If you build it, they will check-in

Location based apps are growing more and more popular among those who use social media. The specific apps we’re going to look at today are those that are check-in apps. Foursquare and GoWalla are the two best check-in apps out there. In this post we’ll walk through the basics of each one in order to help you decide how you can start using these services to benefit your business.

First up we’ll look at Foursquare. This particular app has grown and developed rapidly just over the past few months. The people at Foursquare are making connections with businesses and finding ways that businesses can use it’s app to connect with their customers. What draws people to Foursquare is the coveted mayorship. You can attain this high office by being the person who has checked in at a venue the most times. You can earn points for checking in at different places and for heavy users the points leader board may be something they watch, but this is not as important as being recognized as the mayor of a venue. There’s a since of pride and excitement that comes when you find out that you’ve become the mayor. Foursquare does a good job of letting you know when you’ve lost that mayorship, too. You get an email and if your Facebook and Twitter are connected to your account you even find out that you got that boot there, too. You might as well have been publicly shamed, and you now have a motivation to go back to that venue and take back your rightful place on the throne.

As the owner of a business that’s on Foursquare, you can claim your business and use the online business portal to give out specials, coupons, and/or discounts through the app. You can set these specials to be given out to the mayor and in different variations to other customers depending on number of check-ins and/or special conditions. To find out more details and how you can get started, visit Foursquare’s business page.  You can also download graphics to put on your storefront to promote the fact that you are a Foursquare friendly business.

Now let’s look at GoWalla. Outside of the SXSW music/tech/arts festival in Austin, TX (where the app was created), there really hasn’t been much interaction between GoWalla and businesses like Foursquare has created. However, there are still some uses for this app when it comes to businesses. On GoWalla users can create trips, which include any number of venues. In order to earn the trophy for completing a trip, one has to check-in to each one of the venues within the trip. If you are fortunate enough to make it into a trip that could mean some good exposure for you. Businesses that are unique or in a more touristy destination would probably be more likely to be featured in a trip. GoWalla also has a game side to it. The more you check in, you pick up different virtual items that you can keep in your vault or drop at another location for other users to find. GoWalla has also added a leader board that functions as a less exciting version of the Foursquare mayorship. The way companies (particularly cell phone providers) used these seemingly “just for fun” features is buy working with GoWalla to create a digital item that someone receives that can be traded in for a physical version of the item.

Which of these apps you should work toward engaging your customers through very much depends on what type of business you are, where you’re located, and which app(s) your customers or potential customers use. The thing that distinguishes “marketing” your business through these types of apps from traditional marketing is that these apps sole purpose for existing is to create the desire to go, travel, explore, and discover. Connect that with the ability to offer specials to people who use these apps and other forms of social media who are likely to talk to their friends about an great new place they’ve discovered or a unique experience they’ve had because they simply checked in at a venue.

Some tips that I would suggest when it comes to engaging your customers through location based apps.

• The first would be to make sure that your employees or yourself do not check in at your location. It is perfectly fine and beneficial to create your location because you can include a few sentences about what your business is or it’s history. However, you want your customers to be able to attain the mayorship or the top of the leader board position, and with you checking in every day, they’ll never be able to do that.
• You should also offer leader positions with something of value (especially if they are the mayor or are visiting you for the first time). Do something more than just give them 10% off. Do something unexpected that wows them. Give them something at a significant discount or even free. The experience you create and the buzz that follows because of that one time occurrence will pay for itself.
• Another good idea to consider is to try to personalize your offer(s). Social media is supposed to connect us online AND in person. Get to know the person who becomes the mayor or the top of the leader board of your venue. Find out what they like about your store or business and offer them something of value on their favorite product. Starbucks was one of the first companies to offer their customers something for being the mayor of one of their stores on Foursquare. What a huge win! However, they are or will be losing because they’ve had the same offer available to their mayor for the past few months that’s the same at each location. Learn a couple lessons from Starbucks: change your offers regularly and customize them!

Even if you have the best offers or specials through these apps, you can still lose if other businesses around you aren’t participating. People may grow tired of seeing the offers from the same person over and over even if they’re different every time. Go out and encourage the businesses around you or in your part of town to get involved in these things with you. When you check in to places on Foursquare, you can view the specials of the venue you’ve checked in to and the specials of the venues nearby. The more offers there are from different places, the more exciting it will be for customers to visit your area and your store. This may also be a needed technique if these apps aren’t’ popular in your area. It’s better to try to give people tons of reasons to use these apps than just one. So what are you waiting for? If you build it, they will check in.