WATConsult's guide to Foursquare for brands and businesses

1. THE WATCONSULT GUIDE TO FOURSQUARE
FOR
BUSINESS & BRANDS

2. Who is checking
in?

3. The President

5. Astronauts are checking in too

6. You can be an explorer too

7. Brands on Foursquare

8. What
is

9. Foursquare is a mobile social networking
tool/game founded in March 2009. It is an
app that uses the GPS in a mobile device to
help users identify their Foursquare “friends”
where they are.

10. Community: Over 15 million people worldwide
Over 1.5 billion check-ins, with millions more every day
Over 750,000 Businesses are using the Merchant Platform

11. Foursquare Glossary
Check In: Telling Foursquare where you are via GPS
or physical address
Mayor: A person who visits a place more than
anyone else
Badges: Think of them as little trophies or rewards
for visiting interesting places
Points: Getting more rewards/ another way to
compete against your friends

12. There are three core user components to Foursquare
1. Check-in: each time a user enters a location, they can use their mobile
devices’ GPS and the Foursquare app to announce their presence at
this location. Users who check into any given location more than
anyone else become the “mayor”
2. Badges: users can earn various badges for check-ins and tasks
completed (see the next page for some examples)
3. Points: Foursquare users can earn a variety of points for their check-ins.
They play against their friends and geographic destinations each week
to see who can earn the most points
Some of the initial marketing efforts on Foursquare involved small local
and mom/pop restaurants and bars that would offer free
drinks, appetizers or discounted food to the “mayor” of their location.
It wasn’t long before bigger brands started to notice the potential of
creating marketing and loyalty programs on Foursquare.

13. OVER 800 MILLION MOBILE USERS IN INDIA
80 MILLION SMARTPHONE USERS
SOURCE: THE HINDU & MSNBC.COM

14. DECODING THE INDIAN YOUTH &
HOW THEY USE
THEIR PHONES!

15. According to a Nielsen-Informate Mobile
Intelligence survey, Indian smartphone user
spends 72% of the time on activities such
as gaming, entertainment, applications (apps)
and internet related content.
Those in the age group of 15-24 years spend
about 3 hours a day on their
smartphones, those in the over 31 year
category spent about two hours.
The younger smartphone users (15-25 years)
spend 2 hours on browsing and
entertainment compared to one hour in the
other category (over 31 years)
Source: AC Neilson

16. $98
Million
in 2009
MARKET GROWTH IN LOCATION
BASED SERVICES
$512
Million
in 2012

17. Why is Foursquare relevant?

18. MOBILE WEB STATISTICS
MOBILE WEB WILL OUTGROW THE WEB IN 5 YEARS
FOURSQUARE ADDS 15K USERS EVERYDAY
FACEBOOK & TWITTER THE TOP 2 SOCIAL NETWORKS
ARE INTEGRATED WITH FOURSQUARE

19. Advantage for a User

20. How does it work?

21. Friend Finder
The premise of Foursquare
is simple:
"Tell Foursquare
where you are and
it will tell you who
and what is nearby.“

22. Social City Guide
• The process of telling
Foursquare where
you are is called
"checking-in"
• When asked to locate
themselves, users are shown
a list of nearby venues
(based on GPS)

23. Users “Check-In” to Places
• To broadcast their location
to their friends
• To update their Twitter +
Facebook status
• To bookmark or remember
where they've been

24. Check-Ins Earn Points
for discovering a new
place
for going out two nights
in a row
for four stops in a night
for bringing six friends
Users compete on a
Leaderboard that
resets weekly

25. • "Mayors" are those who
check-in most often at a
given place
• Mayor ship is triggered
when a user visits more than
2x within 60 days

26. Special Mayor Offers
• These "Mayors" titles are used
by local merchants to reward
locals and regulars
• Offers need to be unique and
interesting to engage
Foursquare users
• A 10% discount is not
compelling enough

27. Foursquare Online

28. Tips
• Get tips from other users
that have been to the
venue
• Users create Twitter-style
recommendations:
"Go here, try this"

29. Tips
• As users check-in at places
around the city, Foursquare
throws these
recommendations back to
the users
Find out what’s hot,
right now!

30. Tips
• Find out what’s hot around
the neighbourhood
• Users share short, quick tips
that are not like Yelp
reviews

31. To-Dos
• Add places to go and
things to do to your list
• Handy for remembering
new restaurants that a
friend told you about
• Earn points when you cross
to-dos off your list

32. Badges
• The more you
explore, the more
you unlock
• Badges are tied to
time, distance and location
• You may unlock one for
staying out past 2am on a
school night or for checking-
in with 3 members of the
opposite sex.

33. Integration
• Foursquare integrates with
Twitter and Facebook
platforms
• Add friends from Gmail,
Twitter, Facebook
(using Facebook Connect)

34. Platforms
• New version of iPhone
App 1.4 released in
Sept. 2009
• Android compatibility
launched in Sept. 2009
• First Blackberry App
to be released early
Oct. 2009

35. Etiquette
• your workplace,
• your home
• restaurants, cafes, hai
r salons
• pubs, bars, nightclubs
• parks, libraries, airpor
ts

36. Who’s Playing Foursquare?
• 21+ American cities
• + Amsterdam
• + Vancouver
Most popular in NYC
where Foursquare
is based.

37. THE BADGES
• Click here to learn more about these badges and many more.

39. Unlock your brand
potential with
Foursquare

40. Of Americans say online reviews influence their purchasing decisions ,
according to a survey by Opinion Research Corporation

42. FOURSQUARE
CAN HELP YOU
BRIDGE THE
ONLINE OFFLINE CONNECT

43. https://foursquare.com/business/

44. Retailers can claim their venue and

45. What type
of special
do you want
to run?

48. Brands can leverage Foursquare by

49. Foursquare brand pages
https://foursquare.com/create_page

50. Branded badges

51. Save to Foursquare

52. Business Benefits of Taking Your Brand on
Foursquare
1. Customers offer you constant word of mouth exposure
2. Opens doors for new kind of promotions to reward loyal
customers
3. Customer behavior is tracked, allowing habits to be identified
and leveraged
4. It connects you to your digital evangelists , people who probably
have a lot of clout in their social circle

53. Approach to Foursquare

54. 1. EVALUATE 2. EXPLORE 3. EXPRESS 4. ENGAGE
Your options to The platform to Express your love Keep your community
Build an effective Build your For loyal customers Continually engaged with
Strategy Unique presence By incentivizing them Your brand

55. Evaluate
For users Foursquare is a game above anything else
Ask any Foursquare user and they’ll tell you about
The stats , the places they are a mayor of and the
Badges they have earned
As a brand make sure you evaluate your strategy and
Its taps into the fun sprit of the game
Ensure you link your Foursquare to Facebook & Twitter

56. Explore
Claim your venue by searching your business name
Among registered venues
If you see your venue listed, click claim to become
The owner
If you don’t see your venue, add it along with images
And details
Foursquare provides a detailed analytical dashboard
For your track the activities at your venue

57. Express
Use Foursquare to create special deals for your users
 Mayor Specials
 Frequency Based Specials
 Check in specials
 Wildcard specials

58. 1.

62. Engage
After you have nailed the basics it is
Important to keep the community
Engaged on a long term basis
Considering featuring Foursquare on
Your corporate website so your visitors
Know that your brand is on Foursquare.

63. Some brands using
Foursquare
Successfully

64. #1 STARBUCKS
Starbucks was one of the first national brands to
recognize the potential in Foursquare. It started in
March when coffee addicts could earn a barista badge
by checking into five separate Starbucks locations.
Read more here.
In May Starbucks implemented a monthlong “mayor”
offer for each location. The “mayor” of each Starbucks
location is entitled to $1 off of any Frappuccino, one
time for the month of June. Learn more here.
Sources: The New York Times and GPSBusinessnews.com

65. #2 DOMINO’S PIZZA
Domino’s UK is running a nationwide Foursquare promotion that rewards
mayors with a small free pizza each Wednesday. Those who merely check in on
Foursquare will receive a free side dish for their patronage should they spend
more than £10 (or around $14.50). Learn more here.
Sources: Mashable.com and wirefresh.com (picture)

66. #3 JIMMY CHOO
Jimmy Choo has teamed up
with Foursquare to create a
treasure hunt around London
(called Catch-a-Choo) which
sees a pair of Jimmy Choo
trainers checkin at locations
across the fashionable city.
Contestants in the online
interactive competition will
need to follow the check-ins
and arrive at the location before
the pair of trainers leaves. If
they succeed they will win a
pair of trainers in the size and
style of their choice. Learn more
here.
Source: misscooca.com

67. #4 ZAGAT
Foursquare and Zagat, the restaurant-guide
publishers, recently announced a partnership.
Foursquare plans to offer a “Foodie” badge that can be
earned by checking into Zagat-rated restaurants in New
York, San Francisco, Chicago and other major cities.
In addition to offering a special badge for Foursquare users, Zagat will begin
piping tips and recommendations into the Foursquare system. Zagat also plans
to run a series of “Meet the Mayor” interviews on its website, featuring
Foursquare users who have checked in enough times at a particular location to
earn the “mayor” title. Learn more here.
Source: The New York Times

68. #5 MARC JACOBS
For Fashion Week 2010, the Marc Jacobs brand
decided to go beyond just digitally streaming their
runway shows. It took the online interactions offline
through Foursquare.
Marc Jacobs and Foursquare created the “Fashion
Victim” badge, which allowed Fashion Week
attendees (and others) to checkin at any Marc by
Marc Jacobs stores in New York and around the
country to unlock the badge. Four people who
unlocked the badge in New York were randomly
chosen to receive tickets to the Marc Jacobs show.
Learn more here.
Source: Mashable.com

69. #6 PENNSYLVANIA TOURISM
The Pennsylvania Tourism Board has launched a
summerlong campaign called “The Fantastic
Roadtrip-a-Matic.” A centerpiece of the effort is a
program with Foursquare that has sprinkled 100 tips
at locations across the state. When Foursquare users
check in at one of the locations, they will see the
pieces of advice.
The tourism board is also offering users three virtual
badges based on their activity. For instance,
Foursquare users who visit three recommended
historical sites earn a “PA 4 Score and 7” badge. The
other two badges are the “PA Shooflyer” for visiting
restaurants and the “PA Retail Polka” for shopping.
Learn more here.
Source: Adweek.com

70. The India Story

71. Foursquare Grabs First Brand
Partnership in India –
Cafe Coffee Day
On your third check-in at CCD (applicable only
for Bangalore), you will get 15% discount. And
if you are the Mayor, CCD will serve you a free
coffee and a 20% discount on every 3rd check-
in.
Aside, Cafe Coffee Day is the first Indian brand
on Foursquare to have their own Brand Page
(http://foursquare.com/CafeCoffeeDay ).
Given that CCD is probably the most visited
‘office space‘ by entrepreneurs (and
Investors), expect a lot of tweeting in the
coming days.

73. To get your brand Talking
Contact
Rajiv Dingra
Rajiv@watconsult.com
9820 761 167
Nipun Kapur
nipun@watconsult.com
9820 700 122
www.watconsult.com
Building No:111-A, Currimjee Building,
Office No-202, 2nd floor,
Behind Mumbai University Bus Stop,
Opp Standard Chartered Bank,
M.G Road, Fort, Mumbai- 400023,