Throughout the social media community, it appear that Foursquare is the current “it” site to be a part of – it is where major businesses and professionals are flocking to and suggesting to their clients that this is where they need to be. It is indeed a very interesting site – and I do see the beauty in it especially to promote deals, coupons, and opportunities to network and get exclusive opportunities to get specific products or network with people. So, in other words, this would be the perfect site to implement for a conference, especially an academic conference.
There are some conferences that are ahead of the game in terms of implementing Foursquare, but I do believe that some of the academic conferences can also benefit in using Foursquare in promoting their presentations, book exhibits, and tourism in the city that they are hosting the conference at. Here are a few suggestions that I would make for academic conferences in using Foursquare in promoting their academic conferences:
Set up contest to win specific prizes at exhibits or door prizes: What conferences can do is create a page where they announce special deals or opportunities to win prizes if they check in and monitor the site on Foursquare. This strategy worked for the NAB show – something that conference organizers would want to consider. 🙂
Checking in at specific locations for particular events (ex. luncheons, formal gatherings, research presentations, etc): This would be a way that people can check in to see which events and presentations are key to attend and which ones are opportunities to network and meet fellow colleagues on Foursquare.
Setting up a scavenger hunt around host city: Whether you are in New York City to San Francisco to Denver, all of these cities have a wide range of attractions to see and do. The conference organizers can arrange specific locations that can be part of the scavenger hunt where people can check in and if they check in to all of the different places, they win specific prizes. Whether it is a discount on a membership for the main organization to free books to other prizes – it can range from organization to organization. This will not only be a unique experience and way to use social media, but the organizers can see how many people are exploring and playing tourist during the conference.
Be there or BE SQUARE! Events: Many conferences have tweet-ups and meeting via Twitter – which are definitely useful – but why not have both Foursquare AND Twitter implemented? By having a way to bring in people in one location all at once and check into the location of the conference, the organizers can see the activity and how many people are in the location. Also, the Foursquare feeds can be integrated with Twitter, so people who are not on Foursquare can see what is going on at the conference and will be perceived as being cutting edge. There of course would need to be a hashtag to tag these specific updates related specifically for Foursquare and the conference. For example – for AEJMC or NCA (two conferences I will be attending this year), you could have something like #4sqaejmc or #4sqnca. These are just a couple of suggestions. 🙂 In addition, it would be interesting to see if there was a way to get a mass badge just for the conference – I haven’t seen one of these done yet, but there can always be a first. 🙂
Anyway, these are just some ways that conferences can implement Foursquare strategically and effectively in promoting their event. Foursquare is still relatively new – but the conference that jumps on board and sets the stage and standard will be noticed and viewed as being very forward thinking. Hope you all are having a wonderful and fabulous day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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