Brafton reported that foursquare recently launched new photo-sharing and comment updates that may help companies generate brand awareness on the site, but foursquare officials never articulated how these features would […]

Brafton reported that foursquare recently launched new photo-sharing and comment updates that may help companies generate brand awareness on the site, but foursquare officials never articulated how these features would benefit business partners. Now, the geosocial site is offering brands interested in building a foursquare presence more information about how to get the most out of campaigns.

The company has launched a "foursquare for Business" page. The page and its related tool sets will likely offer a lot of answers to marketers who have heretofore been a bit confused about how to make the most of this relatively new social channel.

The foursquare for Business page is broken down into information for venue owners and information for brands. The venues page caters to businesses with actual store locations. It comes with a complete quick-start guide, taking visitors through the process of claiming a venue, creating Specials to generate check-ins and using metrics on the Venue Stats Dashboard to understand campaign efficacy.

The brands page offers insight to businesses with products and services that are not tied to a physical location. For these brands, foursquare offers Pages, which can generate loyalty among fans through Tips about where to go and what to experience. Foursquare takes marketers through the process of creating Pages, acquiring fans and generating loyalty via Tips.

The new "foursquare for Business" page may be good news for marketers. Check-ins spiked during the holiday shopping season. Plus, location-based services are expected to surge in popularity this year, with Brafton recently reporting that Google execs say the company wants to get into the geosocial market.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.