Fishburn Hedges

07.06.2010

I love Foursquare.  People find this irritating.  “Who cares where you are?” they cry,  in exactly the same way they used to say “who cares what you think?” whenever Twitter was mentioned.  

Well pishtosh.  Foursquare is big and it’s going to get bigger. All Foursquare does is allow you to check in where you are, and tell your friends.  It’s another social tool that rewards you with badges and mayoralties if you check in more than a few times. Reviews are also posted by the enthusiastic Foursquare members. It’s a very positive, life affirming little tool.

A few months ago I was mayor of some shamelessly swanky venues I’d only ever visited a couple of times.  Joe Allen, Hix Soho, Christophers.  I was there – Mayor Redfern, benignly nodding to the other non-Foursquare enabled underlings.

Not so now.  I’ve been ousted as Mayor pretty quickly, because Foursquare is going mainstream and getting popular.  At least… it is amongst punters.  But oddly enough not with the restaurants, bars and venues themselves. 

Have a look at the Foursquare page for Hix – an amazing restaurant in Brewer Street. Look at the positive accolades on there from very happy customers.  The clientele are doing the venue’s marketing.

But the restaurant itself isn’t getting involved in the conversation.  And this is so often the case.  Foursquare makes it easy for restauranteurs to talk to their audience. You sign up, it’s free to do, and from there you can offer freebies, or just talk to people who check in regularly (Bea's of Bloomsbury are a good example of how to do it).  Word of mouth is the new advertising – so why are venues being so slow to pick up on an easy PR opportunity?

Posted by Simon Redfern