Foursquare Ads are a new kind of advertising made just for local businesses, which Foursquare introduced on October 14, 2013. With this new offer, Foursquares offers to connect local businesses with the people nearby that are most likely to become customers. I see them as a very useful location marketing tool for businesses like restaurants, boutiques or stores and places that want lots of walk-in traffic.
Senior Social Media Manager Caitlin Bergmann from Century 21 department stores, who have already tried Foursquare Ads said: “With Foursquare we are able to track how the ad was doing. Plus, we saw that people physically went into the store. With paid social ads in the past, I thought people saw it. It’s much better to tell a client that this person entered their store.” See more success stories of businesses who have already used Foursquare Ads here.
How Foursquare Ads work?
– Pay for actions. You only pay if someone acts on your ad – either by tapping to see your business details or by checking in at your business.
– Reach people ready to buy. Make sure they visit you, not your competition — 78% of people who search locally on their phone make a purchase. (source: comScore local search usage study, 2013)
– Attract customers that should be yours. Ads are shown to people nearby who are searching for something related or have been to similar places.
How do you create Foursquare Ads?
Creating a Foursquare ad is simple. All you need to do is go to foursquare.com/ads and build your ad – by choosing a great photo of your business and either offering a special or highlighting a great customer tip. Then you set your monthly budget and push your ad live for people nearby to see.
After your ad has gone live, you can monitor how many people have viewed it, how many have tapped on it, and how many actually came into your store. With Foursquare Ads you know what you are paying for – real actions and real customers.
Who will see your Foursquare Ads?
Foursquare Ads targets people based on two criteria: whether a person is near your business, and if they are likely to become a customer. They base their judgment on the likeliness of a person to become a customer based on where they’ve checked in previously (for instance, at similar places in another part of town) or because they’re searching for something related to your business (for instance, ‘pizza’ if you’re a pizza parlor).
Where will your Foursquare Ad appear?
When someone opens Foursquare on their phone, they might see an ad when they search for a specific place to go, or on the first screen if Foursquare knows they frequent similar businesses. They will never show an ad to someone who is already at your business.
Short 36 second video where Foursquare describes how Foursquare ads work.
If you would like to implement Foursquare Ads for your business, and would like help with it, you can contact me by leaving a comment on this blog post, or by sending me an email here.
