Using FourSquare in your (property) business ....

[nick tadd]

I have a confession to make.

I've become rather addicted to FourSquare  lately.

FourSquare is a recent addition to a number of social sites that facilitate "life streaming", or, as I like to call it, "lifestyle web impressions".



Wiki describes it as thus: "Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and game. Users "check-in" at venues using text messaging or a device specific application.  They are then awarded points and sometimes "badges."

However, having played around with FourSquare I see it as much more than just a game. It has the potential to become a serious business tool.

Mark Krynsky, in his recent LifeStream blog, shared this important insight:

"The act of performing a "checkin" is an important gesture that is a universal action that will we be applied to many services over the next few years. Location is a piece of data that when applied to other objects has become a very valuable way to add context and other functionality to a piece of media.

By providing location data to photographs we added great value to that media. We can now visit sites like Google Maps and Flickr and other services that use location as a data point to search and view photos. The act of the checkin now ads the gesture of saying "I'm here" paired up with location and time. This will also offer a similar valuable piece of context across many platforms in the future".



Vanessa and I have already seen a business application for FourSquare with regards to our holiday lets.

We've tagged them on FourSquare so that they will be visible to anyone who "checks in" to the area. FourSquare allows you to comment on the location (or share a tip) and I have therefore added a brief description to the tag, describing the cottage, number it sleeps, and phone number to call to book it etc.

I will also encourage our guests to write testimonials on FourSquare, which can be viewed by anyone in the area.

FourSquare shows you everyone who has been in the area, and you can connect with them via Twitter and FaceBook (if they have shared that data). This is a free and quick way to connect with people who have visited, and therefore have an interest in the location. A targeted database that you can leverage and use to make some powerful and relevant connections.

Thinking laterally with a generic example:

If you are a restaurant owner, you can see who has visited your restaurant and connect with them via Twitter/Facebook (if the customer has shared this information on their profile). Foursquare can tell you how many times a customer has been to your venue or the frequency of their visits. Many venues are now using this data to reward their most loyal customers with freebies or discounts and drive more traffic to their business.



If a Foursquare user is at your bar/restaurant, FS offer a JV programme allowing you tell them what they have to do to unlock a free snack or discounted drink. If they happen to be across the street or two blocks away from your venue, FS will let them know that your business gives special treatment to foursquare users and that they should swing by for a visit, again driving more traffic to your business.

FourSquare are currently developing some analytic tools to help businesses get the most out of the application.

Property-related examples:

If you are an interior designer, how about writing a short appraisal on FourSquare of the interior design of the premises you visit? The business owner may well see it, but so will everyone else in the area. A simple way to get visibility for the service you provide.

Or you may be a lettings agent.  How about having visibility in the localised web "High Street" where people are constantly checking in and may need your service?

As a customer yourself, every time you check-in or create a FourSquare comment/tip, you can tweet this out on Twitter and FB, thereby providing easy content generation to keep your feeds active and share your experience of that venue/business. Another "lifestyle web impression" that is as individual as you are.

I see so many opportunities with this tool in the property industry. It's a global site with highly localised relevance.

It's all about leaving a "lifestyle" imprint on the web that will give you enhanced visibility and facilitate deeper insights and greater context to what you (and/or your business) are all about. It's another way of making easy and targeted connections. It's another way to leverage those all-important user generated media impressions.

Your customers will generate your social media for you. You and/or your business can generate more lifestyle imprints to enhance your own visibility.

It will tell your customers what they want to know, when they want to know it, sometimes it might even be so targetted, that it tells them before they even realise they want to know it!

A bit like you didn't know you wanted a Versace tie until you came across it while searching for something else on E-Bay!

99% of your competitors are not even aware of this capability ... yet.

Do you see opportunity here?

I do. I see this site becoming the user-generated "Yellow Pages" of the social web.

Having the right knowledge at the right time determines how successfully you play the business game.

Might this be another way of leveraging FREE web tools to build a highly successful business by pre-empting your customers' needs, without resorting to pushy sales techniques or needing a large marketing budget?

Certainly seems that way to me.

I hope you have found this blog thought-provoking?

These are the kind of insights we share and discuss at our Surrey Social Media Tribes networking events.

None of us is as smart as all of us ... so come and join us at THIS month's event.

Date: Thursday, 15th April 2010

Venue: Club Suite, The Holiday Inn, Egerton Road, Guildford.

Time: 18.30 to 21.30.

Parking: Ample and free

This month's subject: How to use free web tools and new highly sophisticated software to "listen" on the social web.

Price: £10.00 in advance or £15.00 on the door on the night.

Please click >>> here to register and pay....

And don't forget to check-in to "Surrey Social Media Tribes" via FourSquare when you arrive!

However, if you have already seen the light with regards to social media and you're ready to get going with it, then check out my "How to implement a social media strategy for your business" training day, taking place near Milton Keynes on the 17th April. There are a few places left on this ground-breaking course and your first customer generated by social media engagement will pay back the £149.00 including VAT course fee.

We are so confident in the quality and value of our training that we happily offer a 100% money back guarantee that your course fee will be refunded in full if you do not feel it was value for money or that social media is not for you. So you have no risk and nothing whatsoever to lose ... but everything to gain.

Please click >>> here for full details.

[James Dearsley]

Really useful Nick, thanks for this. I have known about FS for a while now but haven't really looked into it in any great detail.....

Sadly I cannot be with you on the 15th as I am sure that would be a good session.

Hope all well with you and Vanessa.

James

[Ahmwaah Charles]

John Corey 'introduced' me to foursquare about a month ago. I used it once or twice, but to be honest I just can't be bothered to use it. When I arrive at a place my first thought is most definitely not 'check in with foursquare'. It seems tedious and a bit pointless. However, I’ve only used it as a 'social tool'.

See you at the event.

Ahm

[nick tadd]

Thanks James.

Ahm, many people felt that way about Twitter when it first started, and now look how that has developed!

There are many business uses for FourSquare, but you have to think laterally how to leverage the visibility it can afford you. It is a social tool with business possibilities - just like most networking sites. Business has always been social so nothing new there.

Within the next few years, I believe it will become second nature for people to "check-in" ... so don't underestimate the power of understanding "location" apps! The "local" web is a force to be reckoned with in just the same way as the global web IMHO.

[Marcus]

When I first learned about FourSquare I thought it would be good for loyalty reward type uses, as Nick says. Imagine walking into Costa Coffee and instead of getting your card stamped the staff automatically provide you with your reward, and without prompting.

On the negative, I am still not comfortable with the security/privacy side of all things tracking and will give it a miss for now.

[Ollie Cornes (Juicy Property)]

The issue with systems like Foursquare is that the more we add to our lifestream, the more risk people will unfollow us. I used FS for quite a while to check into places, and I got complaints from people saying they don't care that I'm having lunch in Wagamama. This reflects a wider issue with Twitter and Facebook where it's easy to add someone to your list (follow/friend) but there's limited granularity to remove some stuff they talk about. As an example one guy I follow talks about Reading a lot and marks his posts with #rdg - I look forward to Twitter clients letting me specify that I AM NOT INTERESTED in posts containing specific tags (#rdg) or specific text ("cheryl cole", "big brother" etc).

Social networking also doesn't handle too well people who have different interests. I'm a property guy, I'm also a technology guy. It's a shame I have to use different account (@juicyproperty and @ollie72 on twitter) but neither twitter nor facebook elegantly provide another method.

Location-based social networking is going to be hugely useful, but I've yet to be convinced it's FS that will win - Google Buzz has very nice location features, and Twitter is making progress that way too (in that it supports location-based tweets, but not check-ins). But whoever "wins" it's all good for us as consumers as it makes it much easier to have geo-focused conversations, and get feedback on businesses we're considering using.

Nick, what will you do if someone decides to post a made-up negative review on Foursquare?

Ollie
www.juicy-property.co.uk
www.twitter.com/juicyproperty
Online property management system

[Vanessa]

Hi Ollie,

You can uncheck the boxes that post your check-ins to FB and Twitter etc, otherwise, yes, I agree, it does become annoying. I only post my checkins if I think they are interesting/relevant.

Funnily enough, I had an email today from somebody who was just leaving the Dorset area who saw that I had checked in to our house in Dorset. He emailed me to say he would have liked to meet up if the timing had been better! So that begs the question, how do you know if someone's check in is relevant to you or not? I think we just have to be open to randomness and let it take us where it will.

If someone posts a false negative review on your business, then hopefully the good reviews will out-number it. It would be hard to "skew" something like that if a large numbers are using it. Same as anything on the web I guess.

[John Corey]

I thought we were trying to keep SM discussions over on the Social Media Tribe site rather than commingling here. Does it matter to anyone?

I posted a reply there before discovering the thread here. Follow the link to see the discussion there.

http://socialmediatribes.co.uk/blog.php?user=nicktadd&blogentry...

John Corey
Follow me on Twitter-> www.twitter.com/john_corey
www.ChelseaPrivateEquity.com/blog

[Vanessa]

John, this is a slightly different post tailored to using FS with property.

[John Corey]

Good point.

When is SM not SM? :)

When the focus is on the main business and SM is nothing but a tool or in a supporting role? Like screening tenants involves conversations but we do not spend a lot of time on how to speak as much as how to screen.

As I said on the other forum, I think the ideas Nick is implementing are rather creative or 'lateral'.

With new ideas it is hard to predict where they will really lead. Best to get out there and observe what happens when you try the ideas in the actual market. Measure the results, keep what works, tweak or improve the rest and ditch the duds. Expect lots of duds so keep the tests low cost. Measure, measure, measure.

My take on what Thomas Edison would advocate.

John Corey
Follow me on Twitter-> www.twitter.com/john_corey
www.ChelseaPrivateEquity.com/blog

Vanessa said:

John, this is a slightly different post tailored to using FS with property.

[Vanessa]

Interesting blog from the Social Media Examiner. Why FourSquare drives business:

"For the first time in history, the Internet is focusing in on local business in a major way. And Foursquare is leading the trend.

Instead of competing in a “global marketplace,” local business owners now have access to geotagging, local search, and location-based services. All of which make the Internet more useful to small business than it has ever been before.

Imagine being a hotel owner with several rooms available at 8 o’clock one evening. You know there are a couple of big events happening in town and people are going to be looking for rooms to “sleep it off.” Because of location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla, you can now advertise a special for those rooms to people who are close enough to take advantage of it."

Think laterally how this can be applied in any property related business.

[John Corey]

Good idea re: hotel. Similar to any merchant that has a time based product or service. Airplanes that have empty seats are not very profitable so they try to fill them up at the last minute.

Location aware advertising is a big plus for the consumer when done well. How a merchant deal with it so that they are not training the consumer to always wait for the last minute is to be seen.

John Corey
Follow me on Twitter-> www.twitter.com/john_corey
www.ChelseaPrivateEquity.com/blog

[Adrian Standing]

I can see the relevance of FourSquare if your business involves instant buying decisions e.g buying a coffee or having a pizza. But if you run a property rental business, your customer needs to view the property, make an application, undergo credit checks and sign a legal document. Its not a quick process and definitely not an instant buying decision.

You can't really give them a loyalty bonus as they probably will only ever rent one property from you. It might work with holiday lets where their is repeat business.

I have experimented on Twitter sending out tweets on properties available to rent. I've had zero interest unfortunately. Yet when I use RightMove, SpareRoom, Gumtree and upad I get loads of enquiries.

Most of my customers are aged 22-35 and none of them use Twitter or Facebook or indeed FourSquare to find a property. They go straight to specific web sites to find what they want because they already know what they are looking for in terms of location, type of property, price etc. They can specify their requirements precisely and therefore won't waste time viewing properties on the web which don't meet their criteria.

Adrian Standing
www.juniperproperty.com