You heard him hear first. If Howard Stern is the king of all media, Facebook has been the king of social networking for the last two years since he dethroned MySpace. But that will change soon!
Foursquare.com for those of you who are not familiar is the “next generation” social networking site. It is a traditional social networking site where you can have friends and share information, but what makes it different is that it is made for mobile devices. The way it works is simple, when you go somewhere: the mall, McDonald’s, the shoe store, the train station, etc., you post that you are there from your phone. You can even post tips about that location.
If you are the first to post, you will be the “Mayor” of that place, but if someone frequents the same place more than you, they can become the “Mayor”. Not only will this let people know what you are doing, it will also let them know your location.
So how can I make such a bold statement that Foursquare will crush Facebook, simple, potential, potential for all businesses big and small?
Foursquare has been around for a while, and many on social media have known about it, but you can never be sure what the next “big thing” will be until you start seeing it in action and gaining momentum.
I’ve recently seen some of my Facebook friends use Foursquare and write it into their Facebook account. These are not your average Facebook users, but rather what many would call power users, but I call them “Power Posters”, always involved and constantly engaged with social media. This is great, because they are the mainstream beta testers, the ones letting us know, will it work? Is it a fad? The answer for Foursquare, yes, it works and it’s more than a fad. I see more people every day jumping on the Foursquare bandwagon.
Let’s go back to how it helps businesses. Well, let’s think about the possibilities and benefits. Imagine that you own a store and one day you can access the fact that someone just posted on Foursquare that they are in your location. You, the store owner, can now search for that person, thank them in person for stopping by your store, and post their location to your friends; you can ask them for his name if you can help. Maybe it’s their 50th visit and Foursquare post, so you give them a 20% discount for being a loyal customer. Maybe they visit so often that they are the “Mayor” and deserve a bigger discount. You can see the demographic data of the customers who buy from your store. You can have an electronic scrolling banner that says, “Hi Scott, thanks for signing up today, ask about our special offer at…”. You can see the patterns of your shoppers and work with other store owners they frequent to cross market. The possibilities are endless.
This is why Foursquare will crush Facebook, not because it’s more social, but because it links business with social media in a natural way. There will be no need for the “Fan Page” anymore, because every time a customer posts their location on Foursquare, it’s free advertising, but be careful and be nice, you MUST treat that customer right, because face to face interaction IS the original. Social networks!
I look forward to your comments and questions.
