The feature — which rolls out to businesses over the next week — lets participating business owners send updates about their business to their “best customers” when they’re nearby. Updates can be any combination of text, up to three photos and a special, and will be seen in version 5.2 of the app, which is available now. Although Groupon and LivingSocial both offer ways to blast deals to mobile users nearby, Foursquare’s latest update lets merchants add non-deal updates, like “Warm cookies fresh out of the oven available now!” that don’t have an offer attached, much like a tweet or Facebook status.
Two points of clarification on updates:
“Customers nearby” is anyone within a small radius, which is determined by Foursquare’s reading of GPS data. Based on experience, Foursquare has learned that “nearby” might be one mile in a dense city, but it could be up to 10 miles in more rural areas, where people have cars. Therefore, updates will target “nearby” users accordingly.
“Best customers” are determined by combination of how often they check in, how recently they’ve checked in and whether they’ve liked the venue on Foursquare. These users voted with their feet (and thumbs) to show their interest in your business, and they would probably enjoy getting updates from you, especially if there’s a special involved.
“Users want to get communication from the businesses they care about in a way that’s really local and really visual,” says Noah Weiss, Foursquare‘s product lead on monetization (but don’t fret, the feature is free …for now). Much like Foursquare specials, local updates actually came out of requests from users to be able to know more about the businesses they frequent.
Until now, Foursquare was a pretty low-maintenance platform for merchants. You could claim your venues and set up specials, and then the platform takes it from there, rewarding your customers as they unlock specials and badges. All merchants had to do was educate their staff about Foursquare and what was being offered through the app. Now, the platform is still low maintenance, but Foursquare’s local updates make it far more dynamic, using location and social intelligence to target the most ideal customers. While Facebook and Twitter let you geotarget as well, Foursquare lets you do it on a much more granular level.
The updates don’t come through as push notifications; they go in the stream, alongside tips, likes and checkins, making the Foursquare experience much richer and unobtrusive. Businesses can use updates to send a blast about a new shipment of product, a new menu item or to notify customers nearby about a special or event. If your business is slow on Mondays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., you can blast an update (perhaps with a flash special) with a few photos, instead of passively waiting for customers to come to you. Multiple photos can be swiped like a slideshow within the stream, and specials will show in-line, making the display very visual and aesthetically pleasing. By taking initiative, businesses can use Foursquare to get customers in the door and boost their bottom line. In an future iteration, we’re hoping to be able to schedule updates in advance.
For businesses with multiple locations, local updates offer store-specific targeting (choose one or any combination of venues) and cross-marketing. So if someone who frequents your New York shop happens to be near your Chicago shop, your updates will appear in his feed when he’s nearby (so long as the update applies to that shop).
Local updates don’t mark the only Foursquare news on Wednesday. Bing announced Foursquare integration into its search results, just one more step in Bing’s efforts to own social search.
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Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/18/foursquare-local-updates-merchants/
Foursquare Rolls Out Local Updates for Merchants
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