

    I am sure, why I am still a Mayor at http://foursquare.com/venue/2523201 but not at http://foursquare.com/venue/336898. I lost the my Mayorship at Frontera Sol of Mexico, as soon as I became the “Owner”, but my Mayorship at Laila's Cafe & Lounge remained the same. When I wrote to Foursquare, this was their response:

    “Hi Ramesh

    Sorry about that! We block managers and employees from being the mayors of their venues … it gives everyone else a chance to get in on the fun!

    Thanks”

    BTW, I dont see the “reset visits” option on my Foursquare page. Where is it ?

  • http://twitter.com/lightyoruichi Harinder Singh

    You'll need other visitors to check-in to your venue, and once they've become the mayor at your location, you'll be removed, and won't be the mayor for that venue until you've removed yourself as the staff/manager of the venue.

  • http://thechannelc.posterous.com Carolyn Chan

    Harinder, I think the point was why wasn't Ramesh removed as mayor of laila's but he got removed as mayor from frontera sol upon declaring he's the owner.

  • http://jomlahmakan.blogspot.com Ramesh Vadiveloo

    Carolyn,

    I did not mentiong that I prefer people 'checking in' be paying customers. It doesn't matter to me who pays the bill.

    What I meant was “People should not be checking in, if they are not dining or drinking at the outlet.”. A person should only check in, if they are physically in the venue & patronizing the outlet (please take note, I refering to f & b outlets here).

    The other day, the outlet was empty & I noticed a guy checked into my outlet via Foursquare. He can do that 6 (or 10) times & get rewarded, without dining or drinking (does not matter if he pays or his gf or his friends pays).

    At my outlets, we reward our customer, after 6 (at Laila'a Cafe & Lounge) & after 10 (at Frontera Sol of Mexico) visit. Why should be reward people who never been to our outlet before ? This reward is for repeat customers.

  • http://jomlahmakan.blogspot.com Ramesh Vadiveloo

    Harinder,

    I am not interested in being the mayor of my own venue, just wondering why I was not removed as a mayor (@ Laila's Cafe & Lounge), after I was declared as the owner of the venue.

    Ramesh

  • http://thechannelc.posterous.com Carolyn Chan

    I have misunderstood you then. my bad, thanks for clarifying. your concerns are valid and i've heard this one before from other businesses. anyone could game the system because you could check in to any place without physically being there. as a demonstration, i just checked in to Laila's from home. but notice that i am not showing up as having been there in Laila's foursquare page?

    there are other ways around this to protect your business interest. we can talk more about it when we meet at your swarm party.

  • http://jomlahmakan.blogspot.com Ramesh Vadiveloo

    Carolyn,

    Glad the confusion is cleared.

    BTW, you are recorded as a 'visitor' at Laila's Cafe & Lounge on : http://foursquare.com/venue/2523201 on 7/12 at 2.56am.

    Yeah, I do look forward to see you on 23rd July at Laila's.

    Hv a great week ahead :)

    Ramesh

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