How can Geo-Location Services Help Your Business?

This guest post is by Joe Cheray. To read more of her tips and asides and to find out more about Joe visit her at *Wildheart’s Web 2.0* Joe Cheray is a blogger from Topeka Kansas. She also specializes in other aspects of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, and StumbleUpon to name a few.

There are four geo location services or apps I use on my phone. They are:

– Foursquare
– Gowalla
– Whirll
– Yelp

Each one has its own use and purpose as well as distinguished badges of honor so to speak.

For this guest post I will expand on Foursquare.

Foursquare – An Introduction

Foursquare allows you to see where you friends have checked in and when. You
can also leave short comments about the place, or what you are doing there.
You can see what places are nearby and also mark your favorite spots.
Additionally you can leave tips and see what your friends’ tips are. The to
do function lets you make a to do list of places you want to check in to.
Your personal tab lets you see how many mayorships you have, badges, and how
many tips you have left as well as how many check-ins and friends you
have. Currently I have 7 badges: Newbie, Adventurer, Explorer, Superstar,
Local, Swarm and You’re not in Kansas Anymore.

About the Badges

The newbie is the first badge you get for your first check in. Adventurer is
10 check ins, Explorer=25, Superstar=50, Local is checking in at the same
place 3x’s in one week, Swarm=50 people checking in at the same location.
And well, You’re not in Kansas anymore is self explanatory. There are several
other badges you can get but since I haven’t achieved them I don’t want to
give away what the requirements are.

Foursquare and Your Business

Now how can this help business. Ok let me tell you how. If you become Mayor
of a place for example(this is achieved by checking in at the same place
multiple times and is a number predetermined by Foursquare) you are entitled
to some incentive such as free bread sticks at Pizza Hut. If Pizza Hut
promotes this heavily they will have people flocking to their place to be
mayor just to get a free order of bread sticks. Subway here in Topeka ran a
promo awhile back that if you checked in you got a free cookie of your
choice. Lots of folks must have taken advantage of that one because there
were hardly any chocolate chip cookies at the one I went to. Hooters also
has had a check in special where they gave folks who checked in an order of
wings for free.

Foursquare can prove to be an additional incentive for business building
plus it is just fun. It can also provide a unique way to think outside the
traditional marketing box.

Now it’s your turn

How do you use Foursquare either as a consumer or as a business? Do you have any questions about Foursquare? Share your thoughts in the comments section!