Word of Mouth Marketing Foursquare
Word of mouth marketing Foursquare – style: what do you know about it? If history serves as any kind of guide (well, recent history, that is), what’s going on at SXSW is what will be going on for the rest of the media community for the rest of the year, and what will be going on the mainstream world next year- and that will be Foursquare.
SXSW is divided into a few different festivals. There is the interactive festival where all of the computer and social media geeks go to hang out and virtually high five each other. My people- cheers! And then there is the music festival, where everyone who will be cool 6 months from now is hanging out. Foursquare, a little startup out of New York City with a hipster-fetish name and a layout that essentially turns your everyday life into a game, is blending the two. And for word of mouth marketing folks, it’s something that will change the game.
Foursquare is like Twitter focused on places. You “check-in” at different locations around your city- you get points, win merit badges, and compete against your “friends” while Foursquare keeps the stats. It’s fun and addictive. Businesses can put location-specific ads on Foursquare with special deals. Pretty cool and ideal word of mouth marketing material.
SPIN magazine is teaming up with Foursquare to create a musical scavenger hunt at SXSW. It will catch on- it’s already on Mashable, so everyone will be looking forward to it. And if you win you get free tickets to the SPIN music showcase at Stubb’s, which is awesome. They created custom SPIN badges that are part of a complex scavenger hunt that rewards you for checking in at various music venues.
I agree with Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove that: “SPIN’s Foursquare badge challenge is quite remarkable. From our perspective we see this partnership as a sign that Foursquare’s service transcends the techset, appeals to mainstream audiences, and can apply to any vertical.”
Foursquare signed on with Bravo TV to do custom badges and match the Foursquare experience up with Bravo TV series stars. Now they are teaming up with one of the top music venues. First the hip crowd, next year the stay-at-homes. Imagine competing by checking in at the supermarket, the dry cleaner and the Day Care… you get the idea. Watch out, mainstream America, Foursquare is coming to a word of mouth marketing campaign near you.
- Scott James
