This article is also posted over on my Twitter for Restaurants blog »
This past Friday, April 16 presented an opportunity for Foursquare enthusiasts to join their counterparts across the U.S. in celebrating National Foursquare Day. Locally, big cities and even smaller communities (like here in Burlington, VT) were able to organize resident Foursquare players and businesses to rally around this ‘holiday’.
For business, it meant offering discounts or nominal freebies. For folks with smart phones like iPhones, Blackberries and Droids, it meant logging into the application and checking in to these establishments to get deals and accumulate badges – a fun and frivolous aspect of the app. The app itself even created a special Nat’l Foursquare Day badge to commemorate the activity for that day.
How Foursquare Day came about in Burlington
48 hours from concept to launch, another 48 from launch to BIG DAY.
Monday: T minus 4 days
A random tweet from Manchester, NH landed in my stream touting an upcoming National Foursquare Day extravaganza that Friday. Huh? Foursquare’s barely one year old. A national celebration? Apparently so, and boy Manchester had it going on with 48+ venues signed up on a special Facebook page.
With no chatter about anything locally, Twitter or otherwise, I thought “How difficult (or crazy) would it be to put something together for Burlington?” I sent a Facebook email to Matt Sullivan, who posted a nice how-to article on his Inbound Strategy blog for getting the most out of Manchester’s Foursquare Day activities. He granted me access to his information, which I tweaked for the Burlington market.
Tuesday: T minus 3 days
After creating a Facebook Fan page for the event, I touched base with Rich Nadworny of Digalicious, to garner a final blessing that this might actually take off, and verification that I was not so off my rocker for trying to make it happen. He indulged me, and even offered to make a few connections with a local newspaper and bigger businesses that might want to participate.
I left our meeting and went home to create a business information page for quick reference and guidelines.
Wednesday: T minus 2 days
I hit the bricks early looking for local businesses that were already socially active with Twitter and Facebook, and even a couple that weren’t. The idea was met with either enthusiasm or a blank stare. It seems folks who are aware of Foursquare are already active in social networks, were open to the idea and excited to participate. I signed up a handful, and put out a number of tweets for local biz to contact me if they’d like to get on board with the last-minute promotion. With eight solid commitments on board, it was time to make the Facebook page public and start getting the word out to Burlington on Twitter.
Thursday: T minus 1 day
The response on Twitter and Facebook (100+ Fans before the day ended) was quickly picked up and passed around. Five more businesses answered the call and were added to the Facebook Venues tab, likely after seeing the variety of shops, restos and bars and the deals they had offered up. It was all over the board: discounts, 2-for-1s, charitable donations per check in, free loot. There was something appealing for just about everyone. Anticipation and momentum grew and Twitter was still talking about it late into the evening.
FRIDAY: lift off
The big day started off with a nice little article in the Burlington Free Press, and participating businesses getting a jump on Foursquare Day-related tweets. Twitter was alive with the designated hashtag #btv4sq and folks were starting to check in to their favorite places – whether those businesses were participating in our fun or not.
Magic Hat already had a planned product release party at one of the participating venues, and it was clear to some of the Foursquare power users that this event might be our one attempt to acquire the coveted “Swarm” badge. That badge requires 50 check ins at the same venue at the same time. By the time I left, the count was falling from a high of 19. Regardless, my fellow check ins and I had a blast. Thanks to The Scuffer, Michael Hayes and Magic Hat!
In the end, I had patronized all but 3 of the venus (dead car battery meant I was limited to downtown in the rain), and collected 4 new Foursquare badges.
What were people talking about?
Check out this link for most tweets about Burlington Foursquare Day. We quickly adopted #btv4sq as the official hash tag for the event. There were also many tweets with just our usual Burlington hash tag (#btv) which helped spread the word throughout the local Twitter community.
How a few participating businesses fared
August First donated $4 to the local community non-profit King Street Center for every check in, and matched the pot for a total of $200 in donations.
Reported: “Overall, it brought a lighthearted, fun spirit to the day. The playfulness of Foursquare really came through! It was great to see so many familiar faces, and to introduce newcomers to Foursquare. We’ll definitely make this an annual event!”
Small Dog Electronics offered a free SDE pint glass + a coupon for 25% off any chill pill audio product or bundle.
Reported: “25 check ins on Friday & gave away 32 gift bags (few people didn’t use/get 4square but heard about free swag.) VERY fun event, would repeat!” 3 coupons were redeemed on the spot.
Handy’s Lunch offered a discount on a particular menu item. Handy’s tweeted often about their Mayor rivalries and pics of the packed lunch counter.
Reported: More than 40 check ins plus a packed house all during lunch.
Measuring Insights
Post Quality for 4/14 Post Quality for 4/15 » Post Quality for 4/16 » |
I should disclose that this endeavor was purely for fun, with no agenda, sponsorship, or investment other than my time and a few connections. That said, a quick peek at the Facebook data is interesting for such a flash-in-the-pan project.
The Facebook page was stacking up with last minute deals from new comers, news articles and blog posts about the day, commentary and ‘likes’ to assorted posts. This activity resulted in an enormous spike in what Facebook calls Insights.
I’m still finding it difficult to nail down exactly what a ‘good’ Post Quality number should be, but drilling down into the graph, Facebook Insights can provide a wealth of information on how well (or not) you are engaging your fans, and how much they are participating in your Fan page.
Mari Smith has a great article on Facebook engagement
analytics over the Social Media Examiner blog »
Facebook Insights snapshot 4/14 Larger View |
Facebook Insights snapshot 4/15 Larger View |
Facebook Insights snapshot 4/16 Larger View |
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Other posts about Foursquare for business
Foursquare for Restaurants and Bars
Foursquare for Tourism
