Foursquare has reached 1 million users, sure that may not seem spectacular compared to 100 million on Twitter and over 500 million on facebook. But keep this in mind it’s only been 1 year and it took Twitter 2 years to reach 100 million. This is definitely the quiet before the storm and now is the time to get involved before yet again getting left behind the big technology wave. Here are some reasons why you should get involved that I found, and just applied it to the automotive .

It’s Free.

And if you do it right, you might be surprised to hear not only what your customers are “shouting” in your business, but also what kinds of Foursquare specials they prefer.

Currently, potential Foursquare specials include:

* Mayor Specials: unlocked only by the Mayor of your venue. Who’s the Mayor? It’s your single most loyal customer! (the user who has checked in the most in the last 60 days)
(“Foursquare has deemed you the Mayor? Enjoy a free ipod!”)
* Check-in Specials: unlocked when a user checks in to your venue a certain number of times.
(“Foursquare says you’ve been here 10 times? That’s a free oil change for you!”)
* Frequency-based Specials: are unlocked every X check-ins.
(“Foursquare users get 15% off any service every 5th check-in!”)
* Wildcard Specials: always unlocked, but your staff has to verify some extra conditions before awarding the Special.
(“Show us your foursquare Swarm badge and get 50% of your next part!”)

Is it time for small businesses to pay more attention to location-based marketing applications?

“Only if they like building loyalty and listening to the conversations about their industry and business.”

Yours Truly,
T.A.D