You may or may not have heard of a little location-based social networking site called Foursquare.
For those of you who have heard of it, you may also know that it has one of the fastest growing user bases of all the social networks. In fact, though it is still a very new service, it is already closing in on 1 million users!
Moreover, because of it’s sudden rise in popularity and it’s value as an effective local internet marketing platform, Yahoo had offered as much as $125 million to buy Foursquare!
So what the heck does Foursquare do anyway? More to the point, what can I, as a local business owner, get from Foursquare?
As mentioned above, Foursquare is a location-based social networking platform. Thus, unlike sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, Foursquare’s functionality is based solely on your location. As such, the service is primarily used on your mobile phone when you’re out and about.
For instance, users “check-in” at location using text messages or a mobile application. Users are able to connect with their friends and send updates of their location.
The real fun of Foursquare is that you are awarded points for checking in at locations. Users can also earn badges by checking in at certain locations or checking in frequently at a specific location. Moreover, as a user you can create a private To Do list for certain locations or add public Tips that other users can use for a certain location. Tips include things like what to eat at a certain place, what kind of cool things to do at a location, what to be wary of at a spot, etc.
Foursquare is able to effectively encourage more use of the service through the use of badges. For instance, users who have checked into 50 different venues get a badge, users who have been to the same place 3 times in a week get a badge, etc. There’s also a lot of very interesting and even strange badges out there as well. For instance, you get a special badge for finding 3 places with a photobooth, checking into the Apple Store 3 times, etc.
Furthermore, for the individual who checks into a venue more than anyone else, on separate days, they earn the title of “Mayor” of that venue (of course, until somebody else comes along and beats them).
Now what does this seemingly silly social networking service have to do with your local business? Well, as a location-based service it can help directly drive customers to your doors and encourage repeat customers!
Foursquare is amazing for local businesses, in that it is both an increasingly popular social networking service and a location-based platform. It’s as almost as if Foursquare was designed specifically for local businesses! (indeed, it probably was…) Facebook and Twitter aren’t nearly as local-centric as Foursquare is. Indeed, I’d even go as far as saying that Foursquare is one of the few tools that all local businesses should invest at least a little bit of time in as the service specifically targets location-based users.
Check out Foursquare here, and let me know what you think!