With over 2 billion check-ins at locations all over the world so far, Foursquare is becoming one of the social media networks you can't afford to overlook in your law firm's marketing strategy. Foursquare brand pages are one of the several ways that you can get your firm's message across using the Foursquare brands platform. This guide will give you an easy to understand overview of Foursquare brand pages. You'll learn not only the basics of how to build Foursquare brands, but also some of the unique issues faced by law firms and lawyers looking to market themselves on Foursquare.
What Are Foursquare Brand Pages?
In 2012, Foursquare has been expanding a great deal. Not only can non-members now access Foursquare's information, but the site also made it easier for companies and brands that don't have physical locations to still make use of the platform. Foursquare brands can now be developed both for businesses with and without an actual office location. However, Foursquare brand pages still work best in conjunction with companies that still have actual offices—like law firms.
Foursquare brand pages are a one stop shop for anyone looking to see what kind of activity you've been involved in on Foursquare. The Foursquare brands that are most successful with the platform tend to have active, well developed Foursquare brand pages. If your brand page looks like a piece of abandoned real estate, you won't be likely to get a lot of customers because of it. At the time when you start building your Foursquare brand page, make sure someone is in charge of providing consistent updates.
What Gets Displayed on Foursquare Brand Pages?
Recently, Foursquare brand pages were changed to reflect an increased focus on recent activity. What customers will see when they look for Foursquare brands and find your page is that your brand name and recent photos are at the top of the page. Other information, like your most recent check-ins, and any tips that you have made (more on that in just a minute), will appear lower on the page.
This means that you should make sure that your photos, which are the first things people will see, are changed substantially on a regular basis. Foursquare brands that use the same photos for months or years will often stop getting as many views. People on social media want something new, and Foursquare brands should try to accommodate this need for novelty if they want to remain competitive.
Law Firm Foursquare Brand Pages
As a law firm, you have some unique issues that will present themselves. Lawyers need to pay attention when building their Foursquare brands to keep confidentiality with clients. It's always worth it to make a quick call to your bar association to find out if they have any specific policies about geographical web services like Foursquare. You'll get peace of mind by knowing that you're not breaking any rules with your Foursquare brand pages.
Law firms should make sure that they're taking pictures not only of the people working in their offices, but the offices themselves, when they're building Foursquare brands. Legal clients, especially new legal clients, are often anxious about the specifics of where they'll be seeing a lawyer, and seeing the inside of your law firm can help people better understand what to expect and feel less anxiety and apprehension about their first meeting with an attorney at your firm.
Law firms also need to strive to maintain a very professional demeanor on Foursquare. While it's fine to have fun with your Foursquare, don't just have someone at your firm check into every location where they eat a meal. Your check-ins should be targeted. If you want to have personal fun with Foursquare, don't use your Foursquare brands account. Instead, create a personal account that won't be part of the Foursquare brand pages for your law firm.
How To Make Your Foursquare Brand Pages Stand Out
Law firm Foursquare brands can stand out with excellent use of the Foursquare tips system. The tips system allows people who know something about a particular location to share it with anyone else visiting that location. Consider the things that tend to be relevant to the people that use your services. When you think like one of your clients, it's easier to decide which locations you should give tips for. A personal injury attorney specializing in car accidents may want to leave tips about dangerous intersections, for example. Keep in mind that because no two Foursquare brands or Foursquare brand pages are exactly alike, you shouldn't just copy what someone else is doing. Figure out your own need to fulfill, and you'll be more likely to generate new Foursquare customers.
Keeping Up With Foursquare Brand Pages
Just because you shouldn't copy your competitors doesn't mean you shouldn't take a close look at what they're doing. Competitor Foursquare brand pages can be a great way to see what's going on in the legal marketing world, and you may be able to build on and improve a marketing concept that's being done in a mediocre way by a competing firm.
You should also keep an eye on blogs that talk about social media marketing. These can offer great insights into what some of the biggest brands in the world are doing with Foursquare and other social media services. Keeping an eye on the blogs helps you to use the latest trends before your compeitors can even identify them.
The Future of Foursquare Brands
Foursquare has made several exciting changes over the course of 2012, mostly involving expanding access. What this means is that in the future, Foursquare may be good for targeting a much wider audience demographically. The Foursquare model seems to be moving beyond badges for check ins and toward a model built on offering discounts and information about the places people care about. Even if you don't think Foursquare is a good fit for your firm yet, it's a good company to keep an eye on for the future.
