Hi @dianebianchi

I’ve not used Foursquare for my own personal business but have helped various clients in retail, travel and hospitality related industries develop Foursquare marketing strategies.  Foursquare can be a lot of fun especially when working with reward programs.  Several clients I’ve worked with had loyalty programs that we integrated with Foursquare that worked out amazingly.  If you have any questions on specifics in getting started shoot me a message.

@dcoville001 thank you very much for posting your article. 

Glad to help!  @dianebianchi

Thank you @deairby, @dianebianchi and @samanthagentile.- it is a win/win situation for both the users of smartphones who can “check-in” and “recommend” local establishments to boost local sales and recognition of the businesses – and often reap the benefits of the reward programs –  as well as for the businesses who build their presence in local areas and are able to reward repeat customers and acknowledge customers recommendations and reviews.

One further note – some businesses are afraid to join Foursquare, Yelp (another localized social network) and others because they are concerned about what happens if they get a negative review.  You could ask Joe Sorge about that – he coined the phrase, “Customer Service at the point of experience” which basically means dealing with Reputation Management immediately if there is a complaint or bad review.

As a customer and business owner who believes firmly in great customer service, not only would I appreciate a business who took the time to repair my bad customer experience but I would want to be aware of any negative reputation about my Company so I could address it immediately.

I love 4SQ for personal use and use for my clients. I love mobile marketing, obviously, I know. I think it is a great way to reward people for talking about your business to their networks. Among users of Facebook and Twitter, I think of each person as a celebrity within their networks and we all know celebrity endorsements are great. It is also extremely easy to share when the application is right on their cell phones. No one is going anywhere without their phone. I like when I am Checking In at retail space in a city area and a tip from a friend shows up to try Restaurant X nearby. It makes it that much more likely to try that location. 

Interesting thread. I personally think the potential for Foursquare is enormous, but retailers are quite slow taking advantage of it. And, it’s mainly in the US for now, so not necessarily catching on worldwide.

You may want to check out the infographic for important milestones in 2011, plus Jeff Bullas’ view on it: Is Foursquare a Waste of Time?

Cheers,

I love 4Sq and have been using it since the start.  You can choose to engage on the platform and use the robust tools that they offer you.  OR you can choose to listen and watch what others are doing.  What you can’t do is ignore it.  I have a post on my site ( http://www.lynchinsights.com/post/18380293339/why-brands-must-be-aware-of-social-networks ) that highlights what can happen if you ignore.