Simply, Foursquare Marketing works via smartphones or SMS. Consumers launch the app from their phones then they check in to a business when they arrive at the business location. Consumers can see if their friends are connected and if they are at the location or nearby. They share, and discover insider tips about the location and earn points. Points are accumulated and badges earned, then used to assign status to the individual. The top point getter is called the "Mayor" and a community is created around the business. The bottom line is that Foursquare drive traffic to the physical business location and branding.

 

The objective of every Foursquare user is to become Mayor of their favorite local business which could be a mall, movie complex, golf courses, restaurants, etc... The more the user goes to a business the higher the chance they could become Mayor.

 It encourages a user to keep coming back to the business. The business owner would want the user/customer to keep coming back. Foursquare is marketing tool that can help you to do this. Businesses can provide rewards to the business Mayors and other frequent customers. The reward could be a discount or a free gift and the best rewards should be to the Mayor. This might encourage competition to frequent the business.

 

 Foursquare can bring significant increase in traffic and potentially in sales to the brick-and-mortal business. Some big media are already working with Foursquare like Wall Street Journal. WSJ is adding links at the bottom of restaurants review. Twitter Places is integrating to Foursquares so that if you click on a Twitter Place you will also see check-ins.

 

You can find out more about Foursquares on www.foursquare.com

 

 

Foursquare is a mobile application that is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide, and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things. Foursquare lets you "check in" to a place when you're there, tell friends where you are, and track the history of where you've been--and who you've been there with. Foursquare challenges you to explore your city in new and fun ways by earning points, winning mayorships, and unlocking badges and specials for trying new places and revisiting old favorites.