FourSquare for NonProfits
(Since it’s holiday time, you might want to read this to a well-known tune):
You know Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube,
Flickr and MySpace and Gowalla and HootSuite,
But do you know about a growing leader in social media that non-profits are starting to use more and more? It’s FourSquare.
If you’ve seen your tech-friendly friends “checking in” on Twitter and Facebook with their current location—even several times a day—they’re likely using FourSquare to do so. Why? They might be receiving perks for every time they do. Starbucks and other national chains allow users to compete for prizes for checking in the most and becoming the “mayor” of each location.
FourSquare is designed to make a smart phone a marketing tool by allowing users to promote businesses over social networks—just by checking in.
How can non-profits use FourSquare? You can have your supporters keep your name and mission in the social media stream and promote events and other causes, too. Just add the non-profit venue to FourSquare and it’s ready to go. Tips: make sure the name is spelled correctly and don’t use acronyms. You can even tag the listing with “nonprofit.”
Get supporters to chat about your nonprofit. They can add it to their To Do lists and accrue points and badges for every visit, plus their social friends and contacts can see each other’s lists, and your nonprofit gets great exposure.
Finally, get your supporters to check in at all of your public events: fundraisers, board meetings, exhibits, annual meetings. There is even a group check-in feature that can really make a cause go viral.
If you’re in charge of managing a non-profit’s marketing, events or volunteers, check out FourSquare and get multi-layered coverage and exposure!