Tourism groups are a natural fit for foursquare; so much of what they do is already location based. There are many local groups providing tips on foursquare through regular user accounts. By adding them as a friend, you’ll get local tips and recommendations whenever you’re in their area.
It’s a great way for these groups to promote tourism in their regions. If I’m planning a trip somewhere with a local tourism group on foursquare, I often visit their profile first to get some ideas of places I should visit while I’m in town.
Here are 10 groups that are currently doing a great job providing tips to promote their regions on foursquare. You’ll find the list is a mix of small towns, big cities and even entire states.
| Group | Tips | Friends |
|---|---|---|
| Visit Lorain County (OH) | 104 | 65 |
| Explore the Bruce (Bruce County, ON) | 38 | 227 |
| Turismo Madrid (Madrid, Spain) | 27 | 195 |
| Kissimmee - the Heart of Florida | 27 | 293 |
| Visit Jax (Jacksonville, FL) | 23 | 218 |
| VisitPhilly (Philadelphia, PA) | 23 | 329 |
| Visit San Diego (CA) | 18 | 214 |
| Positively Cleveland (OH) | 8 | 590 |
| Discover LA (Los Angeles) | 7 | 498 |
| Visit Indiana | 5 | 363 |
To see their tips, you’ll need to change your foursquare location to their city (or a city in their area) by clicking your location on the right of the blue bar at the top of each foursquare page.
In addition to these groups who are using just regular accounts, a few groups like Explore Chicago, VisitPA, and VisitBucksPA have branded profiles where they’re doing essentially the same thing. The branded profiles are set up by foursquare and allow users to “follow” their profile instead of “friending” them.
Which groups do you think are doing the best job on foursquare? What other types of organizations could benefit from posting tips?
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#1 by Alissa Sheley on July 22, 2010 - 10:28 am
What location should I set my profile to so that I can see the tips that Visit Indiana has posted? I’ve tried a few cities and haven’t had any luck finding one.
Also, I’ve read about the costs for VisitPA’s Foursquare campaign, but I haven’t seen figures for the others you mentioned. Any idea what the starting rate is for a branded profile?
#2 by Chris Thompson on July 22, 2010 - 11:01 am
I’m not sure. I found a few in Indianapolis a few days ago, but they’re not showing up today.
As for cost, I really couldn’t tell you. I know some of the groups are very low budget, so I would presume that they branded profiles start at a very low cost.
#3 by Jeremy Williams on July 22, 2010 - 11:30 am
Chris, thanks so much for including VisitIndiana in your post. We’re actually working on many more tips offline right now and plan to start adding more VERY soon.
We’re actually working with Foursquare right now to get ourselves a branded page as well. Stay tuned to our Foursquare account and to VisitIndiana.com because we’re giving away a one-night stay at the Conrad Indianapolis (VERY nice hotel in downtown Indy) to one lucky person who checks in at our Visit Indiana State Fair Booth at the 2010 Indiana State Fair (Aug 6-22) and we’re working on a promotion for this fall as well where we’ll provide exclusive discounts to our Foursquare Friends if they check in at specific places in Indiana.
Alyssa, right now, type in “Warsaw, IN”, and “Perkinsville, IN” to see a few of our tips.
Thanks again for posting about this and Chris, I’d love to send you more details about our two foursquare promotions if you’d like to post about them – shoot me an email if you’re interested.
- Jeremy from Visit Indiana
#4 by Alissa Sheley on July 22, 2010 - 11:48 am
Thanks for pointing out a few locations, Jeremy! I’d love to connect with you guys and hear your experiences, if you’re open to that. Are you on Twitter? I am following @VisitIndiana, but assumed you probably had your own profile as well.
@AlissaSheley
#5 by Jeremy Williams on July 22, 2010 - 12:04 pm
Thanks Alissa, that’s right, our official account is @VisitIndiana. My personal account is @JeremyAWilliams if you’re interested in talking with me/us. send me a DM and we can talk.
#6 by Alissa Sheley on July 22, 2010 - 12:10 pm
Small world… I just realized I’m already following you. : )
I’ll DM soon!
#7 by Gem Webb on August 19, 2010 - 9:51 am
Hey Jeremy,
Out of curiosity, does it cost to get a branded foursquare page or is by qualifying for the upgrade? it is basically a template with a header isn’t it with the option of having your own badges made also?
#8 by Jeremy Williams on August 19, 2010 - 10:14 am
Hey Gem, Badges cost money. I talked to folks at VisitPA about their badges before we launched our branded page. I don’t know how much they are and I get the impression that Foursquare doesn’t really want brands to focus on custom badges either.
Our Branded page was free, I actually requested ownership of our office and was contacted by an employee to let us know everything was up and running. Then I emailed him back and asked about becoming a branded page. I think Foursquare is working on a more automated way to apply for a branded page, but for now, its very manual, but very easy to do.
You get a custom header (that you have to design) and custom copy on the right-hand side. Your “friends” also become “followers”.
#9 by Gem Webb on July 22, 2010 - 1:33 pm
Hello all,
I am the social marketing force behind Ontario’s top Vacation destination: Bruce County with our marketing brand ” Explore the Bruce”. If you have any questions feel free to ask and if you come up to the area, don’t forget to check in!
#10 by Max on July 22, 2010 - 3:11 pm
Hi Gem,
Bruce County looks very interesting, I assume from your comment, you’re the only person involved in your marketing, If so, kudos!
- Max
#11 by Gem Webb on August 19, 2010 - 9:47 am
Hey Max,
Well, I actually get some help here and there for things like Twitter and from our community on facebook. It is part of our social marketing strategy to get our communities to work for us, so it almost becomes an extended team with the people that love our brand. I do feel like a 8 armed man sometimes as the internet has a lot of variables to constantly consider when marketing online with so many choices of technology.
#12 by Bob on July 24, 2010 - 5:35 pm
Don’t forget about Kerry from the Memphis CVB. She’s posted about 150 tips and has nearly 300 friends.
http://foursquare.com/user/ilovememphis
#13 by Alina on August 19, 2010 - 7:19 am
I’ll try to do the same with promoting my country, as it is really worth visiting.
For start, I’ve made this blog, http://www.romaniaphotos.ro/, where I have put some pictures from the beautiful places I’ve visited.
#14 by nico on August 19, 2010 - 8:54 pm
Atlanta has tips too!
http://foursquare.com/user/visitatlantaga
#15 by Alexandra on October 21, 2010 - 12:38 pm
To help answer Gem’s question, we recently applied for a branded page for Visit Tuscany (it’s now up and running at http://foursquare.com/visittuscany) and it was free. We were warned that the application process might take some time so we were pleasantly surprised when it was actually easy and fast. In a recent conference I heard in Rome, Naveen (co-founder) said that they are soon going to be opening up the approval process and basically automating it so it will be faster soon.
I am trying to figure out if Tuscany is the first Italian region on foursquare – I think we are!
#16 by Gem Webb on October 22, 2010 - 3:09 pm
Where do I apply for this branded page Alexandra? I tried to contact Foursquare and got someone pitching me on what budget I had without giving me any options for getting in line for the fantastic brand layout. Anyone?
#17 by Alexandra on November 16, 2010 - 4:09 am
Hi Gem, sorry for the delayed response. We contacted foursquare and told them we wanted a branded page. Did you try responding to the person just saying that you wanted a free brand page?
#18 by Gem Webb on November 16, 2010 - 9:50 am
I will give it a shot again today. I am getting so many people joining our group and know that this branded page will tip the scale and may increase the use of foursquare in my DMO’s area. Thanks for replying!