"I know you are but what am I?"--- A foursquare Promo DONE RIGHT by @peeweeherman

This is my take on how to do a foursquare promotion the right way and how to fail at one miserably. First I’ll start with two stories of how I was part of a vastly unsuccessful promotion and another one that couldn't have gone better. I’ll start with the bad…and I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

The Bad

Earlier this week, my #Likeable co-workers and I discovered that there was a promotion going on through foursquare in Macy’s Herald Square (right near our *new* office) for a free Marc Jacobs Tote Bag upon checking in on foursquare at the Marc Jacobs fragrance counter. The Likeable crew and I are all fully competent individuals and had no reason to not believe that going there and simply checking in would get us our free stuff. There was no disclaimer on this offer. Nothing that noted that it was only for one person…just simply, “congratulations, you’ve won a Marc Jacobs silver tote bag with shower gel, etc. Redeem at counter.” (or something to that extent…I do not remember exact wording but that was surely the gist) Well when we arrived at the Marc Jacobs Fragrance Counter in Macy’s Herald Square, not one employee knew what we were talking about. They had never even heard of foursquare. They thought we all received some secret text message saying that we could get free stuff. In fact I’m pretty sure that they thought we were ambushing them because we all knew each other and had this same “secret text message.” They just did NOT get it. So needless to say…none of us got our free gift. Well actually, they gave us some samples of “cologne on cardboard" (the kind they hand out on the street) and some useless “Marc Jacobs BANG” windbreakers. This was a MAJOR foursquare promo fail.  It left me a little bit doubtful in what foursquare is all about. Until today…

The GOOD!

In the morning I found out via the Twitterverse that Pee-wee Herman was going to be parading around Manhattan throughout the day and that there was a Pee-wee foursquare badge up for grabs. This march around Manhattan was apparently to promote his new Broadway show, which will be starting October 26^th. It did take a little bit to figure out what exactly the key to unlocking this AWESOME badge (see right) was, but it was surely do-able: friend Pee-wee Herman on foursquare, then check-in to two of the places that he was going to be throughout the day. On the Pee-wee Twitter handle, @peeweeherman, there were updates all day saying were the man with the red bowtie was. There were even Twitpics to verify that this was actually going down. After checking myself into High Line Park and 4food NYC (two places Pee-wee travelled to and checked into that day), at approximately 5 PM I unlocked the Pee-wee Herman Show badge. The badge told me that I should go to the Sondheim Theater box office to redeem a surprise from Pee-wee. Based on the Twitter updates it was also a known fact that Pee-wee himself would be there around 5:30. So I headed to the Theater on west 43^rd street and low and behold, there was an actual crowd of people waiting because they unlocked the same badge as I did on foursquare. Pee-wee was a little bit behind schedule, but sure enough the man himself eventually showed up! The surprise: FREE RED BOWTIES!  It was fabulous. I got to meet the man from my favorite Playhouse as a kid AND I got something free. But wait…there’s more: there were quite a few people walking around with shirts that had the foursquare badge on them and I wanted one more than anything. I went up to a group of guys wearing them and asked how to attain one of these awesome tees and they said that they all worked for Pee-wee. I must have looked awfully sad knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get one because one of the guys said “here…just have mine” and proceeded to TAKE THE SHIRT OFF HIS BACK and give it to me. This guy’s name was Arthur and he is my new favorite person in the entire universe. THANK YOU ARTHUR!!! So, I left the area outside of the Sondheim Theater with:

1. Blackberry pic of Pee-wee Herman up close

2. FREE red bowtie

3. AUTHENTIC Pee-wee Herman Show foursquare badge shirt

4. A foursquare promotion success story

So here you have it folks, the 5 things that I think every foursquare promotion MUST HAVE to make it work!

1. Mysterious free stuff!

Get the people there by offering something free but don’t say exactly what it is. A lot of the people waiting for Pee-wee were optimistic that he would be giving out free tickets to his Broadway show but at the same time they were just excited to see what Pee-wee was going to give out. Unlike, Marc Jacobs where we went in expecting the product they listed and then we were even more disappointed when we couldn’t even get that. Mystery mixes in some fun to the promotion and being adventurous sometimes really pays off!

2. Make it fun!

All I wanted all day was that Pee-wee Herman badge on foursquare…ask anyone I work with at #Likeable, I’m sure they’d be able to tell you that it’s all I talked about all day. Just giving out free stuff is nice, but when it comes with a snazzy badge too it’s even better. Plus, you’ll have something to prove that you actually were part of the promotion.

3. Have exciting and #likeable people promote the promo!

While we were waiting for Pee-wee to show up outside the theater, those people walking around in the cool foursquare badge t-shirts were pumping us up, saying that Pee-wee would be here any minute. Some of them were even filming and taking pictures of the crowd getting excited. They were such fun and approachable people. Hence why I have an authentic Pee-wee shirt sitting in my apartment with me right now. That guy Arthur gave me the shirt off his back, which is AWESOME, and I will never forget him and I’m keeping the shirt forever. THAT’S a foursquare promotion at it’s best for you right there. Brought to you by people who are FUN and knew what was going on rather than  employees who don’t even know what foursquare is.

4. Team up the promotion with a Twitter account!

Following where Pee-wee was in Manhattan via Twitter all day long was pretty thrilling. Not to mention informative for anyone, like myself, who wanted to get involved in this Pee-wee parade. It gets people who might not know about the promo through just foursquare intrigued about what’s going on and it could even become a trending topic. I don’t know if Pee-wee was trending in the NYC area today, but I certainly would not be surprised if he was! Additionally, tweeting pictures of what’s happening gives the promo a sense of reality and will really make people want to be part of it!

5. Make sure people actually know about it!

Whether it’s your employees or your customers or (more importantly) BOTH, the way to have a successful foursquare promotion is to create a BUZZ about it. Whether you’re a Macy’s giving out free merch or Pee-wee Herman giving out free bowties…a foursquare promotion is a foursquare promotion no matter how big or how small. If no one knows about it, it’s going to create chaos because it’s still posted out in the foursquare world and chances are, someone is going to discover it. Luckily for Pee-wee, his promotional crew was on it’s game and it absolutely made my day and redeemed the validity of foursquare for me.

As someone in the crowd screamed as we were all anxiously waiting for Pee-wee to arrive: “YAY SOCIAL MEDIA!” I could not have said it better myself…

SOCIALMEDIA #FTW

-M