There are more than 8 million users on Foursquare — imagine there was only 1 million a year ago. This explosive growth means one thing — time to get your clubs on Foursquare. After all, Radio Shack reported that the average Foursquare user spends 3.5 times more at its retail shops compared to the average customer.

The most recent iteration of the location-based app, Foursquare 3.0, expanded the features and made it much easier for less tech savvy clubs to jump on the bandwagon and start marketing. Best of all, it’s free. Foursquare is winning the location-based app game because it has the largest user base [aside from Facebook Places] and it pleases both parties — customers want to be recognized, and clubs need to know who their biggest fans are.

Want to get started? Below, NightClub Marketing walks you through all of the steps.’

Brands With Brick-and-Mortar Locations

“[Small clubs] today have the same resources available to them as a super large QSR, an Italian restaurant or a Starbucks, and that’s a really powerful tool,” says Friedman. He’s referring to the Foursquare for Clubs Merchant Platform, which creates an even playing field for restaurants, retail stores, museums, mom-and-pop shops and other clubs. The owners can claim venues on Foursquare, establish specials and analyze data on Foursquare’s dashboard with little experience.  Here’s how to do it.

To claim your venue, search for it on Foursquare.com. It’s likely that someone has already created your venue to check into it, and you can claim it by proving that you actually own it. If you can’t find it or you are about to open a new venue, click “Add a new venue to Foursquare,” which is at the bottom of the page. Fill out the information in the wizard. Once all the information is plugged in, your venue page will show up. Click “Claim here” on the venue page.

Foursquare will ask you a few questions about the clubs (i.e. “Is this a chain?”) and whether you are authorized to claim the venue. Then it will ask how you’d like to verify your ownership — either by phone or by mail , its up to you. If you verify by phone, Foursquare will call you and provide a 4-digit PIN that you can enter on the site. If you opt to verify by mail, the PIN will be sent via snail mail. Once you’re verified, you will also receive a Foursquare window cling so customers know you are a Foursquare-friendly establishment. (Don’t worry: If you have numerous locations, you can verify in bulk.)

Brand Pages

Not every promotion group has a brick-and-mortar location — look at companies like MTV and Zagat, for example. If your company is a brand without a physical presence you can use Foursquare Pages and Partner Badges to reach consumers.

The Foursquare website outlines a step-by-step process for setting up a Foursquare Page, which must be done manually (in the future, clubs/promotion groups will be able to create their own brand Pages). Club owners must submit a form; the Foursquare team will reply in about two weeks.

Your Page is highly customizable, and you can have a custom banner to incorporate your logo. The grey box on the right can be populated with information about your brand, along with links back to your own site or to social media sites. And of course there are tips you can leave for your followers so that when they check in to certain places, your tip pops up. The History Channel leaves factoids all over the country at places like New York’s Highline and London’s Tower Bridge, which provide context as you traverse the city. Likewise, Zagat leaves restaurant tips for dishes and cocktails.

Tips can be timeless, or they can be geared to promote an event. For example, The New York Times left tips all over Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. Tips can be saved to a user’s to-do list, too. The Foursquare site points out tips for crafting good tips:

• Tips can direct people to a certain place or instruct users to try a certain item. The point of Foursquare is to enhance someone’s experience in a location — if you have some insights, share them.
• Don’t leave a tip that is obvious — try to share insider information, a secret menu item or a fun tidbit

Check Back next week for the rest of our article and more tips !!