If the point of a social media dashboard is to be able to view and manage all of your social media activity and profiles in one place, HootSuite continues to be the supreme choice among both businesses and social media managers. This is in part due to the outstanding tool and great people at HootSuite, but also in large part due to the fact that HootSuite actively supports and works with third-party developers who can provide apps to be installed which extend HootSuite’s capability. We will be digging into the App Directory in more detail in a future HootSuite Series article, but no where is this great capability more evident than in today’s release of the Foursquare for Business App.
HootSuite’s Matt Wong writes, “HootSuite has partnered with Foursquare to provide a venue management solution for businesses, combining the power of customer insights from Foursquare with HootSuite’s social engagement capabilities, and just in time for the holidays!”
If you’re a brick-and-mortar business with one or more locations, hopefully you’re already using Foursquare to help customers find your business and promote check-in specials. If you aren’t yet on Foursquare, you can claim your business listing here.
Getting Started with Foursquare for Business
As with any app that provides streams, simply go to the App Directory within your HootSuite Dashboard, find and install the new app, and choose to place it within an existing tab or create a new one. Once installed, you can begin to add whichever streams of information you want to be able to monitor.
Foursquare Venue Monitoring via Streams
The streams are where most businesses will appreciate having the app installed. Instead of having to go to Foursquare directly, business owners and social media managers can check their HootSuite Dashboard to view a Venue Insights stream for each location that provides:
- Tips
- Check-Ins
- Updates
- Specials
- Mayor
- Venue Details
When one of your customer’s leaves a tip, you can Favorite that tip and even share it to your other social networks using the familiar HootSuite Compose dialogue.
You can share and create updates, see who has been checking in, review your active specials, and keep an eye on your current Mayor. And again, you can share your Foursquare updates or specials to your other social networks easily.
According to Foursquare, “Foursquare for Business helps provide small business organizations with key insights for their venue management. Social media is an essential part of engaging in conversations regarding your business. Our partnership with HootSuite ensures that social media is an integral part of driving these vital business insights to make them actionable.”
By monitoring your Foursquare activity more closely, you can better align your specials and offerings with what your customers are finding most interesting and engaging – and do it real-time. If you find that one special is performing better than another, promote it on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and simultaneously, change the special that isn’t performing to something else and continue to test and observe.
If you haven’t yet signed up for a HootSuite account, you can get a free trial here (affiliate link), and you can contact me if you would like additional training and support.