In all vertical of consumer’s daily life, leading brands have had the upper hand due to an expensive advertising campaign of large companies, and further, globalization has spared no space for local businesses to grow. Even digital marketing is run by this trend. At the end of it, people – due to lack of knowledge – accept the mere existence of leading brands and hence, the local market is neglected.
This cycle has momentarily been broken by Foursquare – a social network site that effectively promotes local businesses and caters to people’s interest. The US based app founded in 2008 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Sevaduria, Foursquare aims at getting the crowd closer to local enterprise of their need. It has customized platforms for customers and merchants. A user can easily have a glimpse of businesses nearby his current location, see reviews, and spend in accordance to his need at the convenient proximity.
As for merchants and advertisers, Foursquare is the growing giant which hosts more that 30 Million users across the globe in 2013 according to Statspotting. With such a massive amount of data, Foursquare has deliberately developed tools to physically connect local setups to customers. On October 14th 2013, Foursquare announced Self Service Ads which allows local third parties to put up advertisements on their claimed businesses; track the data on views, tips and take action.
Foursquare forum is used by 31% of mobile social media users. These people are exposed to local ads based on their location and usage history on Foursquare. This two-way relationship creates a frenzy of foot traffic which the local shops relish, track and pay for only with Foursquare by their side. This social network site literally drives the revenue of 1.5 million local enterprises.
Inclusive of coupons and incentives, Foursquare Ads are worth it due to their relevant spectators and call to action feature. Moreover, their restrictions of location are advantageous for local brands. According to Statspotting report, the usage of Foursquare has been drastically increasing since 2011, so much so to compete with Twitter and Facebook in the near future. With such vast reach, Foursquare Ads are clearly a top up for local brands.