Q: What’s the best way to use Foursquare, the social networking site that lets you share your current location in real time with friends and followers?
A: Don’t limit yourself to ‘checking in’ at numerous locations — get your hands dirty sharing tips and details about your favorite places in the local and global community!
Four for Foursquare
One of my buddies just became the mayor of the business he works for and was absolutely giddy about it yesterday. I was stoked to see how excited he was, because it shows how magnetic the social site is.
Foursquare gets it right by essentially auctioning off real estate (‘real’ real estate, not some mystical online land, but the actual places we visit each day) to its most active participants. The opportunity to become mayor of your local coffee shop while simultaneously keeping tabs on the movement of friends stokes our competitive and ‘always on’ nature (well, for hardcore techies anyways). I love the way Foursquare built a usable tool and turns it into sort of a game, and judging by the growing number of people using the service, so do my fellow mayors!
Here’s a few tips for making the most of your foursquare profile:
1. Mayors Rule
Yes, you want to become a mayor. No, it doesn’t make sense to become mayor of every last coffee shop in your city. I recommend choosing a few strategic locations that you frequent and checking in regularly so you can move up the chain and eventually gain mayoral status.
The reason you want to be a mayor is largely psychological. Let’s say most of the people in your sphere of influence have a deep affection for the hypothetical coffee shop we’ve been talking about. The mayor of this shop gets their name on the details page for the shop — I guess you could say they gain Foursquare street cred. So make an effort to reign over at least one location.
2. Master of Your Domain
Publish a blog? Own a business? List it with Foursquare! Some friends of mine were under the impression you couldn’t add new locations, and this is just plain not true. When you search for a spot and it does not appear, you’ll see the option to ‘add location’, and I recommend you do so to represent your brand.
Check out the Social Media Commando profile. Yeah, that’s right, I listed my blog and used my home address (sans house number) because I want to represent on the popular site, and it’s an easy way to gain mayor status (Hint: You damn well better be mayor of your own brand). So what’s the best way to represent as mayor of ‘You, Inc.’? …
3. Tips. Tips. Tips.
You don’t gain points and mayorships by checking in alone. Power users share tips about their own branded spot and the locations they frequent, and here’s a killer reason you should too: When someone else checks in to the place you added a tip on, this tip may be shown to all the other people checking in there!
So let’s say I’m mayor of XYZ coffee. I add the tip, “Order the triple machiato as a small and request a medium cup, it’s a free upgrade. Hit me up at ‘yoursite’ for more ‘my city’ tips.” You now have street cred and the ability to gain some qualified followers thanks to a little sharing and minor self-promotion.
4. Spam at Your Own Risk
Don’t check-in at places you aren’t really at just to gain points. Don’t post fake tips that read like obvious solicitations.
Why?
Because these are your friends and neighbors and, maybe, potential new fans and customers using Foursquare. If your buddies see you check in at the bar they are at, they’ll call you out for faking! Yes, I’ve heard first hand accounts, and it is sad/hilarious.
The reason I warn against bogus tips is that nothing stinks so bad as desperation. It’s cool to gain some inbound leads by providing helpful info, but people are smart enough to spot obviously fake or spammy posts. Don’t try to pull the wool over their eyes or you’ll get called out on this too.
Speaking of call-outs, go work on your own mayorships and tips on Foursquare today!
{ 1 trackback }