As an internet entrepreneur or small business owner, you should always be looking for ways to increase your exposure and capture more business. Knowing what tools to use and the various methods available to you to achieve your ambitious goals will give you a significant advantage over your competitors.
In my last post I mentioned a free service called Foursquare that can be used to effectively promote your business. Many brick and mortar businesses are currently taking advantage of the unique features that Foursquare has to offer to better connect with their customers and provide discounts and promotions. However, it can also be a powerful tool to have in your marketing arsenal if you own an internet business as well!
What Is Foursquare
Foursquare is a free online social networking site which provides microblogging capabilities similar to Twitter only with a unique Geolocation feature attached to your status updates.
They uses geolocation as a way to determine where a particular user is through their mobile phone. It then provides users with a listing of the various businesses that are near their location. They can then select the location of the business or place they are at and "Check In" through a mobile app on their phone. Upon checking into a business, users provide status updates of what they are doing at that location in 140 characters or less. A link to the location is then attached with their status update which can provide a map of where a particular person is.
Users receive awards and badges when they visit a number of locations or successfully accomplish a set milestone. The whole process is similar to a game and it's fun!
Last year a friend of mine used Foursquare to quickly put together a last minute New Years Eve get together at a local bar in only 10 minutes! They managed to pull 20+ people together through the app on their iPhone in a matter of minutes. That is truly powerful!
Here are 5 ways you can use the unique features of Foursquare to create a Rock Star business!
Host A Meet And Greet
If you are a small business looking to connect with and promote your business, products or services to your customers, hosting a meet and greet is a fantastic way to do so!
Simply choose a location ahead of the appointed day you intend to host your meet and greet. Begin notifying your customers of your intent to host the meet and greet and the time of the event. Let them know that you will announce the location through Foursquare and that if they want to attend, they'll need to friend you.
Here is an example of how this would work... Let's say you intend to host a meet and greet at a local Starbucks. Announce the coming meet and greet to your customers, give them to initial start time and tell them the location will be changing every 2 hours and that you'll announce the locations through Foursquare.
You change the location every two hours to make it fun. It also allows you to reach more customers in different areas of your local community.
Meet and Greets can be done in several ways; over coffee, happy hour or even a customer appreciation bar-b-que at a local park. Be creative and think of new and exciting ways to do this.
Reward Your Customers
Foursquare has a unique feature that allows consumers who frequently visit a particular business more often than others to be crowned "Mayor" of that location. Many brick and mortar business show their appreciation to the mayor by giving them discounts on products and services. This works well for you if you have a brick and mortar location your customers can visit.
Internet business can take the customer appreciation to the customer!
Similar to the meet and greet, you announce to your customers that you will be giving away promotional items, discounts and/or products and services to the first 25 who show up at a particular location and say a catch phrase. For my business I might have them say something like "I read Powerofmore.net" or "Social Media is the bomb". As with the meet and greet, change your location every 2 hours and share your new location on Foursquare to make it interesting!
Host A Free Product Demonstration
It doesn't matter if you are a brick and mortar business or an internet business, everyone loves free stuff!
Randomly select at location in your area and announce on Foursquare that you'll be conducting a free consulting session, training or product demonstration.
Create A Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are a great way to get your customers involved as well as network with other businesses that may relate to your own.
Network with local area businesses and plant items that relate to a particular product or service you offer and set up a scavenger hunt. Give customers a time limit to complete each task at each location and instruct them to watch Foursquare for the locations.
Provide rewards for being the first to check in at a location and provide the biggest reward for the customers who complete the most tasks at the given locations and reports to the final location just as you would in a scavenger hunt.
Again, be creative with this, make it fun and provide value as a reward.
Conduct A Giveaway
Similar to the free product demonstration, host a giveaway at various locations.
Tell your customers ahead of schedule that you will be giving away free product/services on a particular day and to watch Foursquare for the location. Let them know you will be giving away something free to the first 20 people who show up and introduce themselves within a time frame you specify.
Again, consider changing locations every 2 hours to make it fun, and to reach more people.
Summarizing
Foursquare is a new and unique service that turns doing business and being a consumer into something fun and exciting. Learn to capitalize on its unique features and use them to the benefit of yourself and your customers.
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