A getting started guide for car dealers on foursquare
When I first heard about foursquare it did not strike me much and looking back I think it was because there was already a sense familiarity about it.
It’s not the name foursqaure but rather what foursquare brings to the playing field – a way for consumers to express their interest in local businesses by sharing daily lives.
See, facebook has limitations when it comes to marketing your business. Facebook was not built to serve as a business marketing tool. It was meant to be a place for young people to connect. Only as these folks became working professionals in the business world did facebook evolve to serve the needs of businesses and individuals. The underlying architecture is flawed from the get-go as a business marketing tool, and so businesses are forced to work around that.
foursquare on the other hand sprouted from a different seed. It is based on the readiness and handiness of the Internet, mobile technology, consumer interests, and business possibilities. With foursquare, consumers can choose to give your business credibility by sharing their association with your business. And unlike in facebook where the business can manage its persona, on foursquare, businesses have no weight. The popularity and interests of its patrons do.
So for car dealers, where does foursquare fit it? Well, try this for starts…
- Go to foursquare.com and create a profile for yourself. This takes about 5 minutes.
- Then do a search for your dealership. If you can not locate your dealership on foursquare then add it as a new venue.
- Now, each time you go to work (at that dealership), check in. By checking in, you are taking the first steps towards becoming Mayor of your dealership, unless of course someone else at your dealership has already begin doing this. (No worry. If you can’t become Mayor there are other awards available.)
- Remember to “check in” each time you go to work at the dealership.
- Now, in your dealings with people, be it on your blog, on Twitter, on facebook, wherever, let the people you know see that you are on foursquare. Do everything you can to get people checking in to your dealership on foursquare. This can be done by including a link to your foursquare account in your email signature, displaying it online, in your phone conversations, etc. Probably the most important place to do this is in a text message you send customers. Point is, advertise the fact that you use foursquare.
Here is what you can expect. The Internet-savvy prospects and customers you come in to contact with will connect with you on foursquare, Twitter, and on facebook. All three of these will come in handy through time on Google Search. More importantly, if you engage with these folks via Twitter you can establish a more useful communication with them than you can on facebook. But on facebook you can have a more entertaining and multi media experience with these folks.
On foursquare, you can help them earn savings and incentives by getting them to check in, create to-do lists such getting their vehicle serviced, and adding tips such as, “Talk to Davey Jones he will take care of you”.
Unless you are on foursquare, facebook, and Twitter now it will be difficult to see the value in these simple yet essential acts. But as you learn to embrace these communication tools you will find that cultivating and driving leads onto your desktop is truly attainable even with such new technologies as these.
Ryan,
This is a good first step for dealers to begin experimenting with FS; the true power comes after creating initial awareness and gaining acceptance.
I’m the mayor of our NY store, but I also created a venue page for our service department. It’s still early, but that’s the key – getting in an setting things up now. The promotion – free oil change for the Mayor of our service dept. – has been created, now I’m sharing that promotion via other online channels (like you mentioned above)
The To-Do & Tips are where the value comes from – notice the promotion on my To-Do list: http://foursquare.com/user/emiltsch
Because the check-in’s are GPS/proximity based, a tip left at a nearby location where you’re the Mayor can tell others checking in about your dealership…
Another scenario where we’re fortunate to have exposure is at our new Mall Store. I’m the Mayor of Eastview Mall, http://foursquare.com/venue/432155 – lots of people checking in, many within my network as well. People checking in at Eastview Mall receive a message telling them to stop by our Mall store to register for our monthly contest. (Here;s the Mall store venue: http://foursquare.com/venue/530674)
Lastly, here’s where it gets interesting from a competitive nature. What’s stopping you from becoming the Mayor at another dealership & leaving a tip which mentions your store? I’ve mentioned this once before – describing it to the electronic version of your display ad showing up next to another dealer’s display ad in the newspaper.
(Here’s one example where I’ve actually done this: http://foursquare.com/venue/1278007 – future check-ins there see my message, about ADUSA)
Location based activities like this are only going to reach a small portion of this segment – but you can’t beat this type of targeted approach when its free.
Eric these are excellent examples. Really appreciate yo sharing them with our readers. I think they show the creativity foursquare will demand from dealerships to make it useful for sales purposes.
Ryan – First off, great timely post! I agree that the possibilities of local marketing through foursquare are HUGE compared to other social platforms.
The only thing that I don’t agree with is your suggestion in #5. The firehose of information that these real-time services produce is flooding the social web in my opinion. The cross pollination of these services makes the experience fragmented. I’ve hidden the Facebook Newsfeed and Unfollowed multiple people on Twitter in the past 2 weeks that are avid Oversharers on foursquare. If the information is relevant (ie Try the Ribs @ Big Fatty’s BBQ!) then it is value. Letting the world know that you’re back at Wal-Mart for the 4th time in 3 days isn’t helping anyone.
Eric – I love the idea of leveraging retailers being asleep at the wheel to build your brand. If you’re leading the charge (which you are), why not? Thanks for sharing these tips!
@Eric good call on the competitive twist. I have been toying with some ideas related to that and think your example has given me enough incentive to pursue some.
When I first heard of foursquare my initial thoughts were on the lines of “how ridiculously useless is this?” But I sat on that notion for a few days and then gave it a whirl, fighting off the urge to write about it until I gave it some time. The I ended up writing this post and I plan to do more.
Now this evening I came across an article about foursquare that shares my sentiment, somewhat. It’s kind of blasts foursquare w/o giving it a fair shake but it does make some valid points. It’s on gawker call, If you use foursquare you are an annoying jackass.
Anyhow, I think there are some potential merits and in fact we will be incorporating foursquare in a new app we are rolling out in April for AutoConversion.
@Patrick thanks for chiming in. Think I should clarify my suggestion for dealers to advertise their use or presence on foursquare. I wasn’t suggesting for dealers to irrelevantly share their location but to maybe include links to their profile and venue URL in things like email signatures and profile links, etc. Hope that is more clear cos I am with you on the inundation of useless and irrelevant information sharing going on.
[...] is a location-based social networking that requires the use of your mobile phone or device to check in to venues. To “check [...]
[...] is a location-based social networking that requires the use of your mobile phone or device to check in to venues. To “check [...]