There’s a flurry of activity around Foursquare everywhere you look. It seems a certain sect in Columbus has instead decided to adopt Gowalla and is pushing hard. Yet, each week, I see new names on the top of the list for Foursquare. You might have even heard of PleaseRobMe.com, a website dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers behind location-based gaming. I’ll have a few opinions on that next week.
For now, my focus is going to stay on how you can use Foursquare to your advantage. Make your own choice on the platform you adopt and how you keep you and yours safe from would-be robbers. Cool?
Leveraging Your Mayor
Columbus blogger and OSU student, Forrest Kobayashi, has some interesting perspectives on the aspect of Mayorship in Foursquare. He sees the Mayor feature as a potential problem. In one sense, I can see his point. Offering benefits to mayors could potentially create problems if people begin falsifying their check-ins. On the flip side of the debate, you at least have to be a regular patron at a business in order to be crowned the Mayor. Cheating will only get you so far, and if you check in and never show up, you never really reap any rewards for your patronage.
Businesses tend to like loyal customers, right? Being the Mayor of any location simply means you are a regular. By the way, it’s important to remember that MOST location Mayors live or work within close proximity to the location they rule. Often times, they may even work there. Aside from those two scenarios, I’ll argue that Mayors tend to be your most brand loyal customers. It’s up to you to find ways to leverage them.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Learn who your Mayors are. The Mayorship of your business will most likely change hands between the same 3-4 people over time. Know all of them by name and face. And if they don’t know each other, introduce them.
- Take the time to connect with your Mayors across other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If they blog, read it and maybe even drop a comment, on occasion.
- Invite your Mayor to meet with you in person. Buy them lunch or coffee, and take the time to have a real-life conversation.
- Ask your Mayors why they choose to come to your business so much. Learn why they buy from you and ask how you can improve.
- Offer to give your Mayor a tab.
- On occasion, comp your Mayor’s purchase. Even a free coffee is an exchange of social capital, and as the Mayor of your business, they already spend plenty of dough in your location.
- Offer your Mayor buy-one-get-one-free coupons and ask them to bring their friends to your location.
- Find out when your Mayor has a birthday or anniversary or any special event. Then, offer to throw them a party and have them invite their friends.
- Most Mayors are power Foursquare users and will hold other Mayorships. Find out where. Maybe there is an opportunity to use your Mayors to connect with another complimentary business and create a promotion. (This is one aspect where Gowalla is edging Foursquare through the Trips feature.)
- Make your Mayors experience a VIP one. Do they have a favorite place to sit? Reserve it for them. Know their typical order and the times they come. Have things ready for them. Go the extra mile to appreciate their business.
Your Mayors are important because they are some of your most loyal customers. They are also obviously centers of online influence in that they have tendencies to adopt and use social web technology. These same types of people are also epicenters of word-of-mouth marketing. That means they will naturally tell their social circles – online and offline – about their favorite brand experiences. As we learned in Trust Agents, these folks are the “Agent Zeros”. In most cases, they are naturally persuasive and have expanded networks of friends and connections.
Think about that last paragraph for a moment. If customer service is the new marketing (and I firmly believe it is), then who are the customers that will help you spread your brand messages across the marketplace?
Who among your customers displays “Agent Zero” qualities? What are you doing to embrace them? Are they already the Foursquare Mayor at your business? If not, could you help encourage them to become Mayor?
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