Guest post by Heidi Thorne

I have just become mayor… well, of my local Starbucks (and 12 other venues). No, I didn’t start a coffeehouse coup or anything like that. What I did was join the mobile game called Foursquare. It is the future of marketing and rewards programs. Warning: Stay with me here. Some of this will sound a little kooky.

What is Foursquare? It is a mobile smartphone app in which users can “check in” at locations near them to gain points and bragging rights (“badges”) for visiting the most places and/or most times. No interaction with the retail or other venue is required to check in since the app is GPS-location based. Your smartphone searches for your current location and only when you are within the physical range of the venue can you check in and gain points. (There are some who are hacking that system for fun and Foursquare supremacy. But I’ve not see too much of it.)

Those players who frequent a venue more than anyone else who plays Foursquare at that location attain the title of “mayor” which may entitle them to freebies or discounts. The goal is to obtain as many mayor titles as possible, especially by ousting the location’s standing mayor and stealing the title.

Foursquare also allows you have “friends” whose locations are visible to you as they check in to various venues. You can also tweet your location on Twitter and post it on Facebook. Then your social media friends will also know where you are.

Okay, your friends and social network will know where you are or have been and may have some ego deflation when you become mayor of yet another location. So what? Let’s see why its potential is so huge.

Free Social Network Advertising for the Location – If my location at a restaurant or other venue gets tweeted on Twitter or posted on Facebook, a link to the location’s contact info on Foursquare is included. That information is broadcast to the user’s entire social network. As well, users can add their commentary to the tweet or post. Imagine if the user said something nice about the place. Think others might be interested in checking it out because of the positive review? Oh, I think so. Make sure you encourage people to use Foursquare at your location with signage near entrances and counters.

Easy and Cheap Customer Rewards Program – Rewards programs can often be costly to market and administer. Why not tell your customers that you’ll offer some discount or freebie when they become the mayor of your venue? All the customer would have to do is show the server, cashier, or other customer service representative the cell phone with the mayorship confirmation message. You can work with Foursquare to develop other specials for certain number of check-ins or purchases of particular products or services.

Trend Watching and Market Research – Watch for target client prospects in your Twitter timeline and Facebook news feed that are active on Foursquare. You may find places and activities that are of interest to them, helping you to get inside their heads and hearts… and into their budgets! Are they frequenting restaurants with a particular cuisine? Do they go to health clubs regularly? How about favorite shopping malls? These are all clues of ways to connect, as well as good indicators of what emotional appeals would work in your advertising and marketing.

Conversation Starter – Several conversations on Twitter and Facebook have been started just by watching the Foursquare tweets or posts and then commenting on them. For example, I go to Starbucks a lot (as evidenced by being the mayor at two locations currently). Other Starbucks fans have connected with me because of it. And since I choose to delegate the major cooking in my house to professionals (trust me, it’s better that way), I frequent a lot of other restaurants, too. It’s fun to see how my network reacts to various check-ins. “I love their chocolate cake!” or “Can you bring me one, too?” Fun, but useful as well since I now know more that person.
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Heidi Thorne helps event and tradeshow professionals and associations “Keep Your Brand in the Hand of Your Customers” with carefully selected promotional products and marketing strategies, including social media. Her “Promo With Purpose” concept evaluates marketing objectives, image, and values in selecting the best way to build a brand, business, and community. Visit her blog at http://www.PromoWithPurposeToday.com and follow her on Twitter at @heidithorne.

Bonus coverage: Here’s Heidi’s VIDEO about Foursquare:


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