Foursquare, you probably know failing to use it regularly. Remember Doctrine is a mobile application (primarily) that allows you to geo-location and “check in” to stores. At each “check in” the user collects points and periodically receives badges, a kind of virtual medal that testifies to his (hyper) activity…
In recent months, geolocation applications have been evolving more toward a “TripAdvisor”-style recommendation system, but more common. Thus for each establishment visited, the user is encouraged to leave a comment and/or photos.
For (local) merchants, Foursquare may offer special deductions for those who become the “mayor” of their establishment, in other words to users who frequently point to the location.
For brands, Foursquare makes it possible to create professional pages and lists of points of interest to disseminate some great tips to their “community.” Some brands also receive the right to create personalized badges, for example to reward all customers who “check in” more than 5 in a single point of sale of the brand.
For (small) traders?
For local merchants, investing in Foursquare doesn’t cost anything, all you have to do is geographically locate your establishment and then claim ownership.
Finally, in theory because in practice you have to pay $20 for the simplified process… you can of course do it the normal way but then everything is done by mail (you can use envelopes and stamps). know thing with) and it takes 3 to 4 weeks because everything passes through the United States. Once this phase is over, you can create your famous special reduction for people who come to check-in at your place.
We can immediately think of the value of the deduction offered to a customer who is already at your establishment – so he is already in the process of purchasing – and about which you know little or nothing ( Large consumer or passing customer?) Second comment , the merchant does not receive any information about his customers … Foursquare does not allow him to create mailing lists or send direct messages such as “tweets”. Likewise, it is not possible, for example, to identify customers who no longer (or less frequently) come but who remain in the vicinity.
For local businesses, Foursquare therefore offers fairly limited interest and above all there are other options (Yelp and Desmoio to name just two) that are more flexible and more “CRM” oriented.
For (big) brands?
For a brand, Foursquare may be of interest if one is already involved in a content marketing strategy. Brands can actually list a certain number of locations (for example their points of sale, but not only) and provide value-added content at these locations.
For example, a brand operating in sports shoes may identify different stadiums, physical routes or sports complexes and provide some description and advice for each. An interesting approach but one that does not allow us to collect a lot of information about potential customers.
The possibility of making specific badges (such as the Harry Potter badge) is an interesting marketing weapon, but unfortunately the conditions and creation time are so long and restrictive that they discourage most initiatives. For example, I tried to make a badge for anyone located in 3 different stores of a major brand of chocolate. After 6 weeks with no reply, we were finally sacked by Foursquare, which recognized that the operation was not of sufficiently significant international character… (The brand in question is present in Europe, Asia and the Middle East… But not in the United States).
Conclusion
Personally, having been an avid user of this application, I am skipping it more and more. Because other than the possibility of announcing to the world (via Twitter) that we “gooey” while having lunch on the roof of such a large restaurant… it must be admitted that interest is pretty limited.
As a marketing consultant, I recommend small businesses go for alternatives like Yelp, DismooU, or even Google Places for Business (also known as Google Local) that are either more complete or more accessible. are sustainable and who also benefit from better SEO.
For larger brands, the Foursquare presence may still be of interest, but on condition that it is integrated into a much larger strategy that is capable of covering multiple content across different platforms to reach as many people as possible. .
Are you using Foursquare? Personally or Professionally? Your opinion interests me!
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