Chances are you’ve heard of location-based smart phone applications like Foursquare, Yelp, GoWalla, and MyTown, etc. Even if you don’t use a smart phone, know that your visitors are.
Haven’t heard of it? Foursquare is a smart phone application that defines itself as:
Foursquare aims to encourage people to explore their neighborhoods and then reward people for doing so. We do this by combining our friend-finder and social city guide elements with game mechanics – our users earn points, win mayorships and unlock badges for trying new places and revisiting old favorites.
Why would a CVB care about a location app? Consider this:
Provided that Foursquare has the city programmed in (most of the U.S. is now covered), tourists can locate information about the area they are visiting – right when they’re ready to go. They can check Nearby Tips for information on various businesses (like a map and proximity) as well as tips left by other Foursquare users. The Tips tab for each venue is open to all Foursquare users, meaning, anyone can look. The more popular the business, the likelihood of more tips. The Tips feature is where a Visitor Center and CVB can come into play.
Check in and check them out
By simply “checking in” to as many of your members’ establishments as possible, not only do you build your clout as an expert Fourquare participant, you provide an added value to your members by providing qualified tips to their venues. Visitors to your city probably cruised by your website for official information about the area, and a nod from you about any of the establishments they’d like to visit might be seen as a seal of approval.
Does this mean you should check in and write a tip to every member’s business? No, not all members are going to be appropriate for this activity. But the standard fare of restaurants, hotels, and attractions, should provide a great base of check in-worthy venues.
As a member-based organization, you might refrain from becoming a “mayor” of any one business, lest you be portrayed as playing favorites. Besides, you want your visitors to engage in the fun of mayorship and badge accumulation.
Find out what visitors really think
The nice thing about Foursquare for the tourism and hospitality industry, is as it becomes more popular, there will be more content from people who actually visit your city, along with tips from locals. As a CVB or Visitor Center, you can tap into Foursquare to read how people really feel about your members and the area in general.
Due to its gaming nature, and competitive aspect of collecting assorted badges and “mayor” status, Foursquare users seem be religious about leaving tips on the venues they patronize.
Here’s some of the Tips from Foursquare players here in Burlington, Vermont:
- August First Bakery: Try the Hungarian sweet roll or visit each Friday evening for Flatbread Fridays!
- Courtyard Burlington Harbor Hotel: Hit the bar, look for Frank, he can haz brain teasers
- Wings over Burlington: Get the combos for the best value. Hangar 2 should feed between 3-5 people
- Church Street Marketplace: Read the signs about dog access on Church Street. They are written in English and dog.
How you can actively participate with your visitors
If you have a Visitor Center, or a number of them, you might offer a special token or freebie for Foursquare users visiting your city or attending a convention. For instance put a little tweet out (Foursquare users are very likely already active on Twitter) about how the next check-in at your kiosk will receive a couple of passes to something or other you have laying around from one of your members. A little piece of swag goes a long way in the service industry. After all, your Visitor Center benefits from traffic, and wants to be helpful, not to mention hip. Your members will appreciate the shout out, as well.
Read Foursquare’s tips for venues >>
Mobile Travel Guide of the future?
Media companies like Canada’s free daily newspaper, Metro News, are forming partnerships with Foursquare, with the goal of forging the app into “a travel guide book that highlights useful articles and unlocks the best a neighborhood has to offer,” according to Jennifer Van Grove (@jbruin) at Mashable.com
How you and your members can benefit from Foursquare
Not sure how to get started, or get the most out of location apps? Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan), President of New Marketing Labs, recently posted a short but informative article for American Express’ OPEN Forum. Chris elaborates on the importance of jumping into the mobile app world and embracing the social tools many of them feature. In short, the article covers:
- GET a smart phone, already
- Creating good content to be more easily found online
- The importance of listening for feedback
- Generating buzz by having contests for your mobile audience
Read the full OPEN Forum article here >>
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