Foursquare recently rolled out some pretty exciting stuff that gives business owners lots more power to communicate with their customers than ever before. So today, we’re going to talk about these changes and what they can mean for your business.  If you’re not on Foursquare yet, this just might make you want to take the plunge!

Previously, business owners had the ability to claim their venues and set up specials. That was about it.  Foursquare didn’t give merchants a lot of control, but after taking the whole thing apart and rebuilding it from scratch, business owners will enjoy a completely redesigned web dashboard with features that make it easier to market in a more targeted and relevant way.

Local Updates

Consumers on Foursquare will notice a new feature called “Local Updates.”  This is a tool that helps business owners engage more with their loyal customers by sending updates about their daily specials and events. These updates appear in a user’s news feed, on a merchant’s venue page, and after a user checks into a venue. Merchants can even share photos and news like in a Tweet or Facebook status update. If a user has checked into the business many times or “liked” it on the app, they’ll start getting updates from that merchant when their phone location indicates they’re in the area.

So, a customer could “like” her favorite bagel shop on Foursquare and get updates on specials, but only when she’s in town.  If she goes away on vacation, she won’t get those updates until she returns, leaving her feed free of deals that aren’t relevant to her.

But what good is all this cool stuff? How do you know it’s working? Well, that’s what the new dashboard will show you.  It’s a great way to keep an eye on what’s happening—what works and what doesn’t.

Dashboard

The new dashboard allows merchants tools to access stats about total check-ins, unique customers, who likes the venue and/or its updates, and how traffic changes from month to month. Clicking “view report” will bring up day-by-day stats for a look into the daily buying habits of customers. With this information, business owners can spot trends that can help them optimize their updates and specials to get more bodies through the door.

These cool new merchant tools are still completely free for businesses to use, but Foursquare is gearing up to make its tools so powerful and valuable that businesses will be willing to pay to use them. For now though, it’s time to get on board and start seeing what Foursquare can do!

How do you plan to use the new Foursquare features?  We want to hear all about it!