Foursquare: Companies Are "Checking-in" to Market Their Products to a Mobile Society

Rapidly advancing technology in the hands of consumers around the globe is influencing the direction that the marketing and advertising industry is headed.  Smart phones are becoming increasingly more advanced and popular in today's society, and companies big and small are changing their marketing tactics to better accommodate this fairly new phenomenon.  Businesses are beginning to use apps and mobile pages to draw more attention to their companies, as well as advertise on the mobile platform; meeting the population of potential consumers on their own turf.  

Foursquare is a free app that allows the user to "check in" to businesses, restaurants, historical sites, and more by accessing the smartphone's GPS receiver and pinpointing the user's location.  A list of nearby locations/establishments will pop up and the user can then choose which place he or she is currently at.  Each "check-in" awards the user with points, and an abundance of points received for a certain business can even yield free products.  

There are currently over 1 million businesses using foursquare.  On the app, there are many platforms in which a business can market its products/services to the public; "liking pages" (similar to Facebook) special promotions and deals, and a dashboard which gives merchants access to numbers and demographic information on the people who are checking into their stores.  Users with "friends" on foursquare can see where these other users have checked-in, and can also see the promotions that these companies are running.  

Foursquare utilizes the popularity of social networking to create a new outlet for businesses to market their products.  By using foursquare, businesses are gearing themselves towards a more mobile society, encouraging consumers to spread the name of the company, and gain sweet deals in the process!
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