• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 10, 2010

Digg Account Director Emily Crume checks in on Foursquare nearly everywhere she goes. Sunday night she checked in at the Los Angeles International Airport with 45 others. That would have been the perfect opportunity for American Airlines or Virgin America to sponsor the Foursquare check-in through an opt-in process.

Foursquare developers are "actively thinking" about applications to help advertisers, marketers and merchants understand and reach consumers better through ads, promotions and specials. One option being considered would potentially tie ads to member profiles. "It's certainly the future as an opt-in experience," says Tristan Walker, who heads product development for the startup. "It's something we are actively thinking about, but it's not something offered today. We need more data. The more data, the easier it gets."

Walker says Foursquare walks a fine line between overt and passive advertising. "At this time we're leaning toward passive," he says. "Brands would rather not get too aggressive."

Foursquare offers an advertising platform for merchants that allow brands to promote specials, but it doesn't target mobile ads. The platform allows companies to claim their business to run promotions on the site. Through geo-tags, people within a specific geographic radius will see the specials.

People who use the service get custom check-in screens that say "Congrats, You're mayor ... show your waiter to redeem the special." Foursquare also offers sponsored badges for brands. When consumers check in at five different Starbucks locations they unlock the retail store's brand badge, for example.

At Razorfish, the mayor changes daily, according to Adam Heimlich, group director for search marketing at Razorfish. "When you 'like' something on Facebook or 'check-in' on Foursquare it's another piece of information to serve advertising against," he says. "You create value for marketers, but the question is, will enough people do it to make it worthwhile?"

Technology changes quickly, and some advertisers and marketers see innovation faster than Foursquare can deliver. "This thing is only seven weeks old," Walker says, referring to the company's launch earlier this year. "People expect a lot. Sometimes it's warranted, but we would rather launch smart than haphazard."

Geolocation ad targeting isn't new, but Aaron Goldman, Connectual managing partner, believes coupons and specials could get people checking in more often. When someone checks in at a business location they could get a coupon or reward. The business owner would pay for that check-in if, and only if, the consumer redeems that offer. "This type of pay-for-performance model would properly align incentives and value," he says. The message of the targeted ad could go deeper by knowing exactly where and when someone comes within a set radius of the store, he says.

Facebook reportedly is adding a feature that would allow members to share their location in status updates, giving the site more information to target consumers with ads and location-based coupons.

A Foursquare developer recently tweeted on Twitter that they had 40 million check-ins. Good, but not earth-shattering, says Amielle Lake, chief executive officer at Tagga Media, a mobile ad company. "Once you segment the audience based on the attributes a media planner looks at, the scale will likely drop significantly," she says.

Tagga's clients might find an ad model interesting, because they represent agencies, assuming that Foursquare built scale. Lake says if Foursquare starts tracking trend data, then a brand could easily provide targeted content at check-ins based on trend behavior, as well as loyalty-based offers for repeat customers, or co-brand offers.