Foursquare is a local search and discovery mobile app founded in 2009 that has nearly 45 million users globally. It helps users discover popular nearby restaurants, bars, and other businesses based on their preferences and previous check-ins. Foursquare now generates revenue by charging businesses to be included on their maps and location data, and by selling targeted post-check in advertisements to users. While the app provides marketing benefits like special offers and tracking customer traffic, some risks include annoying users with too many irrelevant ads and requiring the separate app download.

1. Kelsie Greenfield
Heather Fry
11/09/2014
Foursquare Report
About Foursquare
o Founded in March 11, 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai
o As of 2014 there are nearly 45 million users
o Males and females are equally represented; 50% of users are outside the
United States
o Foursquare is a local search and discovery service app which provides a
personalized local search experience for its users
User Benefits
o Foursquare helps you discover the best food, night life, and entertainment
in your surrounding area.
o Foursquare learns your tastes and preferences based off previous check-ins
and runs searches to find similar places
o Get your search results narrowed down to your tastes specifically instead of
generic, mass search results.
Monetization
o Foursquare now charges business a fee to be placed on their location graphs
and maps.
o Foursquare is now providing ads based on relevant check-ins and is selling
post check-in ad units on a ‘cost per action’ basis which is if a user clicks
on the ad for more info or checks-in to that place within 72 hours.
 For example: If you check-in at a restaurant and there is a bath and
body works nearby it might send you a 20% off ad through the app
Marketing Benefits
o Companies can reward loyal customers with loyalty points.
o Companies can use Foursquare to offer their loyal customers special offers
through check-ins
o Users can easily locate you on the Foursquare map
o Easy way to get customer feedback and track the traffic

2. Marketing Risks
o Too many irrelevant ads/coupon offers
o To check-in, users now have to download an additional app which has irritated
some customers; Causing several to refuse to use it
o Foursquare is more about finding something new or close by when traveling and
not so much for building a lasting customer relationship so it might not be worth
the investment