If I offered you free, one-of-a-kind yummy piece of chocolate, would you take it? Assuming you didn’t suspect me to be a weirdo with ulterior motives, you would!
What if I said you could have this ridiculously fantastic chocolate free for the rest of your life, as long as you remained my most loyal client? A game of ‘King of the Hill’ commences. You don’t want to lose your title of ‘most loyal client’ and your free chocolate privileges so you come more often. Others want the free chocolate, so they come more often to drag you down from the top. Since I’m selling the chocolate to everyone who does not have the ‘most loyal client’ title, I’m making more money from those that are aspiring to the throne.
This isn’t so figurative when you look at how businesses are using Foursquare.com to encourage increased visits. The ‘most loyal client’ is called the ‘mayor’ and they get this title for having the most ‘check-ins’ at your location within a six month period. To give you the basic background on how it all works, Foursquare is a social network that allows members to check-in at places they go throughout the day. So if I go to your business, I would check in and maybe add a little comment about why I’m there and how cool it all is. I could also share that comment on my Facebook wall or on Twitter, for that matter.
Foursquare has functionality that allows businesses to:
- Offer specials to the mayor, such as the free chocolate scenario.
- Offer check-in specials, for anyone that checks-in at your place.
- Offer frequency based specials, such as a free coffee when you check-in X times.
There is more technicalities to how the member gets these deals, but that is the basic scenario. There is also the ability to offer an open promotion to your business that Foursquare.com calls the ‘wildcard’ special, where you verify something that they must do before you will let them partake. LOADS of room for creativity!
Foursquare.com is the fastest growing network on the block and everyone at linkup is urging you to get going! If you’d like help getting this into your marketing plan, you know who to call!
By the way – I know we said this was a weekly blog, but when you get the bug to write, you just have to let it out! Hopefully this gave you something to work on over the long weekend!
Author Bio: Valorie Reavis
Social Marketer, foodie, closet geekA marketing professional who has focused primarily on the hair and beauty business for of the past decade, Valorie now runs linkup marketing, a digital marketing agency for the hair and beauty professional. Valorie works to engage clients in the marketing process and help them successfully engage with their clients and community. Energetic and passionate about the industry, Valorie focuses on blending traditional and digital media in order to bring salons closer to their clients.
