If you've wondered what Foursquare is or why you would use it in your business, you’re not alone.
Many Real Estate agents I talk to haven’t even set up a personal account, let alone given it a second look when it comes to marketing their business.
What they’re missing is the key component behind Foursquare’s marketing power. As a Real Estate agent, Foursquare is another FREE social network that allows you to market your services and your listings.
If you’re not familiar with Foursquare, it’s a location-based social network that allows users to "check in" at their favorite stores, restaurants, coffee shops or any venue they visit. You will choose your location from a list provided via GPS and then share that with friends and those you’ve chosen to connect with. The real power for real estate agents is the ability to offer easy access to your listings, track prospective clients' wants and needs, and offer incentives to gain new customers.
Set Up Your FREE Foursquare Account
Your first step is signing up for your personal account. If you haven’t set up your FREE Foursquare Account, it’s easy!
- Follow the link and complete the signup information, or you can simplify your sign-up by signing up through Facebook.
- Once your account is set up, click on "Settings" and complete your profile. Your privacy settings are always an important part of any social network setup, so make sure you have set them appropriately.
- Next are your notifications. When do you want to be notified by Foursquare? You can set notifications based on friend check-ins, friend requests, and many others.
- Connect your social networks to share information immediately with Facebook Friends and Twitter followers.
Setting Up Your Listings or Business on Foursquare
Join over 500,000 businesses on Foursquare for Business. Click “Venue Owners” to learn more about Foursquare’s merchant platform. Once you are here, click on "Claiming Your Venue." Now search to make sure your venue name doesn't already exist. If it doesn't exist, click "Add a new venue to Foursquare" near the bottom of the page.
Now that your venue is active, you can offer any incentive you would like including coupons, freebies, etc.. There's also a Foursquare for agents, so you can introduce them to this wonderful service as well.
To add your listings, the following steps must be followed:
- Click on "Claim" to claim the venue or new listing – Your “venue” is the property address of your listing.
- Click on "Continue claiming this venue."
- Click on "Yes, I am authorized, and I agree to the Venue Terms of Use."
- Click on "Continue with claim."
- Click on the correct answer for the description of the property: e.g., "One of a kind with one location."
- Click on "Yes" (I can answer the phone) or "No, let's try a different way." This is a means of confirming that you have authorization to the specific venue.
- If you choose "No," then you can ask the site to email you an authorization code. Directions will then be given for obtaining the code via email.
- Then you will be asked to verify your claim with a six-character code. Once it's verified, you will receive a "Welcome" message, including instructions on how to begin your campaign.
Congrats on your setup! You are now ready to use Foursquare for Business!
About Rebekah Radice
Rebekah Radice, co-founder of BRIL.LA, has traded narcissism for purpose. When not driving growth, you'll find her tricking family into thinking she's Emeril Lagasse - likely covered in marinara. The spotlight was fun, but impact is better. These days she's using 20+ years of brand brilliance for good.