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And now back to more discussion about using social media while traveling, and how I found it to be incredibly useful and even more fun in many ways….especially with Foursquare, which, if you haven’t checked out my previous post expressing my doubts about the app, please be sure to do.

My vacation at the very end of the summer included a half-way across the country road trip from Wisconsin to the east coast (Virginia, then DC, NJ, NY).  Yelp is fabulous in so many ways, especially when in the middle of no-where Illinois, traveling on Rt. 39.  It was dinner time, and I, as the passenger on this part of the trip, used my i-phone and Yelp app to determine what restaurants were located off the exits and to quickly scan the reviews to find something that wasn’t fast-food hell.

It was an amazing stroke of luck that we were coming by LaSalle, IL, and I found the Uptown Grill with its amazing reviews from people who were not just from that sleepy part of Illinois.  It did not take much for me to realize that this was THE place to have a decent – and very likely good - meal.  I checked in on Foursquare and it looked like there was activity on that front, which was a surprising (and good) sign.  The meal was excellent. Unexpected and excellent. Score a big victory for Yelp, and a big one for the Uptown Grill. 

Jump ahead to the east coast, and to using foursquare for new reasons beyond how I use it in small-city Madison (again…check out my last post if you haven’t yet!).  Being in a major area, where there are tons of folks around (and basically everyone has a smart phone), it is not surprising that it catapults my interest level in using a location-based app. 

So I found that there were, indeed, more exciting reasons to use Foursquare in a place like NYC:

• I could quickly find out that there are a lot of other social-media minded people nearby – it’s kinda cool to go to a restaurant and find out there are 5 or 6 other people who recently “checked in” to that particular location just like me. OK, big city folks, you can tease me about that, but I am from a small city in the midwest so hopefully you can allow me my brief surge of excitement.
• There are many more Foursquare specials, offers, and compeling reasons to choose one location over another. Debating where to get your next latte? Do a quick Foursquare check before finalizing your destination and you may find one place has 1/2 priced drinks or a bakery BOGO that is what you are looking for.
• It is a wonderful RECORD of where I went and what I did over the course of my vacation. Foursquare does hold on to this information for me in the “history” section of my profile – so it is great if, for example, you want to remember the name of the restaurant and even the city name of the great stop you made in Illinois.  This is similar to Twitter for me, where I love the fact that my tweets are all on record in case I need to go back and see them.

But one more strange thing that happened to me? Back in the less social media inclined part of NJ where I was staying (yes, the Jersey shore), simply by visiting some locations more than once I became mayor. That seems so wrong - and I believe that today I am still mayor of the Bayside Cafe in Orley Beach, and of Genaro’s Italian restaurant in Brick.  That does deflate Foursquare for me when that happens – it should be a challenge, a fight! to win mayorships.  Not “ask and you will receive” – that takes away all the fun. 

So back to Madison and back to everyday reality:  I am still figuring out how Foursquare fits into my everyday life. I don’t check in at grocery stores or the drug store; I do seem to check in at coffee shops and restaurants.  It is a bit random for me, and I make the effort when I remember OR when I am at a location that does offer benefits to those on Foursquare.

Any other thoughts on using Foursquare while traveling vs. using it in a hometown? Or even want to share thoughts for how to use it more strategically going foward into the future?  I want to know….

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Filed under: Branding, Guerilla Marketing, Loyalty, Retail Stores, Social Media, Word of Mouth on October 3rd, 2010