foursquare is a fun game and could be a great way to drive customers into Downtown Memphis businesses as well as surrounding areas, while giving us game players some added bonuses, including free food and drinks, discounts, etc. in the spirit of customer loyalty! Some of you have probably never heard of foursquare, so I'll give a short overview of this now 1 year old "social media game" that is getting more and more popular everyday.What is foursquare?
foursquare is a game where you use your mobile phone to check into venues (as well as add venues that don't already exist in the foursquare game). A venue can be a restaurant, a business, a stadium, etc. that you happen to be in at the moment. With a group of friends playing, you can compete for points on the leader board, earning badges your friends have or don't have, compete to be mayor of your favorite restaurant, store, bar, etc.
For instance, I checked into the FedExForum for a Grizzlies game and could see that there were about 20 other people, including 6 friends, one who was mayor of the FedExForum at the time, all checked in and enjoying the game. NOTE: 20 is a fairly large number for a new game like this.
TIPS and TO DOs
When you're near a venue where another foursquare player has left a tip or to do, you can see that show up on your phone as well. I once got a tip to try a particular appetizer at a restaurant I happened to be at anyway and it turned out to be a great call on their part.
Examples:
Tip - Try Beignet Cafe's Smoked BLT, it's delicious!
To Do - While at Calhoun's, put a dollar in the jukebox on a busy night and play Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"; watch the bar sing in unison.
Badges
You earn badges for various things like just signing up, or checking into a gym 10 times, etc. as well as earn "mayorships" for being the person who checked into a venue more than anyone else in a span of 30 days.
Some of my badges so far:
How can this be beneficial to a business? If a business were to offer 1 free appetizer or 1 free drink to the mayor of their business, or offer it on a random day if you have a particular badge shown on your phone, it becomes a way to bring in customers to your business and gain loyalty from the game players.
Privacy issues?
Don't worry, you have control over everything. Only people you add as foursquare friends can see your check-ins, and if you don't want even them to see where you're checking into, you have the option to not share the check-in of a venue with anyone.
Phones supported?
foursquare currently has iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Palm apps as well as a mobile website (though you won't gain the benefit of GPS ease of checking in). More phone apps are being developed, including a Beta of a Windows Mobile app.
Social Networking support
You can, if you choose to, share your check-ins, badge earnings, etc. with Twitter and facebook. Again, you don't have to, it's up to you just how much you want to share.
Where can I sign up?
http://www.foursquare.com
Where can businesses post a foursquare special and what businesses currently offer specials?
http://foursquare.com/businesses/
I truly hope my favorite restaurants and bars start offering specials soon. It will take the game to an entirely new level in Memphis!
Others also want more businesses to adopt foursquare as well:
Memphis needs more foursquare specials
I can think of one 'establishment' that would go broke if they gave a free beer to it's current mayor as I suspect he also gets his mail delivered there.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea as it would make it fun, I have always wanted to be the mayor of Southland Racing park!
Good job on this post! :~) I may share this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Feel free to share away. It's great to be at the front of a potentially game changing new marketing/media experience!
ReplyDeleteU'll like this:
ReplyDeletehttp://snacksquare.com/#TN/memphis/
Foursquare Special Directory.