What is Foursquare?

In a nutshell, it’s a location-based social media platform that allows your friends to ‘check-in’ at various locations and tell you where they are.

Why Foursquare for Your Business?

Visibility.  Major visibility.  When someone ‘checks-in’ at your business online using the Foursquare app, all of their friends on various social networks are alerted to where they are.  Where they are is at YOUR place of business.  So what does that do? Puts your business name in front of hundreds of potential customers who perhaps never heard of your business.

The alert shows up on their Facebook wall or Twitter page as “Jane Doe just checked in at Eat and Greet Cafe in Green City”

You can promote specials on Foursquare and also reward repeat ‘check-ins’ at your place of business through Foursquare. In that sense, think of Foursquare as your virtual customer loyalty rewards program.

There is a lot more fun to Foursquare from a consumer standpoint, but for businesses, that’s the gist of it…in a nutshell.

Getting Started with Foursquare

Read these directions FIRST

1) If you want to add your business to Foursquare and start promoting yourself online for FREE, it’s best to be at your place of business when doing so…you’ll see why in a minute

2) Go to www.Foursquare.com

3) Click ‘Join Now’ on the right

4) Go through the application process–use your personal name, email address, etc (this is just a log-in for you so you can eventually access your account)

5) Once you have created your account and are logged in, do a search for your business name

6) When it comes up, click  where it says ‘do you manage this place, click here’  ***(If your business doesn’t show up in a search, scroll all the way to the bottom and click ‘add new venue to foursquare’ then proceed with directions)

7) this will allow you to become the ‘manager’ of this place. To verify that you actually are allowed to manage this page on Foursquare, the application will ask to call the place of business and an automated system will give you a code to type in (this is why its best to join while you are at the actual place of business)

Your business is on Foursquare now tell the world!  Share the news on Facebook and with your mailing list.  Hang a sign in your window that says ‘Check in on Foursquare here!’ (Fourquare will make these signs for you for free)

9) Create check-in rewards…for every 5 check-ins you get a free XXXX or a gift certificate for $xx.xx…encourage your customers to come back regularly

10) Create specials on Foursquare

HAVE FUN!

An astounding 95% of US consumers use email and 73% of consumers have set up a Facebook profile.  So it’s not surprising that one of the most popular methods or marketing to today’s consumer is online.  Many businesses are eager to join the Facebook revolution and create Facebook fan pages or gather up customer emails and press the ‘send’ button in a frenzy.  But untrained business owners  just shooting from the hip when it comes to updating their Facebook fan page or sending out E-blasts could actually be doing their business more harm than good.

An insightful study called ‘The Social Media Breakup’ released from ExactTarget (www.ExactTarget.com) gives more detail on how consumers are ‘breaking up’ with businesses through social media.

Here are some important figures from the study:

* 91% of consumers have unsubscribed from opt-in marketing e-mails.

* 77% of consumers report being more cautious about providing their e-mail address to companies versus last year.

* 81% of consumers have either “unliked” or removed a company’s posts from their Facebook News Feed.

* 71% of consumers report being more selective about “liking” a company on Facebook than they were last year.

* 51% of consumers expect that a “like” will result in marketing communications from brands, while 40% do not believe it should result in marketing communications.

* 41% of consumers have “unfollowed” a company on Twitter.

Email Marketing Breakups- You’re Coming on Too Strong

With 91% of consumers saying that they have unsubscribed at some point from email marketing that they had previously opted-in to, it’s important for businesses to understand why.  An opt-in email list does not give us carte-blanche to blast daily messages to a list.  When asked why, consumers said the #1 reason they opted out of receiving emails from a company they once were interested in was because the company sent too many emails.

Overuse of the email channel is the biggest reason SUBSCRIBERS pull away. 54% of consumers say they unsubscribe when emails come too frequently from a particular brand.

Photo courtesy of ExactTarget.com

Facebook Friends….Or Not?

How effective is your Facebook marketing? You’ll be surprised to know that most consumers (51%) say that after ‘liking’ a business fan page, they never visit that page to check for updates, sales, etc.  According to the ExactTarget study, “More than half of consumers (55%) have “liked” a brand, only to decide later that they no longer want to see posts from that brand. Of that group, only 57% bother to formally “unlike” the company. The rest either ignore unwanted posts or delete the posts from their newsfeed. So more than half the time, the company receives no direct feedback about the consumer’s desire to stop seeing their posts.”

So, makes you wonder….who is hearing your message…if anyone?

Can we be friends on Facebook?

Photo courtesy of ExactTarget.com

Social Media Marketing–Show You Care

In conclusion, the most important aspect for businesses to remember about marketing to consumers, whether through Email, Facebook, Twitter or anything else, is to care about their customers.  Businesses must show that they actually care about their consumers and not just market mass messages to them. Here are a few tips to making the most of your marketing campaigns:

• Follow Through: Don’t create a Facebook page if you don’t have time to respond to people who leave questions or comments.  Show you care by responding to inquiries from your fans promptly.
• Engage: You don’t just have to talk about the new $100 jeans that just arrived at your boutique or the latest scarves on your shelves. Your ‘fans’ have other related interests like ‘fashion’ in general.  Give tips and ideas for great fashion looks instead of just trying to sell your products. Engage your fans to learn more by coming to your page.
• Don’t be too self promotional: This relates to engaging your fans.  Fans expect some level of self promotion, but they don’t want it forced in front of their faces 24/7.  Talk about more than just yourself and your business.
• Show restraint: Especially with email marketing.  Don’t send more than 2 emails per month and make them relevant and different.  With respects to your Facebook fan page, I usually recommend 1-2 updates per week and NO MORE.

For help with your social media marketing, give us a call at 732-757-7944 or refer to our contact page to get more information.

Businesses have fan pages, people have profile pages. There are differences between the two. Creating a Facebook fan page for your business is similar to creating a mini resume for your business online, only the resume is much more interactive and exciting.  Imagine being able to get important messages about products, sales or services to hundreds of people who have specifically shown an interest in your business.  You might be thinking that you can just send an Eblast, and you can.  Email marketing is still popular and effective, but you are up against spam filters and those who don’t check their emails for days on end.  Most people who connect with you on Facebook check their Facebook account daily, sometimes several times a day.  So you truly have a captive, live audience at your fingertips.

Facebook For Businesses

Do it right the first time.  Let TCR Marketing create a Facebook fan page for your business and help you acquire fans and make your page engaging and memorable.  We can also update your Facebook page you as often as you like with posts, photos and videos.

Here are examples of Facebook pages we have created and/or maintain for our clients.

McCann Systems

Isabelle Grace Jewelry

Ultimate Fitness Training Center

Ferraro Spine and Rehabilitation

Citroen Import Services

Monmouth County Restaurant Specials

UniversityoftheGreen.org is 100% non-profit and is the only social networking site dedicated to promoting awareness, education, and action on global environmental issues both on and off-line. 

The objective of the site is to incorporate a social networking platform which provides education and awareness about global environmental issues and brings people together who are passionate about promoting a green lifestyle.  Similar to popular social networking sites, members have the ability to communicate back and forth to each other.  By sharing photos, comments and postings, members can discuss current environmental issues, going green initiatives, and tips for living an eco-friendly lifestyle.   Members can also recruit ‘roommates’, similar to Facebook’s popular ‘group’ application. 

UniversityoftheGreen.org has distinct ‘academic inspired’ features and a creative design.  For instance, instead of creating profiles, users create and personalize their own ‘dorm rooms’ to identify themselves.  Consumers can visit the ‘classroom’ for a lesson in global warming and climate change. 

Founder and creator Shawna Schenk started exploring global warming many years ago and began encouraging her students to follow more eco-friendly lifestyles.  According to Shawna, “University of the Green is the University of the World.  It’s not just for college students; it’s for anyone who wants to be a student of the earth.  We need to understand what our world is going through, only then can we make it better.”

UniversityoftheGreen.org will be promoting eco-friendly actions online and on ground through events and fundraisers which will bring environmental awareness to communities.   Shawna adds, “Simple lifestyle changes like purchasing energy efficient light bulbs can help make a difference.  I want to show people how one small change can be significant if you multiply that change by the amount of people in the world.”

To learn more about going green, visit http://www.universityofthegreen.org