Ideas for using Foursquare.com

I’m a user and fan of Foursquare.com more for the potential I see than for anything specific they appear to be doing right this second. 

DTIG Dos

• I do like the basic idea of letting a select circle of friends know where I am — in case they’re in the area and would like to meet-up.
• I do like to check and see where my friends are, if I am out-and-about and if they are close-by I don’t want to miss an opportunity to say “hi.” 
• I do find myself using Foursquare.com as a way to find out about new places my friends find appealing. If I notice that Cheryl has visited Dirty Franks a few times, it serves as a reminder that I keep meaning to try it out. If Tim is at Cup O Joe’s, I might be prompted to trade-up from my planned run to Starbucks.

DTIG Don’ts

• I don’t accept every friend request.
• I don’t normally accept friend requests from other states or countries that I do not visit, no matter how good of a friend the request may come from. The information about they’re location won’t enable me to either join them at the location or serve as an idea of a place to visit anytime in the near future.
• I don’t typically send any of my own check-ins to Facebook or Twitter, unless I am actively seeking to promote the purpose I am visiting the location or publishing a call-out for friends to join me. Most don’t really care that I’m having a pint at the Claddagh Pub (and if a few of them do, they can always check on my by using Foursquare’s “find your friends” feature.)

Ideas for Foursquare.com
I know the coupons are coming. I smelled it a mile away and expected it from day-one.  Rather than waiting for Foursquare to charge them to advertise, I am baffled why more businesses are not encouraging users to promote their stops at their establishment via this popular social media tool/game (show us your check-in status and give us a shout-out to save $5 on your sale) and why aren’t they rewarding the people who’ve become “Mayor” of their location?

Personally, I’d hang the picture of every person who’s ever become Mayor of my location at the register and treat them with extra-special care. If I were a restaurant I’d create a “Mayor’s table” reserved just for her and her friends, If I were a pub I’d have a bar stool with an engraved brass plate that says “Mayors Only,” if I were a dry-cleaner I’d assign a Mayor’s discount and give them a fistful of certificates allowing “Friends of the Mayor” to get a free garment cleaned.  If the Mayor walks into my business with a few of his friends, they all get a complimentary service (appetizer, coffee, bagel, whatever) simply because they are a big shot fan, user, influencer. 

If the Mayor of the city walked in, you’d treat him special right? Why wouldn’t the Mayor of your business get even better treatment?

A sort of “devious” idea I’d really love to see a business try, is to steal away customers from a competitor while they are literally in the competition’s store getting ready to buy something.  For instance…  If I am a local coffee shop and I think more people should visit my store than visit the Starbucks down the block, I’d attempt to friend any person on Foursquare who’s checked-in at that specific location. Anytime I received an alert that these friends were visiting the Starbucks in my hood, I’d send a Shout-Out saying “I can save you a lot on that latte! If you’ll tell Starbucks to “buck-off” stroll down to MY coffee shop instead, I’ll take a buck-off your order.“

How do YOU use Foursquare.com?
What other ideas can you come up with for marketing businesses via the Foursquare.com utility? Post them in the comments!