If you are a small business, there is a lot of talk about having a business presence on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. There are lots of seminars teaching you strategies on searching for mentions of your business on Twitter so you can respond to comments via Tweet, or to review your stream on Facebook to handle questions or concerns. Yet, there is little chatter about a presence on Foursquare and what you are doing about mentions of your business on that platform too.

Foursquare has grown from 1 million users to over 10 million users in one year. It is growing exponentially every day and is touted as a top player in the social media space.

If you are not familiar with Foursquare, read my past post here, but the general gist is that your business can be listed by anyone on the Foursquare application, which is primarily used as a smartphone app. (Though access can also be through their website.) Then everyone who visits your business can “check-in” and leave a ‘tip’ (i.e. a comment) about your business or their experience in your store.

Question is: are you reviewing those tips? If there is an error in your business listing or if it is incomplete, are you fixing it? Here are some examples, and some ideas, on what you can do to ensure you are putting your best Foursquare foot forward.

First, check your basic business listing on Foursquare, either through the app or the website. Is the address correct? Does it have all the information you would want to provide a customer like a phone number or twitter handle?

Here is one business listing that looks good.

Here is one business listing that has errors.

It is easy to update any inaccuracies on Foursquare.com. If you are the business owner, you can even ‘claim’ the venue to add information, as well as add specials and deals.

Second, what comments have people left on your Foursquare business listing? This shows some good comments for a local business.

But the comments for this business are not as good.

If this was your business, you could gleam a lot of information, such as perhaps staffing more employees during lunch or upgrading WiFi.

All in all, take a minute to look at your business listing or listings on Foursquare. Ensure consistency across your brand and periodically check to see what people are saying about you so you can respond and improve your business each day. Not only is it a good social media strategy, but it is a good business strategy too.

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