• Econsultancy, Friday, September 17, 2010 11:34 AM

Earlier this year, how did McDonald's increase foot traffic 33% in one day with an investment of less than $1,000? With Foursquare, reports Econsultancy.com. The money went to 100 gift cards, which McDonald's offered to Foursquare users who checked into local establishments on April 16. Says Rick Wion, head of social media at McDonald's: "I was able to go to some of our marketing people -- some of whom had never heard of Foursquare -- and say, 'Guess what. With this one little effort, we were able to get a 33% increase in foot traffic to the stores.'"

What's more, "Even before the special went live, there was an uptick in check-ins to McDonald's stores," notes Econsultancy. "McDonald's saw over 50 articles and blog posts written about their special, and won 600,000 new fans and followers. Overall, there was 99% positive feedback." Even for huge corporations like McDonald's, however, Wion cautions marketers to be cautious of big social budgets. "The bigger your budget is, the harder it is to scale," he says. "If it costs us $50,000 to do a pilot program in mobile social, that doesn't scale."

Read the whole story at Econsultancy »