Tech Tip Tuesday | Using Foursquare to Market Your Listings

If you have 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 about and complete the sign up 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 type of incentive you would like including coupons, freebies, etc.. Your next step is adding your listings through a similar process.

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 is 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!

Tech Tip Tuesday | Using Foursquare to Market Your Listings was written by Rebekah Radice.