I’ve been playing around recently with Foursquare—the location-based social-media Web site that is being called “the next Facebook” in some circles.
The idea behind the site is simple: people can update friends in their network on wherever they are. If you’re at the corner Starbucks, out for dinner at your favorite sushi joint, or getting your oil changed, you can tell the people in your network.
And, if you’re lucky, you might just find out that one of your friends is there, too.
To provide incentives for using the site, Foursquare gives people virtual badges when they check in. Those badges are displayed on each person’s profiles.
And, if you check in at certain locations a number of times, you can become the “mayor” of that location.
Some businesses have latched on to Foursquare as a marketing tool. For example, they offer a personal barstool to the mayor or discounts to people who tell their friends when they are visiting.
It’s smart marketing if you own a bar or restaurant. Your patrons are essentially advertising for you when they say they are at your establishment. Why not give them an incentive to do so?
However, I’ve yet to see nonprofit groups can make that use Foursquare.
Is your organization using the site to raise awareness about your cause? Are there ways for nonprofit groups to get into the act?
Post a comment if you’ve seen an example or if you have ideas for how nonprofit groups can use Foursquare.
0 Responses to Do Charities Have a Home on Foursquare?
juan2223 - March 27, 2010 at 3:45 pm
I think that there are ways for nonprofits to get in on the act. For example, at Creative Kids Community Centers, we are offering free gift incentives to after school or summer camp participants if they check in more than 90% of the program days. (We’ll accept the parents phone as check-in). We are offering free resume assistance to people who check in at a job fair that we are hosting. And we are offering conditional space to the Mayor – who is an adult that participates in our programs or volunteers at the center. What thay means is that the person who is Mayor the most within a three month span (quarterly basis) is able to use a designated room at the community center for free, for lets say, a birthday party. The possibilities are vast and can apply to any nonprofit!
juan2223 - March 27, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Come to think of it, I think schools could participate in foursquare to increase parent attendance for various school meetings. The schools would probably fair better to not announce the check-in time so that parents know to arrive on time and stay for the entire meeting. Schools could definitely offer various incentives to high school and college students to increase attendance as well. Classes could compete for ‘parties’, for example. The award would go to the class with the highest percentage or number of check-ins.
peter_panepento - March 27, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Hi JuanThanks for the suggestions.
mollyblock - March 27, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Great, Peter.From my own use of location-based services, plus monitoring of various nonprofit organizations’ social media efforts, I’ve noticed several groups that have a *physical presence* making good use of Foursquare, including: — Brooklyn Museum — http://foursquare.com/brooklynmuseum; http://foursquare.com/venue/18737 — Harvard — http://foursquare.com/harvard
mollyblock - March 27, 2010 at 5:36 pm
(continued from above)Three points to consider:1) It’s important to note that both Brooklyn Museum and Harvard staff are managing their respective page contents — and encouraging mobile users to actively explore their venues. While other organizations have a presence on Foursquare, Gowalla, and/or other services, many of their pages contain only user-generated content in the form of tips, which are helpful for future visitors, but don’t offer the depth of information or engagement opportunities that staff involvement and management can.For example: Central Park’s page — http://foursquare.com/venue/12664 — contains a significant amount of activity in the form of check-ins and tips offered; the page, and the experiences of of future visitors, could be enhanced if a Central Park Conservancy staff member added, say, information/anecdotes about park landmarks, upcoming events to be held in the park, etc.2) Organizations should ideally link their social networks to help maximize community development and loyalty potential [and, ideally, have a comprehensive strategy for what they hope to accomplish through various digital media/networks, but that's an entirely different topic altogether :-) ]. Brooklyn Museum smartly links Foursquare with its overall community development efforts (that include an impressive mobile Web site launched this week):http://brooklynmuseum.org/community/foursquare3) Organizations can create opportunities for employees and volunteers to use Foursquare (think of innovative badge incentives!), especially if there are multiple offices/locations.I look forward to learning about other examples.–Molly@mollyblock
joewaters - March 29, 2010 at 10:46 am
Hi Peter,I’ve written a lot about how nonprofits can use Foursquare to raise money via cause marketing programs. A great example of this is the Paypal/Microsoft partnership at SXSW just a couple weeks ago.Read about it here:http://selfishgiving.com/?s=sxsw+%2B+foursquareMolly mentioned Harvard above and I think they have a lot to teach nonprofits about how to use Foursquare effectively. My thoughts:http://selfishgiving.com/cause-practices/harvard-schools-cause-marketers-on-foursquareFor my first impressions on how nonprofits could you Foursquare to raise money, check out:http://selfishgiving.com/cause-practices/harvard-schools-cause-marketers-on-foursquareFinally, there is some talk about another location based service out there called CauseWorld. Here’s why I think nonprofits should stick with Foursquare:http://selfishgiving.com/cause-marketing-news/causeworld-location-based-cause-marketingI think what really comes through all my posts is that location based services will play a key role for fundraisers, especially cause marketers, in the years ahead. Best to get on board now.Joe WatersSelfishGiving.com@joewaters