Foursquare + Your Business

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.

As a business owner, you can use foursquare to engage your increasingly mobile customers with foursquare "Specials," which are discounts and prizes you can offer your loyal customers when they check in on foursquare at your venue. Don't forget to show extra love to your venue's Mayor! Additionally, if you offer foursquare Specials to your customers, you will be able to track how your venue is performing over time thanks to our robust set of venue analytics — for free!

If you want to dive right in, get started by claiming your venue right from its foursquare venue page:

Search for your venue to get going!

Okay, now for more detail on our services for business...

Simple tools to create engaging Specials

We've built simple self-service tools to allow you, the business manager, to create different kinds of foursquare Specials, manage multiple Specials and ultimately track how these Specials perform. We think these services will empower you to develop more engaging ongoing relationships with your customers. You'll be surprised how effective a little friendly competition — over the Mayorship, over free fries! — is at driving customers back to your venue.

Use our tools to create a variety of foursquare Specials, customized just for your venue and for your customers:

• Mayor Specials: unlocked only by the Mayor of your venue. Who's the Mayor? It's your single most loyal customer! (the user who has checked in the most in the last 60 days)
  ("Foursquare has deemed you the Mayor? Enjoy a free order of french fries!")
• Check-in Specials: unlocked when a user checks in to your venue a certain number of times.
  ("Foursquare says you've been here 10 times? That's a free drink for you!")
• Frequency-based Specials: are unlocked every X check-ins.
  ("Foursquare users get 20% off any entree every 5th check-in!")
• Wildcard Specials: always unlocked, but your staff has to verify some extra conditions before awarding the Special.
  ("Show us your foursquare Swarm badge and get a free drink!")
• And more to come!

Promoting your Specials in-store

We've seen venues promote their involvement with foursquare via Twitter, signs at cash registers and sidewalk blackboards. Go for it, and be creative! Also, we can help you market your Special to your customers by sending you official foursquare window clings.

Once you claim your venue, you'll be able to add your mailing info to the list, and we'll send some clings to you as soon as we can!

Real-time venue stats

Once you claim your venue on foursquare, you'll be able to check real time stats about your venue, including:

Promoting Specials across the mobile experience

We've woven the Specials platform tightly into all of our official foursquare mobile clients (iPhone, Android and Blackberry) and we actively call attention to venues that offer Specials for foursquares users. For example, if a foursquare user is at your bar/restaurant, we'll tell them what they have to do to unlock a free snack or discounted drink. If they happen to be across the street or two blocks away from your venue, we'll let them know that your business gives special treatment to foursquare users and that they should swing by for a visit.

Search for your venue to get going!

See how other businesses are using foursquare. It's a whole thing!

• Mashable: Foursquare: Why It May Be the Next Twitter
• Ad Age: Building an Army of Hyper-Local, Mobile-Connected Advocates
• Techcrunch: Foursquare Shows The Business Potential Of Location-Based Services
• Charlie O'Donnell: Why Yelp (...and Every Single Retail Establishment) Should Support Foursquare

Take a look at some of our official venue partners below.

• RadioShack (WICHITA, KS)
  Hi from RadioShack! Show this screen to an associate to get 10% off your qualifying purchase. The mayor of this store gets 20% off! Valid thru 9/8/10; some exclusions apply. Ask associate for details.
• FYE (Wichita, KS)
  Show us you’re checked in @ f.y.e. and get 10% off any CD, DVD, Blu-Ray or Video Game. Limit one discounted item per customer per day. FYE employees, use Coupon Code "CKIN"
• Payless (Wichita, Kansas)
  Welcome to Payless! For 1st Time Check-ins: Take $5 off of any $25 purchase now! Show coupon code 38257 to a Payless associate or use on payless.com (valid thru 9/30). Not@Shopko
• Granite City Food & Brewery - East Wichita (Wichita, Kansas)
  One Complimentary Appetizer or Flatbread for the Mayor!
• Art of Life Chiropractic (El Dorado, KS)
  "Free bottle of Biofreeze every 3 months for the mayor"
• Taco Bueno #3155 (Wichita, KS)
  Congratulations! Every time you check in you will receive 1 Cheesecake Chimichanga, FREE with any purchase! Simply show the cashier your mobile screen after checking-in! Use coupon code 300 to redeem.
• Heroes (Wichita, KS)
  1/2 Price 7-inch 2 topping pizza every 3rd check-in! (Limit 1 per person, per visit. Not good with any other offer)
• Aerie (WICHITA, KS)
  Check-in to any Aerie store and unlock a 15% Off discount towards your next merchandise purchase. Expires 8/31/10. Limit one per customer
• Pizza Hut (El Dorado, KS)
  The Mayor of this Pizza Hut receives one free single order of breadsticks per day with the purchase of a large pizza! (For Dine-in and Carry-Out orders placed at the restaurant only)
• Carrabba's Italian Grill (Wichita, KS USA)
  Show that you're the Mayor of Carrabba's and enjoy a complimentary dessert with the purchase of an entrée. Grazie!