I am consistently asked by professionals, business owners and sales executives about Foursquare, a location-based service where users like you and me essentially “check in” whenever we are at a location… Let me preface this by saying this is not a Foursquare-how-to… For that, you can visit http://www.foursquare.com

What this is, however, is a post about BEYOND the how-to and more of the WHY…

For a business, it can be used for marketing and advertising and leveraged as a customer loyalty tool. I personally think it’s silly to not be using Foursquare to enhance one’s marketing but that’s just me… It’s free marketing, it’s useful, it’s timely and cultivates loyalty. An amazing amount of loyalty… I visited a coffee shop over 20 times to try to regain my “mayorship” which would yield me no benefits aside from the satisfaction of knowing I was “mayor”… Imagine the power if that coffee shop had some incentive to BE Mayor, like the current Starbucks campaign? But I digress…

In fact, Foursquare shares that these ways four ways it can be used for:

1. “Easy Tools to create engaging specials”
2. “Promote in-store specials”
3. “Real-time venue stats”
4. “Promote specials across the mobile experience.”

You can read more on these here. http://foursquare.com/businesses/

Here are the four ways that I use Foursquare.

1. Keep track of whereabouts BETWEEN appointments on the calendar… You would be amazed at how many things one does (or places we go to) between the scheduled morning meeting and afternoon meeting… Wouldn’t it be nice to know all the things you really  do each day?
2. Track my mileage - No matter how hard I try, I fail at consistently writing down my mileage… Now, I can track my whereabouts and have an actual, printable log of my calendar and addresses so that I can route my mileage for tax time using Mapquest or Google Maps. No more stressing about whether my calendar shows all the details I need.
3. Get tips on local do’s and don’ts. When you pull up Foursquare, you can see a list of places around you. Often, I will pull up the listing for a local restaurant or hotel and get very valuable, uncensored and genuine feedback, such as dishes to order or stay away from, warnings about busy days and other tips you might not know otherwise…
4. To facilitate chance encounters with my network. This one has been so valuable that I considered making it an entire post of it’s own. When you access Foursquare, you see where other people have checked in. If you are traveling, it shows if other people in your network have checked in at nearby locations… Almost every time,  I end up finding another person in my extended online network who is in the same city at the same time. This can sometimes turn a personal trip into a business trip if you can coordinate and have a legitimate business meeting. Also, I have found others in my network at the airports at the same time… as well as people at the same coffee shop. This helped facilitate a business meeting once where an upcoming speaker for my organization and I had been emailing back and forth over the course of the week to get together. I was working at a coffee shop and noticed he checked in! He had literally came in, ordered and left… but when I Saw the check-in, I contacted him immediately and he turned back and we got tohave our meeting right then and there…

Do you use Foursquare? How do you use it? If you don’t, what’s holding you back?

photo credit - DP Styles

While in New York City for Internet Week, I wanted to take a minute to share some of the things that I consider when going to an event… These tips have helped me save time, money and make valuable contacts and some really fantastic friends on my conference excursions.

• Wayne Sutton put it best – Always be charging. What electronics are you carrying that you can’t live without? Bring its charger!  I now travel with my iphone charger no matter what. This will help you in the long run by not having to panic over a dying phone or have you desperately seeking to borrow someone’s charger.
• Get an extended battery pack for your smartphone.… and take that charger with you, too. I use the Mophie Juice Pack Air. Based on how much you are doing with your smartphone, you will probably run out of juice at some point. Better safe than sorry. This has saved me and kept me connected on numerous occasions.
• Use Twitter, LinkedIn and other online forums to find people going to the same events or cities to maximize your trips. Reach out to them, connect ahead of time and make plans to meet. This helps create a sense of community so that when you arrive, you have friends… or at least new friends in the making.
• Foursquare is great way to track your whereabouts for tax reporting plus get tips at the same time. You can also see nearby places that are “trending” so in the pursuit of where to grab a bite to eat or where people are congregating, Foursquare makes it easy to find them.
• Carry a light 3-pronged extension cord and make instant friends wherever you go in search of power. You will know the people looking for power by those with eyes wandering up and down the walls in seek of an extra outlet. Reach out to them and offer that they share your cord – they’ll be shocked by your offer and you’ll instantly start chatting. This is a great trick for introverts.
• If you have the room, put a tennis ball in your bag. It’s GREAT for massaging aching arches after a long day of walking.
• Bring your own water bottle and healthy snacks to save on overpriced food. Trailmix is tasty but weighs more than you think and after a long day of walking, even a 2lb laptop will feel heavy on your shoulder.

This is just a handful of tips… If you are looking for more, here are some other tips I shared from my South by Southwest (SXSW) experience… There will be more in upcoming posts as well.

What tips help you save time, money and make friends? Please share your sage advice  below!