Here is the follow up post from last week (as promised) from Miss Kim Cory Fitness, Kim Cory, and what more you can do with Foursquare at your community.

Now let’s talk about all those other hot spots at your community like the pool or fitness center.  We currently offer the “Flash Special” which are limited time offers where you can set a date and time frame of the special.  How I have used the flash special successfully is at our resident happy hours.  We have happy hours each Thursday night from 5-7 pm and the first 10 people to check in on Thursdays between these times receives a special drink.  Or at the fitness center we reward for good health.  After you check in 10 times during a two week period you receive a $10 gift card to iTunes for more music on your fitness playlist.  The ideas are endless, but be creative, have fun, and don’t make your residents have to work too hard for it!  The goal and key thing to remember when using Foursquare specials are  to make them intriguing and worthwhile, or, trust me, others will not take notice to tell others about it.

How do you validate a check in? Pretty simple just have them show you on your phone or if you have the app installed on your phone you can verify all the people who are currently at your venue at any given time…kinda like playing Big Brother!

Besides the specials, there are also some new features that I feel make using Foursquare an added marketing strategy.  Some of them are:

• A new “explore” button, which replaces the current “tips” section, recommends businesses to users based on their check-in history, or on what their friends like.
• A new search function allows users to type in keywords such as “patio dining” or “romantic dinner” to get ideas for where to go.
• Notifications through the app when friends comment on your check in and even new friend request.
• Hopefully soon the importing of Groupon specials!

Finally, going beyond specials and features there is also a section for tips where your customers can leave nuggets of information like “best happy hours”, “great place to live”, “caring team” and just about anything, so be prepared for the positive and the negative.

Lastly, once you begin to explore on Foursquare and have claimed your venues, take the time to really dive into the manager’s tools.  There are some great analysis and trends provided as well as how many times your specials have been viewed, opened, and redeemed.  For those who have been using Foursquare (or those of you who are looking to start), I would love to hear your ideas and feedback beyond what I have provided.  Let’s keep the game going…no pun intended.