There’s been quite a bit of buzz lately on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter about people competing to be mayor of unlikely places, such as coffee shops and restaurants. If you’ve been wondering what that’s all about–and how you can get customers to create a buzz about your small business, too–then you’ll want to look into Foursquare.


If you’re in business, you need customers. One terrific source of advertising, of course, is word-of-mouth. People love to use services that their friends already know and trust. Another proven method is to offer incentives. People love “freebies.” Foursquare offers businesses an easy way of providing both. Since the service is free and locally focused, Foursquare can help put small businesses on an even playing field with larger companies.

It’s all based on a simple concept. Jane uses the Foursquare application on her mobile device to advertise her geographical location. This is known as “checking in.” For example, “I’m at Joe’s Coffee House on Lexington and Third.” In return, she’ll get recommendations for things she can do, eat, or buy at that location and nearby. Those recommendations will be based on how much Foursquare knows about Jane. The more she uses it, the more targeted the recommendations she will receive.

Foursquare also integrates with other popular social media platforms. When Jane checks in, she might be broadcasting her location to her friends on Facebook and Twitter, too. All of that is done with a few quick clicks on nearly any mobile device.

Businesses can benefit from all of this by offering small incentives for people to visit and to check in at their location. For example, a restaurant might offer a free coffee with purchase of a sandwich to anyone who checks in at a certain time of day, or perhaps to simply award badges (digital achievement awards) to customers who dine with them frequently.

Getting started is easy! Simply visit the Foursquare website (in this case, foursquare.com/business) and sign up for a free account. After that, you’ll create a profile for your business (a “page”), and then begin encouraging your customers to follow you.

Next, you’ll get access to the Merchant Dashboard–an up-to-the minute breakdown of how many people have checked in at your site, when your busiest times are, who your most frequent customers are, and more. Naturally, the more you know about your customers, the more you’ll be able to fine-tune your services to provide them with exactly what they want. And the more you can do that, the more business you’ll attract and keep.

So, basically, Foursquare can help you create word-of-mouth buzz about your business, which can help you attract new customers. It also provides you with oodles of information about who your customers are, and how and when they interact with your business. Since it offers these services for free, isn’t it time you got your small business on the map with a free Foursquare account?