Interesting to see a State Government embracing foursquare, however, that’s what’s happening in Pennsylvania via the VisitPA initiative. No surprise really as is evident from the VisitPA website at http://www.visitpa.com/. You’ll notice the agency has embraced social media to connect with visitors – makes sense to me! In addition to getting all the usual tourism based information from the State resource, users can also access a host of social resources to complement their trip planning, including official sites on Youtube, facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and foursquare.
Of particular interest is the new foursquare homepage for Visit PA found at http://foursquare.com/visitpa. Here’s visitors can friend the State site and get information on popular State tourism promoted resources and stops where they can check-in, perhaps score a deal or promotion, and become mayor of the stop. Not a bad idea so far apparently as the State resource currently has more than 34,000 friend connections on foursquare.
Indeed this is a clever use of social media by a government run agency and offers some nice ways for the State to be more transparent with their visitors. For the businesses that are promoted by the State foursquare site, they might be wise to invest in a little R&D and take advantage of the following the State has managed to obtain to date. How so? Well, to start, a business can embed a fancy foursquare “todo” button on their websites or blogs, a great way to encourage fans to follow them, checkin, and share their visits. Sample button for King of Prussia Mall is provided below… More about Pennsylvania’s foursquare effort found HERE