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Do you need a foursquare social media st…

Do you need a foursquare social media strategy?

Someone landed on my site today with the keywords: [foursquare social media strategy], and it got me thinking… Do I have a foursquare social media strategy?

It’s all the rage to hate on foursquare (at least in the real estate space), but I’ve found the tool to be great for meeting up with folks, especially when I’m on the road. More times than I could count I can directly attribute a great meeting over coffee, lunch, dinner, drinks, etc. because I checked into foursquare at some nearby location. It’s so great at connecting me with others that one of the first things I do when I fly into a new city is to checkin at the airport because I can pretty much guarantee I will get one or two follow up messages (almost always texts for some reason), from locals asking when we can meet up.

FourSquare is actually a little bit *too* effective. If I’ve got a deadline on a project, I have to make sure *not* to check in to a place to make sure I get work done.

Does this mean I have a foursquare social media strategy? I wouldn’t call it a strategy as much as common sense. If I’m in the mood to connect with people, I checkin… If not, I don’t.

But more importantly, do you need a foursquare social media strategy?

It depends. Do you enjoy meeting up with other people? Are you the type of business person who could generate more deals if you could just get in front of more people? I know I am… I have a hard time meeting up with someone and *not* walking away with a plan to do business with them. For me, checking in on foursquare means I meet up with more people and meeting up with more people translates directly into more business opportunities. Very few of the business opportunities pan out, but enough of them do that I keep on check’n in!

UPDATE

Marc Davison has been hosting a related conversations (with a completely different take) on his blog where I’ve also been actively commenting.

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13 responses

  1. ines Avatar
    ines

    EXACTLY!! treat it as a game and do with it as you please (or nothing at all) – for me it’s about meeting people without planning – it’s those informal meetings sans-agendas that lead to the most productive ideas. (like the cat-in-the-box)

    Reply
    1. Dustin Avatar
      Dustin

      Agreed completely about the game part… anything that gives us some more “social objects” to share has to be a winner! (although I would NEVER cheat!) 😉

      Reply
      1. ines Avatar
        ines

        Of course you would NEVER cheat! LMAO!!

        Reply
  2. Gerry RealtyMan Bourgeois Avatar
    Gerry RealtyMan Bourgeois

    Since Inman in NYC I’ve been working on a strategy for Foursquare. With the RE.Net crew playing (extensively) with FS, it helped me to get over the ‘teething’ of a new social media toy. Once understanding How it worked in practice I immediately started to think of How can this help me as a Realtor (agent, owner, etc…). I’m still trying to figure it out. As more Local’s are catching on, I find interesting that I know where they are (when they want me to know). I’ve used it to meet up with some local people when I probably wouldn’t have (helping to build relationships). Although I don’t have an exact strategy as of yet, I am still Thinking. Just like the rest of these Social Media tools (toys) – as Gerry “The Realtor” (a.k.a. RealtyMan) each one needs to be looked at individually but also in addition. and in combination with each other. Kinda makes ones head spin… (copied from my FB response).

    Reply
    1. Dustin Avatar
      Dustin

      I hear you on that… I’ve talked with Garron who runs M Realty out of Portland a bunch about how agents might use FourSquare. Like you, I don’t think we’ve come to any great conclusions, but there definitely feels like there is going to be a there there (at least in the long run).

      Reply
      1. Gerry Bourgeois Avatar
        Gerry Bourgeois

        See my comment on FB. (You’ll see that I’m actually doing this for effect).

        Reply
        1. Dustin Avatar
          Dustin

          For folks wondering where Gerry is going with his comment, here’s the related thread I posted on Facebook.

          Reply
  3. Ira Serkes Avatar
    Ira Serkes

    I’m still trying to figure it out – but I find it mildly addicting and receiving somewhat random badges and mayorships … is positive reinforcement at its best.

    I tend to NOT log into foursquare, or do facebook updates, when I’m away from home and only our guard-cats Poudini & Baby T are minding the store.

    Reply
    1. Dustin Avatar
      Dustin

      You bring up an excellent point. I made the mistake of using my previous home as my “business” address one time and NEVER could get my name completely disassociated with it off the internet. During that time, I rarely felt comfortable tweeting when I was out of town, but even if I didn’t tweet, others would often tweet about me (i.e. “watching @tyr talk about…”), so it was an uncomfortable situation.

      However, since our last move about a year ago, I’ve been ridiculously vigilant about making sure that my name and address are never posted on the internet (at least not together). I actually got a PO Box and send all of my credit cards, etc. there just to make double sure. Anyway, so far, so good… 🙂

      Reply
  4. Dale Chumbley Avatar
    Dale Chumbley

    Ah Foursquare… I must say, I love Foursquare! I will also claim “guilty” to hitting you up for that coffee, drink after hours, lunch or just a quick hello. To me, that is one of the beauties of Foursquare. When you want to be social, be social. If you have things to get done. Don’t check in.

    Recently I met with a possible seller that came as a result of Foursquare. It’s someone I know lightly in Twitter & Facebook. I fairly regularly checkin within a block of his home. He has stopped in once to just say hi and recently contacted me within 30 minutes of me checking in by him to find out about his home value. My checkin reminded him that he wanted to chat real estate.

    On another recent occasion, someone checked in at a local brew pub. I happened to be driving by at the time. I had a few minutes to spare. I popped in to see him and we sat and chatted (real estate stuff of all things) for almost 30 minutes. I continued on my way and he continued on his. He later tweeted “Just got a really great surprise visit from @DaleChumbley! Wonderful interruptions ROCK!” How cool is that!

    Reply
  5. REtechToday – The best articles in real estate tech for Feb 16, 2010 — REtechSource

    […] about connecting with friends, not clients. While I think many are still trying to figure out how to use Foursquare as a tool in real estate, there is one thing to be concerned with: you need to remember if you are sending it to your other […]

    Reply
  6. Rich Jacobson Avatar
    Rich Jacobson

    I am for any SM tool/app that will foster greater connectivity potential. So many other tools/apps almost force you to spend more of your time in front of a screen or hand-held device, rather than actually ‘engaging’ IRL f2f contact. And I love the near spontaneity of fs!

    Reply
  7. REtechToday: foursquare, hyper-local, keywords, lead generation, services | RETSO | Real Estate Technology Solutions

    […] about connecting with friends, not clients. While I think many are still trying to figure out how to use Foursquare as a tool in real estate, there is one thing to be concerned with: you need to remember if you are sending it to your other […]

    Reply

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