Foursquare Ads: Worth It For Your Business?

Foursquare, the popular check-in app for smartphones, recently started rolling out ad placements for small local establishments. The new ads display in the app’s “Explore” tab and in the results when users search for similar local venues.

The good news is, you don’t pay unless someone visits your business’s Foursquare page through the ad or actually checks into your business – visiting in person.

But is it worth for your business spending money on?

The Good

Foursquare’s ads power up location-based mobile marketing, which can be tough for a small business to execute on its own. Foursquare’s ads make it super simple to target people where they are and when they’re looking for you.

According to Foursquare’s research, 78% of all people who search locally make purchases based on their search.

That’s awesome some marketing power.

The Bad

Foursquare claims 30 billion users worldwide, but there’s debate about how active those users really are – especially since Foursquare won’t release the number of truly active users. And don’t forget about Yelp, which also has a mobile app and local ad placements when users search for establishments.

Plus, Yelp has the power of reviews behind them. As a consumer looking for a new restaurant to try out, would you rather know where a handful of your friends hang out all the time? Or which restaurant gave 100 locals an awesome dining experience?

With Foursquare’s ad service, it’s possible you’ll be budgeting for advertising that not a lot of people see.

On the flip side, your ads may not be highly viewed, but those who view them are likely to be active respondents. So, are Foursquare ads worth it for your business?

If You Decide In Favor Of Foursquare Ads…

You can make the most of them by tying your Foursquare presence with your email campaign.

Create a segment of your local email subscribers and send them emails when you change your check-in special. That should increase their visits to your business.

Since Foursquare ads are targeted based on venues the app thinks a user will like, if your subscribers are checking into your venue, that will increase the chances of your ad showing to their friends who aren’t your customers yet.

What do you think? Will you try Foursquare ads for your business?